Abstract
IN the mountain limestone of the West Riding are many caves, some of which are empty, some traversed by water, which is silting up their lower chambers, while others are full up to the very roof with débris of various kinds. All have been, at some time or other, subterranean watercourses, and have been formed, partly by the friction of the substances set in motion by the current, but principally by the chemical action of the carbonic acid of the rain-water by which the insoluble carbonate of lime in the rock is converted into the soluble bicarbonate. Some have been inhabited, at various times, by man, and by wild beasts, and therefore may be expected to furnish valuable evidence of a condition of things that has now passed away. The last recorded case of their being used by man as a place of refuge was during the rebellion of 1745, when the eldest son of one of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood was hidden in a large cave, in the fear that the Scotch would pass southwards in that direction instead of by the Preston route.
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DAWKINS, W. Exploration of Caves at Settle, Yorkshire . Nature 1, 628–629 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/001628b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001628b0