{{short description|Cave and archaeological site in the United Kingdom}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox SSSI |name = Kents Cavern |image = Kents Cavern (7036).jpg |image_caption = Interior view of Kent's Cavern |aos = South Devon |interest = Geological |gridref = {{gbmappingsmall|SX 934641}} |coordinates = {{coord|50.4682|-3.5030|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} |displaymap = Devon |area = {{convert|1.7|ha|m2 sqft|sigfig=4}} |notifydate = {{Start date|1952}} |enref = 1000875 }} '''Kents Cavern''' (also spelled '''Kent's Cavern''') is a cave system in Torquay, Devon, England. It is notable both for its archaeological and geological features (as a karst feature in the Devonian limestone). The cave system is open to the public and has been a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1952 and a Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1957.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1000875.pdf |title=Kents Cavern |access-date=3 November 2011}}</ref><ref name="bbc3867385">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/3867385.stm |title=Visitor centre for ancient caves |publisher=BBC News |date=5 July 2004 |access-date=3 November 2011}}</ref>
== Geology == Kents Cavern was formed by erosion of rock that is part of the Torquay Limestone of Middle-Upper Devonian age, which is underlain by a unit of primarily grey mudstone, the Nordon Slate and overlain by the Gurrington Slate, a unit of purple and grey-green mudstone of Upper Devonian age, as well by much younger Permian aged New Red Sandstone. Kents Cavern probably formed during the Early Pleistocene, and has primarily been created by phreatic and secondarily by vadose processes. It consists of a complex of chambers and passageways. The cave sediment fill is probably Middle Pleistocene-Holocene age.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Lundberg |first1=Joyce |last2=McFarlane |first2=Donald A. |date=2007 |title=Pleistocene depositional history in a periglacial terrane: A 500 k.y. record from Kents Cavern, Devon, United Kingdom |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geosphere/article/3/4/199-219/31156 |journal=Geosphere |language=en |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=199 |doi=10.1130/GES00085.1 |issn=1553-040X}}</ref>
The lowest sediment layer, the "Red Sands", is probably fluvial in origin, and likely formed during the Cromerian during the Early Middle Pleistocene. The next above layer, the "Breccia", is a diamicton deposit consisting of a red mud matrix with clasts primarily of red sandstone, siltstone, slate and quartz, as well as fragments of rocks from the cave itself like stalagmites, that are poorly sorted and generally strongly angular to moderately angular (subangular). It likely accumulated in the cave as a result of solifluction processes during the Anglian Glaciation (Marine Isotope Stage/MIS 12, ~478-424,000 years ago), though it contains fossil remains (as well as stone tools) that likely predate the Anglian glaciation. The Breccia experienced some more movement during the MIS 10 glaciation ~350,000 years ago. The upper layers of the Breccia are overlain by layers of flowstone and other calcite deposits dubbed the "Crystalline Stalagmite", with the earliest layers of flowstone forming during MIS 11 ~400,000 years ago, though there was a major pulse of calcite deposition during MIS 9, around 300,000 years ago. The Breccia subsequently experienced some erosion after MIS 9, leaving a gap known as the "Vacuity" between the Breccia and the flowstone in parts of the cave.<ref name=":1" />
The last major unit is the "Cave Earth" that formed during the Last Glacial Period largely during MIS 3, around 60-30,000 years ago,<ref name=":1" /> though some areas of Kents Cavern "Cave Earth" formed during MIS 2.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dinnis |first=Rob |last2=Boulton |first2=John |last3=Chandler |first3=Barry |last4=Davies |first4=Jesse |last5=French |first5=Jennifer C. |last6=Higham |first6=Thomas |last7=Jáuregui |first7=Louisa |last8=Lewis |first8=Mark |last9=Meyer |first9=Matthias |last10=Schreve |first10=Danielle |last11=Stringer |first11=Chris |last12=Proctor |first12=Chris |date=August 2025 |title=A Middle and Late Devensian sequence from the northern part of Kents Cavern (Devon, UK) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.3705 |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |language=en |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=925–943 |doi=10.1002/jqs.3705 |issn=0267-8179|doi-access=free |hdl=1983/a84dc73b-4da6-478e-9086-effd2aa9b686 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The "Cave Earth" has been described as a "mixture of mud, sand and rock fragments".