Chislehurst Caves

What should have been a a great day out was completely ruined by the appalling behaviour of the guide. He spent so much time playing up the negative aspects (spiders etc) and jumping out screaming with a torch under his chin that I learned nothing about the caves. His only intent was to scare the people on his tour.
Certainly not recommended for anyone who is looking for something fun and educational. But if you are into immature American guides and cheap scares, this would be good for you!

Introduction: Chislehurst Caves are miles of mysterious passageways hand cut from the chalk stone to form an enormous labyrinth covering more than 20miles in length and at a depth of up to 30 metres beneath the Chislehurst woodlands. The caves were dug over a period of 800 years and were originally formed in the process of searching for flint and chalk. Recent History: In 1914 the caves became part of the Woolwich Arsenal and were used as an ammunitions depot. They only remained as a depot for a few years and were then used by the Kent Mushroom Company who grew mushrooms in the caves because of the dark and moist conditions which were great for the ...  Read the complete review

Walking up to the entrance of Chislehurst Caves, there aren't many clues as it what could be lying beneath. The only giveaway is the slightly unusual road name - Caveside Close! But as the tour descends it's difficult not to get unnerved by the damp smell and rapidly dropping temperature. The look and feel of these man-made caves is very different to that of natural caves. The staglmites and stactites are replaced by a series of fairly regular rooms with interconnecting tunnels. The guide during the 45 minute tour explains that these caves were apparently originally dug by druids (by hand?!) then used as an overflow ammunition store during ...  Read the complete review

It was bank holiday Monday and the sun had come out for the first time proper in weeks so what could we do? All the footpaths were closed because of foot and mouth so where could we go that was "safe". What about Chislehurst Caves? We'd never been before and they're only 20 minutes away. So off we went. The caves are not caves in the Cheddar/ Wookey hole manner, they are man made flint workings in the chalk deposits common in this area of south-east London/north-west Kent. They have tremendous history attached and are probably one of the area's best kept secrets They date back as far as 4000 years ago and were said to have been ...  Read the complete review