This multi-level phreatic cave was formed between 500,000 years and 15,000 years ago by the action of water dissolving the limestone rock. When the water level fell, the cave mouth eventually silted up as newer cave systems below carried the water out of the hill. However as early as 250,000 years ago calcium enriched water, dripping through the cave roof, began "decorating this cave with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites.

Our ancestors lived in the cave entrance, the "daylight zone, for over 1,000 years in the Late Upper Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and we have evidence of human cannibalism here during the last Ice Age 12,000 BP. A Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) hunter-gatherer, known as "Cheddar Man", was buried here 9,000 BP in mysterious circumstances. His is the oldest complete skeleton ever found in Britain and DNA tests prove he is related to a school teacher who lives in Cheddar!

Between 1890 and 1898 Richard Gough, an eccentric Victorian "showman (and former sea captain and Bristol tea trader), dug the silt out of the cave, revealing for the first time the beautiful soaring chambers of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Diamond Chamber to admiring visitors. He is the father of modern tourism in Cheddar.

Cheddar Cheese, which really did originate in Cheddar, is made by hand from unpasteurised cow's milk by our neighbour, The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Co., and stored in Gough's Cave, as it used to be 100 years ago. It is the most sublime, and the only true, Cave Aged Cheddar Cheese in the world - do not be fooled by cheap imitations. You can buy some in our Cargo Cult shop or place an order ready for Christmas. Also sold at Fresh & Wild stores near you. www.freshnwild.co.uk

Easy-to-use Audioguides enable you to choose which parts of the Gough's Cave story you wish to listen to, and the amount of detail, as you walk ¼ mile into the cave.
Actors recount the story in English , French and German and there is a special version to amuse young children.

Please see Safety & Accessibility Please see Duration of Visit