Easegill Caverns
With over 70km of currently known passages, the Lancaster Hole / Easegill Caverns system on Casterton Fell, Leck Fell and Ireby Fell is believed to be the largest and most complex cave system in Great Britain.
The cave system is often also referred to as the "Three Counties" system - so called because the network extends beneath the borders of North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.
Various caves and potholes within the system include Aygill Caverns, Bull Pot of the Witches, Boundary Pot, Casterton Pot, County Pot, Cow Dubs, Gale Garth, Herbert's Hole, Lancaster Hole, Leck Beck Head Leck Fell Cave, Lost John's Cave, Nippikin Pot, Pippikin Pot, Rumbling Hole, Swindon Hole, Sylvestor Pot, Witches' Cave and the curiously named Wretched Rabbit.
Many of the caves and pothole entrances are situated around the valley of Ease Gill, with waters eventually draining in to Leck Beck and flowing on to the village of Leck.
Easegill Caverns currently holds the unenviable record of having had the most recorded deaths as a cumulative total for any British cave system over the years. Needless to say the caverns are dangerous and prone to flooding, and should only be explored by suitably experienced cavers and potholers.
[N.B. For more information on the area's caves and potholes, please see caving and potholing in the Yorkshire Dales.]
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