Cathedral Cave in the Lake District is a brilliant family walk. Also known as Cathedral Quarry, this 12 metre high man-made cave and it’s surrounding landscape is great for exploring.
Cathedral Cave and the surrounding quarries in Little Langdale were created in the 1700s, when the Lake District’s slate mining businesses were really taking off. You can see this slate on lots of traditional houses in many of the surrounding towns and villages.
Now, the site is no longer actively used, and is managed by the National Trust. It is free to access, and is open all day long, all year round.
Here’s how we did it…
Please note: Cathedral Cave is an old quarry, with sheer drops and uneven ground. Children need to be supervised at all times, and dogs need to be kept on a lead.
Cathedral Quarry at a Glance
- Type of walk: Loop (but can be done as an out and back)
- Length: Around 3.5 miles/5.5 km
- Time taken: It took us 3 hours, we spent quite a while at the cave playing
- Shoes: You need sturdy trainers or boots, the tunnels can be wet
- Other equipment: A headtorch if you’re going to try the longer tunnel
- Anything else: Take some change in case you come across cakes!
Where is Cathedral Cave?
Cathedral Cave is in Little Langdale, near to Ambleside and Skelwith Bridge.
Where to park for Cathedral Cave
There is no parking at Cathedral Cave. There are, however, a few different options for parking with different walks to the cave.
We parked at Tilberthwaite, which we love because of the stream and the walk is a good length from here. This post will describe the route from here.
There are also options to start the walk at Bakestone Barrow Wood parking, or at Ambleside or even Grasmere.
Cathedral Cave Walk
1. From Tilberthwaite car park, head left along the road in the direction of the farm.
2. When you get to Tilberthwaite Farm, follow the track through the farm yard. There are free roaming chickens so keep dogs under close control!
As you leave the yard, take the path that heads to the right and go through the gate.
Also, look out for the freezer on the left as you walk through. It is loaded with ice creams and you can either leave cash, or bank transfer with the details on the front of the freezer. The route takes you back through here at the end of the walk so this is an amazing treat to finish with!
3. You are now on a bridleway. Continue to follow this for approximately 1 mile. There will be a couple of gates and at one point you have to ignore a little path going off to the right when your track heads left. Other than that, just continue along the path.
Along the way you will notice huge spoil heaps from various quarries piled high. Enjoy the track as it passes through countryside and woods.
4. You will pass a huge house being constructed on your left, when the path swings to the right.
Shortly after this, you will come to a sign on your left next to a stone stile in the wall. Now you have a CHOICE OF ROUTE. You can either:
a) Go over the stile and follow the next steps of the route which takes you through a 100m tunnel and involves some slippy/narrow steps to climb, OR
b) Ignore the stile, continue along the bridleway and take the next left turn onto another obvious track. This will take you to the front (main) entrance of Cathedral Cave.
To help you decide, here is choice a).
Go over the stile, then follow the worn path that heads up and slightly left.
As soon as it starts to levels out (after about 30 metres), head off the path into the clearing on your left.
On your right in the clearing you will see the entrance to the tunnel, along with this sign.
Enter the tunnel. You will definitely need a torch for this part. We had a headtorch and a phone torch between us, and the phone torch wasn’t really any good.
The tunnel is approx 100 metres long. Keep right in the tunnel to try to avoid any flooded areas.
Scramble over the rocks at the end as you head back into daylight. Take a minute to get your bearings as you do this, you’ll want to keep to the right as much as possible. Keep children and dogs close as you do this.
You are now on the level where you can look through the ‘window’ into Cathedral Cave. This is on your right as you emerge from the tunnel, and there is a large basin to your left.
Enjoy the view into the cave, it looks very impressive from here!
From here, some people scramble down the rocks in the basin to get down into the main cave. We did not fancy this! So we took the alternative, which is to go up the narrow steps on the other side of the basin to the window. This was totally do-able with my age/ability kids, I’d say with younger children they would definitely need assistance and/or reassurance.
At the top of the steps, you come out into a lovely area with lots of piled up slate ‘houses’ for the kids to explore, and lots of places that are ideal for a sit down and a picnic or a snack.
Once you’ve rested, head to the right and follow the path down and around the side of the hill, and you’ll come to the main entrance of the Cathedral Cave.
Here, you’ll find the entrance to the main cave next to a sign giving the history of Cathedral Quarry.
This is also where you would find yourself if you took option b) and walked along the track to get here.
5. The tunnel into Cathedral Cave is short, and visbility is good.
It opens out into the huge cavern, which is big enough to walk around and explore. There is plenty of light here from the opening above.
Enjoy exploring the cave! You’ll see the huge central piece of rock that is supporting the cave, and the pool of water that always stays cold, no matter what temperature it is outside.
6. When you’ve finished enjoying the cave, exit back out the way you came in. From here, you can set off back along the track the way you came to make it an out and back walk.
Or, if you want a loop walk (like we did this time), turn left out of the main entrance to the cave, and head down a path and through a gate. Continue to follow the path, you will see the famous Slaters Bridge on your right.
Continue to follow the path. You will come to Low Hall Garth Hut, where if you’re lucky you might find some home baked treats! We tried the flapjack and can highly recommend it.
The path turns left here, and starts to climb.
There is plenty to look at along the way!
7. You will pass High Hall Garth on your right. Continue to follow the path here, and then through the gate onto open ground.
8. Not too far after the gate, you will come to sign post. Follow the route signposted Tilberthwaite 1 mile.
This path will take you through a gate, and then through the countryside where you can again see lots of evidence of the old quarries.
The path continues to gradually climb for much of the return journey, we found it harder work than it looks!
9. The path eventually starts to drop down, and you will find yourself back at Tilberthwaite Farm. Turn right into the farmyard (remember they have ice creams in the freezer!) and follow the track back to Tilberthwaite Car Park.
Time for a well deserved picnic! And if the weather is kind to you, the stream is perfect a paddle or a little explore.
You might also like to read
Ambleside Holiday Cottages for places to stay in the area
Tarn Hows Circular Walk for another low level walk in the area
Wansfell Pike for a local fell walk suitable for families
Have you joined our friendly Lake District with Kids Facebook group yet?