The caverns are located by the side of the B6265, Pateley Bridge to Grassington road, just to the west of Greenhow. They are on the watershed between the Nidd and the Wharfe, but in fact over the hill from Nidderdale in the catchment of the Wharfe. Geologically, they are in the extensive belt of limestone that covers a large part of the Dales, provides the Greenhow area with its lead mining past and which is extracted at a rate of 1m tons per annum at nearby Coldstones Quarry.
The caverns are located within the Craven lead mining field. The above photograph shows the surface buildings of the caverns in the middle distance, on the right the remains of Jamie mine and in the background Nussey Knot - the location of several seams. The whole area was the scene of intense mining activity for several hundred years. The caverns were discovered in 1860 by Mark and William Newbould who were following a lead seam which broke into the caverns. Realising the appeal of caves, they leased the caverns from Thomas Yorke, the 'mineral lord', that is the owner of mineral rights in the area and opened the caverns to the public.
The first modern geologists date to the end of the 18th century and as recent as that, this question was still a puzzle. Limestone is made of the shells of marine animals, that is evident from the fossils which can so easily be found within the rock. The explanation is to be found on the one hand in the concept of continental drift - the movement of continents around the globe so that at one time Yorkshire was south of the equator, and on the other, in the movement upwards and downwards of vast areas of the Earth's surface.
The sequence of events that gives an answer to this question is covered elsewhere on this site in the section on Coldstones Quarry.
The following explanation is from Out of Oblivion a Yorkshire Dales National Park website that seeks to explain the physical and cultural development of the Dales landscape.
"The rocks which dominate this landscape were laid down as marine sediments during Carboniferous times. This geological period began about 350 million years ago and lasted for some 80 million years.
The Great Scar Limestone, the youngest of these rocks, was formed by the slow deposition of shell debris and chemical precipitates upon the floor of a shallow tropical sea. Minor breaks in this accumulation are indicated by bedding planes and some thin bands of shale. Over millions of years the sediments were compressed and then recrystallised or metamorphosed into a very strong rock which is resistant to most forms of erosion. Like other limestones this is scarcely affected by pure water but when rainwater absorbs carbon dioxide it becomes slightly acidic and then the rock is slowly dissolved and removed in solution. Carbon dioxide is given off by plants and animals: the richer the surface vegetation the greater the amount of available gas and thus the greater the acidity of both rainwater and surface water and the faster the limestone is dissolved.
The cave systems were initially formed by rain and ground water slowly percolating down joints and cracks and along bedding planes until it found an exit or resurgence. Once a drainage route was established, dissolved material was carried away and a labyrinth of interlacing passages and caves slowly created. Underground, water continues to erode and seek the lowest level and so sometimes cave passages are abandoned. The shapes of these fossil caves provide evidence of the levels of ancient water tables and valley floors and are important clues to the evolution of the landscape."
The water that percolates through the rock contains limestone in solution, when water droplets evaporate as they form and fall they leave behind a crystalline deposit, calcite, which builds up to form stalactites (Greek stalaktos, "dripping") on the roof of the cave and stalgmitee (Greek stalagma, "drop") on the floor. When a stalctite meets up with the stalagmite, they form a column. Sometimes this process forms a more elaborate form called a flowstone, which resembles a piece of drapery - sometimes translucent. Stump Cross has all of these features.
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