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lundberg |first=Joyce |last2=McFarlane |first2=Donald |date=July 2012 |title=Cryogenic fracturing of calcite flowstone in caves: theoretical considerations and field observations in Kents Cavern, Devon, UK |url=http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol41/iss2/16/ |journal=International Journal of Speleology |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=307–316 |doi=10.5038/1827-806X.41.2.16 |issn=0392-6672|doi-access=free }}</ref> In the upper "Cave Earth" lies the "Black Band" a lens bed containing considerable amounts of diffusely spread charcoal as well as human artifacts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hedges |first=R. E. M. |last2=Housley |first2=R. A. |last3=Law |first3=I. A. |last4=Bronk |first4=C. R. |date=August 1989 |title=Radiocarbon Dates From the Oxford AMS System: Archaeometry Datelist 9 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1989.tb01015.x |journal=Archaeometry |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=207–234 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.1989.tb01015.x |issn=0003-813X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Deposition of calcite has been ongoing throughout the Holocene and is still actively occurring in parts of the cave.<ref name=":1" /> The uppermost layer of deposition in parts of the cave is now largely removed "Black Mould" of Holocene age, which while never properly characterised, contained "charcoal, ash, decayed organic material, leaf fall, shells" as well as Holocene human artifacts.<ref name=":2" />
==Prehistory==
=== Archaeology ===
==== Archaic human including Neanderthal occupation ==== Handaxes found in the "Breccia" layer of the cavern indicate that the area in the vicinity of the cave system was occupied during the Acheulean period of the Lower Paleolithic, no later than Marine Isotope Stage 12 (~478-424,000 years ago). A 2025 study suggesting they dated to Marine Isotope Stage 15, around 600,000 years ago, based on the relative crudeness of their manufacture and similarity to handaxes from other sites in Britain of a proposed MIS 15 age like those found at Lakenheath/Maidscross Hill, Warren Hill and Brandon Field. If correct, Kents Cavern is one of the oldest Palaeolithic localities in Britain, older than the famous Boxgrove site in Sussex.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Callum |last2=Pope |first2=Matt |last3=Shipton |first3=Ceri |date=March 2024 |title=Revisiting the handaxes of Kent's Cavern |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618224000077 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=685 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2024.01.007|doi-access=free }}</ref>
Mousterian stone tools found in the cavern during excavations in the 19th century indicate that the cave was later occupied by Neanderthals during the late Middle Paleolithic (likely sometime roughly around 60-40,000 years ago). Most of these artifacts are now lost, though 45 remain, including "five bifaces, nine scrapers, possible awls/borers, and a variety of debitage including two Levallois flakes", which are either made of flint or greensand-derived chert. Given the partial and incomplete current state of the finds, it is difficult to provide conclusive answers about how Neanderthals used the cave, though from what remains "there is little evidence of on-site manufacture, and the whole appears to be a collection of artefacts taken to the cave during a number of relatively brief visits".<ref>White, M., & Pettitt, P. (2011). [https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/152474/7/9014.pdf The British Late Middle Palaeolithic: An Interpretative Synthesis of Neanderthal Occupation at the Northwestern Edge of the Pleistocene World]. ''Journal of World Prehistory'', 24(1), 25-97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-011-9043-9</ref>
==== Modern human occupation ==== {{further|Kents Cavern 4 maxilla}} A prehistoric upper jawbone (maxilla) fragment of a modern human (''Homo sapiens'') was discovered in the cavern during a 1927 excavation by the Torquay Natural History Society and named ''Kents Cavern 4.'' The specimen is on display at the Torquay Museum.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.kents-cavern.co.uk/jawbone | title=Jawbone | website = Kents Cavern| access-date = 17 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/early_modern/europe/kents_cavern_short_article_2006.html |title=Kent's Cavern report on the way? | john hawks weblog |publisher=Johnhawks.net |date=25 December 2006 |access-date=3 November 2011}}</ref>
