Chislehurst Cave access S.E London

Keris82

Member
Hi!

Does anybody out there know how to get access to the caves past the show area? I know of home owners in Lubbock road and lower Camden who have entrances in their gardens as I have years back ventured in when not a caver. Do any groups obtain special permission at times to access the cave through the access shaft I think is in Forest close? Any info would be good! The cave is huge and must be worth a visit.
 

Graigwen

Active member
Many years ago I was responsible for the tax affairs of the company running Chislehurst Caves, but luckily time has erased details of that. I first visited the "caves" in the late 1950s and about ten years later had a more extensive trip arranged through CSS. The shaft was not open at that time (at least that is what I was told) although I was shown an upward sloping passage that was said to reach the surface in someone's garden - this was also forbidden.

As it was a chalk mine, I do believe that there were several entrances at the time it was working, I would expect these to be at the same height as the present entrance. I would be surprised to learn there were entrances in Lower Camden and Lubbock Road to these mines, but there were other mines in the area, for instance near the bottom of Logs Hill.

I don't know anything about current access arrangements. Perhaps you could try Adit now?

To be honest, it is rather boring, although I took a friend on the usual tourist trip four years ago and he loved it.

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