Montage of scenes from Treak Cliff Cavern

About Us    

Castleton’s Treak Cliff Cavern has a unique history. Originally a working mine 300 years ago, it’s now a major visitor attraction in the Hope Valley area of Derbyshire. It’s also still a working mine – Castleton is the only place in the world where the beautiful Blue John stone can be found.

You can read more about our history, the cavern and mining in this section.

Miners at Treak Cliff Cavern in the 1920s

History

A brief history of Treak Cliff Cavern and the mines.

Modern Mining Techniques

Mining Today

Blue John has been mined at treak for over 300 years. This is how we do it today.

Peter Harrison and John Turner with a sample from the Lost Vein

The Lost Vein

The story of the ‘Lost Vein’ – a 68 year-long mystery.

Gary Ridley with a piece from the Ridley Vein

The Ridley Vein

In 2013, for the first time in over 150 years, a distinctive new vein of Blue John Stone was discovered…

A Daubenton’s bat

Bats and Spiders

Three species of cave bat living amongst the stalactites, stalagmites and Blue John stone along with a colony of “Orbweavers”, European Cave spiders…

Inside the Treak Cliff Cavern gift shop

The Treak Dragon

The story of the ‘Lost Vein’ – a 68 year-long mystery.

The new Treak Cliff Cavern Interpretation Centre is part-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development - to upgrade the visitor offer, by providing new toilets, heritage and interpretation centre. Project reference number: 101006.

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