In 1989, the fragment was radiocarbon dated to 36,400–34,700 years Before Present (BP), but a 2011 study that dated fossils from neighbouring strata produced an estimate of 44,200–41,500 years BP. The same study analysed the dental structure of the fragment and determined it to be ''Homo sapiens'' rather than ''Homo neanderthalensis'', which would have made it the earliest anatomically modern human fossil yet discovered in Britain and northwestern Europe.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Higham | first1 = Tom | last2 = Compton | first2 = Tim | last3 = Stringer | first3 = Chris | last4 = Jacobi | first4 = Roger | last5 = Shapiro | first5 = Beth | last6 = Trinkaus | first6 = Eric | last7 = Chandler | first7 = Barry | last8 = Gröning | first8 = Flora | last9 = Collins | first9 = Chris | last10 = Hillson | first10 = Simon | last11 = O'Higgins | first11 = Paul | last12 = FitzGerald | first12 = Charles | last13 = Fagan | first13 = Michael | date = 24 November 2011 | title = The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe | journal = Nature | volume = 479 | issue = 7374 | pages = 521–524 | publisher = Nature Publishing Group | doi = 10.1038/nature10484 | pmid=22048314 | bibcode = 2011Natur.479..521H | s2cid = 4374023 | url = https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/467144 }} *{{cite news |author=Jonathan Amos |date=2 November 2011 |title=Teeth and jaw are from 'earliest Europeans' |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15540464}}</ref> In a response to this paper in 2012, the authors Mark White and Paul Pettitt wrote, "We urge caution over using a small selected sample of fauna from an old and poorly executed excavation in Kent's Cavern to provide a radiocarbon stratigraphy and age for a human fossil that cannot be dated directly, and we suggest that the recent dating should be rejected."<ref name="Ancient">{{cite journal|last1=White|first1=Mark|last2=Pettitt|first2=Paul|title=Ancient Digs and Modern Myths: The Age and Context of the Kent's Cavern 4 Maxilla and the Earliest ''Homo sapiens'' Specimens in Europe|journal=European Journal of Archaeology|date=2012|volume=15|issue=3|pages=392–420|doi=10.1179/1461957112Y.0000000019|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272249221|access-date=2 August 2016}}</ref> A 2017 paper by some of the same authors of the 2011 study rebutted the concerns presented and again supported the 44,200–41,500 BP date.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Proctor |first1=Chris |last2=Douka |first2=Katerina |last3=Proctor |first3=Janet W. |last4=Higham |first4=Tom |date=2017-01-26 |title=The Age and Context of the KC4 Maxilla, Kent's Cavern, UK |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2016.1 |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=74–97 |doi=10.1017/eaa.2016.1 |issn=1461-9571|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
A small number of Initial Upper Palaeolithic stone tools assigned to the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician complex (with the name "Lincombian" name deriving from Lincomb Hill on which Kent's Cavern is situated) have also been found in the cavern, which are likely older than 36,000 years ago and may be contemporaneous with the maxilla.<ref name="Ancient" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Demidenko |first=Yuri E. |last2=Škrdla |first2=Petr |date=2023-05-23 |title=Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician Industry and South Moravian Sites: a Homo sapiens Late Initial Upper Paleolithic with Bohunician Industrial Generic Roots in Europe |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41982-023-00142-2 |journal=Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |doi=10.1007/s41982-023-00142-2 |issn=2520-8217 |pmc=10202755 |pmid=37250589}}</ref> Stone artifacts, including burins and scrapers from the cavern of Aurignacian type date to probably at earliest 37,000 years ago, though perhaps likely somewhat later.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dinnis |first=Rob |date=2012 |title=The timing of Aurignacian occupation of the British Peninsula |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/11100614/The_timing_of_Aurignacian_occupation_of_the_British_Peninsula.pdf |journal=Quartär |doi=10.7485/QU59_03 |doi-broken-date=8 February 2026}}</ref> "Maisierian"-type tanged stone points indicate that the cavern was occupied by early Gravettian peoples, probably about 33,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jacobi |first=R.M. |last2=Higham |first2=T.F.G. |last3=Haesaerts |first3=P. |last4=Jadin |first4=I. |last5=Basell |first5=L.S. |date=2010-03-01 |title=Radiocarbon chronology for the Early Gravettian of northern Europe: new AMS determinations for Maisières-Canal, Belgium |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003598X00099749/type/journal_article |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=84 |issue=323 |pages=26–40 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00099749 |issn=0003-598X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The "Black Band" of the upper "Cave Earth" contains younger Late Upper Palaeolithic Magdalenian tools of Creswellian type, including stone points, barbed points made of deer antler, a rod made of woolly mammoth ivory, along with human modified animal bones.