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Summary

The whole of Buckfastleigh Hill contains a complex cave system in the limestone. This appears to have been created contemporaneously with the terraces of the nearby river dart. Five of the principal caves now open into higher kiln quarry (their original entrances having been destroyed by quarrying) and are owned by the royal society for nature conservation, managed by the pengelly cave research centre. One of the caves, joint mitnor, has produced a major collection of pleistocene bone, especially bison, hyaena, straight tusked elephant, fox, hippopotamus etc. Sutcliffe has suggested that this is a talus deposit, but this is not universally accepted. The deposit is sealed by stalagmite. No trace of human activity in the cave. The site is an sssi (griffith).

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX76NW36
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 898030
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX76NW/58

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAVE (Upper Palaeolithic - 38000 BC (Between) to 8001 BC (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV280040.

William Pengelly cave studies trust/occasional publications no.1,2: caves in Buckfastleigh quarries/(1979).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV280041.

Des=wmn(22 and 25/8/1987)/extracts in parish file. Explorations by cavers at joint Mitnor in august 1987 have identified further parts of the cave system. One contains 'beautiful calcite deposits' and another a cone of Pleistocene bone deposits, including elephant, bison, fallow deer, gazelle and a bird (wmn).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV280042.

Griffith, f. /Devon's past: an aerial view/(1988)19.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV280038.

Des=Griffith, f. M. /as above, based on oral information from d. Curry of Plymouth museum, on site visit 17/07/1982.
Higher Kiln Quarry, Buckfastleigh. The whole of Buckfastleigh Hill contains a complex cave system in the limestone. This appears to have been created contemporaneously with the terraces of the nearby River Dart. Five of the principal caves now open into Higher Kiln Quarry (their original entrances having been destroyed by quarrying) and are owned by the Royal Society for Nature Conservation, managed by the Pengelly Cave Research Centre. One of the caves, Joint Mitnor, has produced a major collection of Pleistocene bone, especially bison, hyaena, straight tusked elephant, fox, hippopotamus etc. Sutcliffe has suggested that this is a talus deposit, but this is not universally accepted. The deposit is sealed by stalagmite. No trace of human activity in the cave. The site is an SSSI (Griffith).

Sutcliffe, A. J., 1960, Joint Mitnor Cave, 1-26 (Article in Serial). SDV280039.

Joint Mitnor Cave was discovered in 1939 by A. H. Ogilvie, and excavated from 1939-1941. Further test pits by Sutcliffe 1954-55. Contains the richest assemblage of faunal remains of inter-glacial age yet discovered in a British cave. They are believed to date from the warmest part of the last Interglacial. Suggested date of bone deposit given as warmest part of last (Eemian) interglacial. Sutcliffe gives the sequence of: 1) stalagmite floor, shattered and recemented, 2) loose earth and stones, with the bone deposits, 3) sterile water-laid sediments, much disturbed.

Sutcliffe, A. J., 1965, Hippos at Honiton, 239-240 (Article in Serial). SDV280037.

Proctor, C. J., 2018, The Caves of Eastern South Devon: From Pengelly to the Present Day, 420 (Article in Serial). SDV366271.

The presence of bone deposits in Joint Mintor Cave was first noted in 1938, following which the Torquay Natural History Society excavated from 1939 to 1941. The cave has a very rich fauna of interglacial animals, including hippo, straight tusked elephant, narrow nosed rhino, fallow deer and hyaena. This assemblage is characteristic of the Ipswichian Interglacial, about 130,000 to 120,000 years ago; hippo in particular is absent from all other post-Anglian interglacials. Joint Mitnor Cave has been chosen as the mammal assemblage type site for the last interglacial.
The cave was prepared as a demonstration site in 1960, with a section through the deposit and in-situ fossil bones and teeth on view, and run as a show cave open a few days every year since. It was broken into in 2015 and fossils stolen, but has since been restored using casts.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 29/03/2022 (Website). SDV364039.

Additional source noted Cullingford, C. H. D., 1962, British Caving: an Introduction to Speleology, pgs 287, 324.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV7794 - ANIMAL REMAINS (Upper Palaeolithic - 38000 BC to 8001 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV8557 - Excavation at the Joint Mitnor Cave (1954-55)
• EDV8559 - Excavation at the Joint Mitnor Cave (1960-64)
• EDV8560 - Excavation at the Joint Mitnor Cave (1939-41)

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