Long Hole Cave

Long Hole Cave is a small limestone cave on the south coast of the Gower Peninsula, near Scurlage and between Port Eynon and Paviland. For visitors it is a glimpse of deep prehistory set into a sea cliff, and for archaeologists it is one of Wales's notable Ice Age sites.

What is Long Hole Cave?

The cave formed in Carboniferous limestone above the Bristol Channel. After repeated excavations it measures roughly 15 m deep, so think of it as a modest recess in the rock rather than a large cave system. The name is sometimes written as Longhole. The site is a scheduled monument (reference GM391) and has a record in Coflein, the national inventory kept by the Welsh Royal Commission.

Why does it matter?

Colonel E. R. Wood carried out the first dig in 1861. He recovered worked flint and animal bones. The bones came from cave hyena, reindeer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, straight-tusked elephant and wild horse, a cross-section of Ice Age fauna. Further excavation followed in 1969, with a small-scale campaign in 2012.

A 2019 review of the collections in the journal Cave and Karst Science argues that the flint tools resemble material from nearby Paviland Cave. The authors link them to some of the earliest anatomically modern humans in Britain, around 35,000 to 37,000 years ago.

What will you see?

There is no exhibition or visitor infrastructure here. What you get is the rugged Gower shoreline, part of the Gower National Landscape and one of the most admired coastlines in Wales. Treat the cave itself as a heritage landmark, not a ticketed attraction. As a protected site it is closed to digging, collecting and disturbing the sediments.

How to plan a visit

• Use Port Eynon, on the peninsula's south coast, as your base for its beach and services.
• Take care near cliff edges, and check tides and the forecast before heading along the coast.
• To see finds rather than rock, look for Gower cave material in Welsh museum collections.
• Spring and early autumn are good for walking on Gower, with drier conditions and fewer crowds.

Frequently asked questions

Can you go inside Long Hole Cave?

It is a protected archaeological site. You can view it from outside, but excavation and removing anything are forbidden.

Where is Long Hole Cave?

On the south coast of the Gower Peninsula in Swansea, between Paviland and Port Eynon, close to Scurlage.

Which Ice Age animals were found there?

Bones of cave hyena, reindeer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, straight-tusked elephant and wild horse were recovered.

Is it the same as Paviland Cave?

No. Paviland Cave is a separate and better-known cave on the same coast, although researchers compare finds from the two.