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barton |first=R. N. E. |last2=Jacobi |first2=R. M. |last3=Stapert |first3=D. |last4=Street |first4=M. J. |date=October 2003 |title=The Late‐glacial reoccupation of the British Isles and the Creswellian |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.772 |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |language=en |volume=18 |issue=7 |pages=631–643 |doi=10.1002/jqs.772 |issn=0267-8179|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Creswellian occupation of the cavern has been radiocarbon dated to approximately 14,798 to 13,769 cal BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Rebecca |date=September 2012 |title=Mapping the expansion of the Northwest Magdalenian |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618212003692 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=272-273 |pages=209–230 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2012.05.034}}</ref>
The "Black Mould" layer of the cavern contains artifacts indicating the cave was visited by humans throughout the Holocene, spanning from the Mesolithic to Roman and Medieval periods. A significant Mesolithic find is of a partial ulna, which dates to around 8,070 BP. The bone was fractured around the time of death and displays cut marks, which suggests it was possibly broken to extract the marrow, either as a ritual act and/or for the purposes of cannibalism.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Schulting |first=R. J. |last2=Bello |first2=S. M. |last3=Chandler |first3=B. |last4=Higham |first4=T. F.G. |date=January 2015 |title=A Cut‐marked and Fractured Mesolithic Human Bone from Kent's Cavern, Devon, UK |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oa.2261 |journal=International Journal of Osteoarchaeology |language=en |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=31–44 |doi=10.1002/oa.2261 |issn=1047-482X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Paleontology ===
==== Cave bears and Breccia mammal remains ==== During the Middle Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 11, ~400,000 years ago) the caves were used as a hibernation den by cave bears (on the transition between the archaic ''Ursus deningeri'' and the later ''Ursus spelaeus'') resulting in a considerable number of their remains being excavated from the "Breccia" layers cave.<ref name=":1" /> The remains of cave bears, and other animals, were distributed to museums around the world. Leeds Museums and Galleries have a large amount of Kent's Cavern bear material. The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, the Natural History Museum, Torquay Museum, Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle, the Smithsonian Institution, Museum Victoria, Hull and East Riding Museum, Bridport Museum, the Horniman Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the University of Leicester, the Great North Museum, the Museum of Gloucester, the National Museum of Ireland, Bolton Museum and the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution all look after remains from the caverns.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 February 2024 |title=Kents Cavern Around the World |url=https://www.kents-cavern.co.uk/kents-cavern-collection |access-date=16 October 2025 |website=Kents Cavern}}</ref>
Other mammal remains in the Breccia include those of the large extinct lion ''Panthera fossilis'', the archaic extinct water vole species ''Arvicola cantiana,'' the living tundra vole (''Microtus oeconomus''), as well as ''"Pitymys" gregaloides,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Proctor |first=C |last2=Berridge |first2=P |last3=Bishop |first3=M |last4=Richards |first4=D |last5=Smart |first5=P |date=May 2005 |title=Age of Middle Pleistocene fauna and Lower Palaeolithic industries from Kent's Cavern, Devon |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379104002951 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=24 |issue=10-11 |pages=1243–1252 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.07.022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> an archaic member of the lineage leading to the living narrow-headed vole (''Stenocranius gregalis'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fadeeva |first=T. V. |last2=Kosintsev |first2=P. A. |last3=Gimranov |first3=D. O. |last4=Yakovlev |first4=A. G. |date=August 2022 |title=Finding of Molars of the Archaic Vole Lasiopodomys (Stenocranius) Gregaloides (Hinton, 1923) (Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetidae) in the Late Pleistocene of the Southern Urals |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1134/S0012496622040019 |journal=Doklady Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=505 |issue=1 |pages=105–108 |doi=10.1134/S0012496622040019 |issn=0012-4966|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It has been suggested that at least the vole fossils date to MIS 13, around 500,000 years ago.<ref name=":1" />
