United Kingdom Show cave
Mother Shipton's Cave
9 °C inside, all year.
MotherShiptons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 48 m.
The real relief above Mother Shipton's Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
48m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
9°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
56m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
9 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 9 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 21 °C at the entrance, 11 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are in August: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 6°1°Jan
- 7°1°Feb
- 9°2°Mar
- 13°4°Apr
- 16°7°May
- 19°10°Jun
- 21°12°Jul
- 20°11°Aug
- 18°9°Sep
- 14°7°Oct
- 9°4°Nov
- 6°2°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in United Kingdom
Mother Shipton's Cave is a show cave in United Kingdom. The entrance is at 48 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsticket requiredOfficial site↗
- Knaresboroughnearest town · 0.4 km in a straight line
- Parking 180 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.4 km from the entrance
- Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 20 km in a straight lineCar hire at LBA airport (Leeds, West Yorkshire)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The River Nidd runs highest in August and from October to March.
The River Nidd carries about 7.2 m³/s on average here. It runs highest in August and from October to March.
- 9.1 m³/sJan
- 7.6 m³/sFeb
- 6.6 m³/sMar
- 5.4 m³/sApr
- 3.3 m³/sMay
- 4.7 m³/sJun
- 4.9 m³/sJul
- 7.3 m³/sAug
- 4.9 m³/sSep
- 8.5 m³/sOct
- 11 m³/sNov
- 11 m³/sDec
From about 3.3 m³/s in the lowest month to 11 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 334 km².
The River Nidd from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmMother Shipton's Cave
- 5springs within 2 kmPetrifying Well Spring and 4 more
- 2viewpoints within 3 km
- 3marked hiking routes within 3 kmHarrogate Ringway, Knaresborough Round, Harrogate and Knaresborough Heritage Trail
- 1named waterfalls within 4 kmPetrifying well
- 49car parks within 2 km
- 9information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 32bus stops within 2 km
- 17campsites within 8 kmDyke Bottom Farm CAMC Certificated Location, Shutt Nook Farm, Hollins Hall Farm and 14 more
- 30hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHotel du Vin, The Boar's Head, Rudding Park Hotel and 27 more
- 29restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Knaresborough0.4 km in a straight line
- Harrogate4.6 km in a straight line
- Spofforth6.3 km in a straight line
- Pannal6.7 km in a straight line
- Boroughbridge10 km in a straight line
- Wetherby11 km in a straight line
- Collingham12 km in a straight line
- Stainburn12 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Mother Shipton's Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 6 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 6 |
| Afternoon | 6 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 6 |
| Night | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 51 | 50 | 49 | 56 | 75 | 74 | 83 | 57 | 74 | 69 | 65 |
| Rainy days | 14 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.3 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | 6 | 1 | 60 | 1.3 |
| Feb | 7 | 7 | 1 | 51 | 2.4 |
| Mar | 9 | 9 | 2 | 50 | 3.8 |
| Apr | 13 | 13 | 4 | 49 | 5.4 |
| May | 16 | 16 | 7 | 56 | 6.3 |
| Jun | 19 | 19 | 10 | 75 | 5.5 |
| Jul | 21 | 21 | 12 | 74 | 5.7 |
| Aug | 20 | 20 | 11 | 83 | 4.8 |
| Sep | 18 | 18 | 9 | 57 | 4.4 |
| Oct | 14 | 14 | 7 | 74 | 2.5 |
| Nov | 9 | 9 | 4 | 69 | 1.5 |
| Dec | 6 | 6 | 2 | 65 | 1.1 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (48 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 81% | 186% | 52% | 31% | 24% | 114% | 101% | 108% | 68% | 121% | 63% | 162% |
| 2021 | 185% | 162% | 67% | 29% | 189% | 38% | 105% | 48% | 93% | 125% | 56% | 119% |
| 2022 | 37% | 160% | 86% | 45% | 108% | 52% | 55% | 30% | 122% | 132% | 133% | 129% |
| 2023 | 77% | 33% | 176% | 150% | 57% | 68% | 155% | 111% | 135% | 162% | 141% | 206% |
| 2024 | 137% | 160% | 143% | 165% | 145% | 70% | 78% | 35% | 197% | 106% | 54% | 101% |
| 2025 | 138% | 64% | 44% | 29% | 52% | 61% | 96% | 27% | 176% | 85% | 174% | 171% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Mother Shipton's Cave
United Kingdom
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 48 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Mossdale Caverns
United Kingdom · 35 km
- 76 mDepth
- 10 kmGalleries
- 437 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Kirkdale Cave
United Kingdom · 44 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 59 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Ingleborough Cave
United Kingdom · 61 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 270 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q6917428) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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