United Kingdom Show cave
Speedwell Cavern
8 °C inside, all year.
Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 249 m.
The real relief above Speedwell Cavern, 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.
249m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
8°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
262m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
8 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 8 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 19 °C at the entrance, 11 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 5°0°Jan
- 5°0°Feb
- 8°1°Mar
- 11°3°Apr
- 14°6°May
- 17°9°Jun
- 19°10°Jul
- 18°10°Aug
- 16°8°Sep
- 12°6°Oct
- 8°3°Nov
- 5°1°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 Castleton, Derbyshire, UK
Speedwell Cavern is a show cave in United Kingdom. The entrance is at 249 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsHours in OpenStreetMap: Mar 01-Oct 31 09:30-17:00; Nov 01-Feb 28 10:00-16:00; Jan 01Official site↗
- Hope Valleynearest town · 3.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 30 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.5 km from the entrance
- Manchester Airport (MAN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 32 km in a straight lineCar hire at MAN airport (Manchester, Greater Manchester)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.
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.
- 17other cave entrances within 3 kmBlue John Cavern, Treak Cliff Cavern, Devil's Arse (Peak Cavern) and 14 more
- 3springs within 2 kmSlop Moll, Russet Well
- 1sinkholes within 3 km
- 6viewpoints within 3 kmQuarry - no entry, Broken road and 4 more
- 6marked hiking routes within 3 kmLimestone Way, Pennine Way (Edale to Crowden), Mam Tor Circular Walk, High Peak and 3 more
- 33car parks within 2 km
- 12information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 10bus stops within 2 km
- 24campsites within 8 kmRowter Farm Campsite, YHA Castleton Losehill Hall, chapel view campsite and 21 more
- 43hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmYe Olde Nags Head, Stonecroft B&B, Hargate Hall and 40 more
- 11restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 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
- Hope Valley3.2 km in a straight line
- High Peak4.6 km in a straight line
- Tideswell7.2 km in a straight line
- Dove Holes8.0 km in a straight line
- Chapel en le Frith8.3 km in a straight line
- Hathersage9.3 km in a straight line
- Chinley9.8 km in a straight line
- Hayfield11 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Speedwell Cavern.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Lakeyas3 lakes within 10 km
Peakyas18 mountains within 10 kmFigures 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 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 5 |
| Afternoon | 5 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 5 |
| Night | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 82 | 70 | 64 | 56 | 68 | 86 | 92 | 96 | 72 | 93 | 90 | 90 |
| Rainy days | 17 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 17 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.4 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 8 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 82 | 1.4 |
| Feb | 5 | 5 | 0 | 70 | 2.6 |
| Mar | 8 | 8 | 1 | 64 | 3.9 |
| Apr | 11 | 11 | 3 | 56 | 5.5 |
| May | 14 | 14 | 6 | 68 | 6.4 |
| Jun | 17 | 17 | 9 | 86 | 5.8 |
| Jul | 19 | 19 | 10 | 92 | 6.0 |
| Aug | 18 | 18 | 10 | 96 | 5.1 |
| Sep | 16 | 16 | 8 | 72 | 4.6 |
| Oct | 12 | 12 | 6 | 93 | 2.9 |
| Nov | 8 | 8 | 3 | 90 | 1.7 |
| Dec | 5 | 5 | 1 | 90 | 1.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (249 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 | 94% | 253% | 82% | 38% | 23% | 134% | 121% | 112% | 66% | 136% | 92% | 148% |
| 2021 | 186% | 145% | 90% | 29% | 197% | 37% | 99% | 61% | 82% | 113% | 53% | 118% |
| 2022 | 40% | 177% | 65% | 57% | 112% | 60% | 52% | 34% | 113% | 118% | 136% | 113% |
| 2023 | 91% | 31% | 179% | 138% | 54% | 66% | 147% | 104% | 129% | 165% | 125% | 173% |
| 2024 | 120% | 149% | 153% | 160% | 158% | 64% | 80% | 43% | 172% | 94% | 64% | 105% |
| 2025 | 125% | 63% | 39% | 34% | 63% | 71% | 86% | 31% | 169% | 85% | 154% | 147% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Speedwell Cavern
United Kingdom
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 249 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Peak Cavern
United Kingdom · 1 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 269 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Blue John Cavern
United Kingdom · 1 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 362 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Treak Cliff Cavern
United Kingdom · 1 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 285 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q7575701) · 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 |
| 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?
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