==== Cave hyena den, ''Homotherium'' teeth and Cave Earth fossils ==== During the Last Glacial Period (sometime between 90-25,000 years ago) during the deposition of the "Cave Earth", the cave served as a den site for cave hyenas. Remains of animals found in these layers include wild horse, juvenile woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, steppe bison, reindeer and red deer,<ref>AM Lister, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264785262 Age profile of mammoths in a late Pleistocene hyaena den at Kent’s Cavern, Devon, England]. ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Mammoth Site Studies, Publications in Anthropology 22'', ed West D (University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS), pp 35–43. (2001).</ref> with these layers also containing the remains of wolves.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=McFarlane |first1=Donald A. |last2=Lundberg |first2=Joyce |date=April 2013 |title=On the occurrence of the scimitar-toothed cat, Homotherium latidens (Carnivora; Felidae), at Kents Cavern, England |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=1629–1635 |bibcode=2013JArSc..40.1629M |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.032}}</ref>
The cave was where the holotype canine teeth of the sabertooth cat ''Homotherium latidens'' were collected by John MacEnery in 1826, and formally described by Richard Owen in 1846. Later in the 19th century incisor teeth were also found in the cave. Kent's Cavern is one of only a handful of sites in Britain where ''Homotherium'' remains have been found.<ref name="barnett 2014">{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Ross |date=January 2014 |title=An inventory of British remains of ''Homotherium'' (''Mammalia'', ''Carnivora'', ''Felidae''), with special reference to the material from ''Kent's Cavern'' |journal=Geobios |volume=47 |issue=1–2 |pages=19–29 |bibcode=2014Geobi..47...19B |doi=10.1016/j.geobios.2013.12.004}}</ref> Isotopic analysis of the canine teeth of ''H. latidens'' found in Kent's Cavern indicates that they are isotopically distinct from other animal remains found in the cave. This, along with the absence of any other ''Homotherium'' remains in the cave, has led authors to suggest that the teeth were deliberately transported into the cave by humans during the Palaeolithic from further afield (possibly from mainland Europe), perhaps as a kind of trade good. The teeth are suggested to have experienced considerable weathering prior to being taken into Kent's Cavern,<ref name=":0" /> and it is unclear whether these teeth were taken from the remains of then-relatively recently dead ''Homotherium'' or subfossil remains of long-dead ''Homotherium'' individuals.<ref name="barnett 2014" />
==Modern history==
===As an archaeological site===
Kents Cavern is first recorded as Kents Hole Close on a 1659 deed when the land was leased to John Black.<ref name="pike5">John R. Pike, Torquay (Torquay: Torbay Borough Council Printing Services, 1994), 5</ref> The earliest evidence of exploration of the caves in historic times is two inscriptions, "William Petre 1571" and "Robert Hedges 1688" engraved on stalagmites. The first recorded excavation was that of Thomas Northmore in 1824.<ref name="pike5"/> Northmore's work attracted the attention of William Buckland, the first Reader in Geology at the University of Oxford, who sent a party including John MacEnery to explore the caves in an attempt to find evidence that Mithras was once worshipped in the area.<ref name="russell107">Percy Russell, A History of Torquay (Torquay: Devonshire Press Limited, 1960), 107</ref> MacEnery, the Roman Catholic chaplain at Torre Abbey, conducted systematic excavations between 1824 and 1829.<ref name="pike5"/><ref name="russell107"/> When MacEnery reported to the British Association the discovery of flint tools below the stalagmites on the cave floor, his work was derided as contrary to Bishop James Ussher's Biblical chronology dating the Creation to 4004 BC.<ref>Russell, 108</ref>
