Jingling Pot: Yorkshire’s Cave Where Sheep Sometimes Fall

Jingling Pot is a popular vertical cave system on the flanks of Whernside in Yorkshire’s West Kingsdale area. The pothole descends about 145 feet and offers experienced explorers a direct abseil down its main shaft or a more complicated route through a nearby opening known as the Lateral Cleft. The cleft leads through several shorter drops before reconnecting with the main route at the bottom. According to Atlas Obscura, the route once involved swinging across a gap with a rope secured to a rowan tree at the edge of the pothole. That maneuver is no longer encouraged because of concerns about the tree’s condition and loose rocks. The cave’s strangest feature is linked to the landscape around its entrance. Grass growing on the steepening slopes attracts sheep, which can stray toward it and fall into the pothole. The base of the main shaft contains sheep skeletons and bodies in different stages of decay, the source reports. Further inside, a narrow rift leads toward another chamber. Scratched initials in the rock are attributed to members of the Yorkshire Ramblers Club who entered the pothole using rope ladders in 1897. The alternate Lateral Cleft route was not discovered until 1969. Jingling Pot’s name is connected to Jingling Brook, the stream that formed the opening. The brook no longer normally flows into the pothole, instead entering the surrounding rock through nearby Jingling Cave. During very wet weather, however, overflow from the brook can still enter Jingling Pot. Cavers can descend the main shaft and climb back using single-rope technique, or use the Lateral Cleft as a route involving multiple pitches. The source also notes that ladder descents remain physically demanding, preserving an older style of cave exploration.