In September 1845, the recently created Torquay Natural History Society requested permission from Sir Lawrence Palk to explore the caves to obtain fossils and artefacts for the planned Torquay Museum, and as a result, Edward Vivian and William Pengelly were allowed to conduct excavations between 1846 and 1858.<ref name="pike5"/> Vivian reported to the Geological Society in 1847, but at the time, it was generally believed that early humans had entered the caves long after the formation of the cave structures examined.<ref name="russell109">Russell, 109</ref> This changed when, in the Autumn of 1859, following the work of Pengelly at the Brixham Cavern and of Jacques de Perthes in France, the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries, and the British Association agreed that the excavations had established the antiquity of humanity.<ref name="russell109"/>
thumb|upright|1866 record of a wolf cranium found in Kents Cavern In 1865, the British Association created a committee, led by Pengelly, to fully explore the cave system over the course of fifteen years.<ref name="pike5"/> It was Pengelly's party that discovered Robert Hedges' stalagmite inscription, and from the stalagmite's growth since that time deduced that human-created artefacts found under the formation could be half a million years old.<ref>Pike, 5–6</ref> Pengelly plotted the position of every bone, flint, and other artefact he discovered during the excavations and afterward continued working with the Torquay Natural History Society until his death in 1892 at his home less than 2 km from the caves.<ref>Russell, 110</ref>
===As a tourist attraction=== thumb|upright|A tourist route through the cavern In 1903, Kents Cavern, then part of Lord Haldon's estate, was sold to Francis Powe, a carpenter who originally used the caves as a workshop while making beach huts for the Torquay sea front.<ref name="bbc3867385"/> Powe's son, Leslie Powe, turned the caves into a tourist attraction by laying concrete paths, installing electric lighting, and building visitor facilities that later were improved, in turn, by his son John Powe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2003/kents_cavern.shtml |title=Devon Features – Kents Cavern in Torquay celebrates 100 years under the same ownership |publisher=BBC |date=31 July 2003 |access-date=3 November 2011}}</ref> The caves, now owned by Nick Powe, celebrated 100 years of Powe family ownership on 23 August 2003 with special events including an archæological dig for children and a display by a cave rescue team.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/family_friendly/kents_cavern_100.shtml |title=Special events mark Kents Cavern's centenary |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 November 2011}}</ref> A year later, a new £500,000 visitor centre was opened, including a restaurant and gift shop.<ref name="bbc3867385"/>
Attracting 80,000 tourists a year, Kents Cavern is an important tourist attraction, and this was recognised in 2000 when it was awarded Showcave of the Year award and later in November 2005 when it was awarded a prize for being Torquay's Visitor Attraction of the year.{{citation needed |date=July 2023 }}
Kents Cavern is one of the most important geosites in the English Riviera Geopark, one of over 170 UNESCO Global Geoparks.{{citation needed |date=July 2023 }}
In 2023, Kents Cavern was put up for sale for up to £2,500,000 and bought by The Tudor Hotel Collection.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cavern |first1=Kent's |title=Prehistoric Kents Cavern caves sold to hotel and leisure firm |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66437236 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=1 March 2024}}</ref>
===Kents Cavern in fiction=== "Hampsley Cavern" in Agatha Christie's 1924 novel ''The Man in the Brown Suit'' is based on Kents Cavern.<ref name="macaskill">{{Cite book | last = Macaskill | first = Hilary | year = 2009 | title = Agatha Christie at Home | publisher = Frances Lincoln Ltd}}</ref> The 2011 science fiction romance ''Time Watchers: The Greatest of These'', by Julie Reilly, uses Kents Cavern as a principal setting in three different time periods.
==See also==
* Boxgrove Quarry an important Lower Palaeolithic British archaeological site in Sussex dating to approximately 500,000 years ago * Gough's Cave * Genetic history of the British Isles * Happisburgh * List of human evolution fossils * List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain * Pakefield * Prehistoric Britain * Paviland * Pontnewydd * Swanscombe
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Kents Cavern}} {{EB1911 poster|Kent's Cavern}} * [http://www.kents-cavern.co.uk/ Kents Cavern homepage] * [http://faculty.jsd.claremont.edu/dmcfarlane/KentsCavern/index.htm Geochronology of Kents Cavern]
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