What’s behind the door? An adventure into Reigate’s Caves
Ever since we first visited Reigate we have wondered what is behind ‘that’ door. A sign saying ‘Reigate Caves’ and a list of dates they open is the only real clue as to it is down there. In case you’re from another planet (or just new like us!) and you’re wondering what door we are talking about, it’s in the Reigate Tunnel on the right hand side as you walk away from town.
What is really behind ‘that’ door?
When we saw the most recent open day for the caves, Little Reigate HQ jumped at the chance for an adventure. If we are completely honest, we didn’t know what to expect. The tours of the caves and displays are organised by Wealden Cave and Mine Society (WCMS). When we arrived, that door was open and we were marginally surprised to see the floor was tiled to the entrance. It was at that point we realised these were no ordinary caves.
The caves, East side entrance
Along Tunnel Road there are two entrances to the caves, one on the West side and one on the East side. On this visit we looked around the caves on the East side. Once inside, we were asked to wear hard hats, the eldest was very proud to wear his. Looking around this side is self guided so you can go at your own pace and make a quick exit if children start losing attention or getting antsy. The Tunnel Road was built in 1823 and the caves along this road were found. They aren’t actually caves, but old sand mines. Once the Tunnel Road was built people used them to store wines and beers. You can see why, with the temperature drop as you look around the cave.
During the First World War, the caves were used to store explosives along with other underground storage places around the South East UK. During the Second World War the caves were used as an air raid shelter and local control centre for emergency services.
There are some great displays to look at and our eldest couldn’t believe that people during the Second World War actually spent every night for many months, if not years, sleeping underneath a Morrison Shelter.
The WCMS have done a great job at displaying the various artefacts found, alongside detailed information boards. From a personal perspective we found it fascinating.
Taking little ones
Little ones are not left out of the experience of visiting the caves and can search for Hattie Hobbit in the caves. She moves around quite a bit so just because you may have found her on a previous visit doesn’t mean you will find her again this time. There are several hobbit’s owned by the caves. They were painted by children at St Piers School in Lingfield but were destined for a rather untimely demise before they were rescued and placed in the caves. Such a lovely story! Hattie Hobbit and her friends even have their own Facebook page .
We think visiting just the one cave at a time with really small children is probably about as much as their attention span will allow, as we found out when we went from this cave to Barons’ Cave.
Barons’ Cave
We followed our visit from the East side of the caves on Tunnel Road with a visit to Barons Cave. This can only be viewed as part of a guided tour and with good reason, it’s dark and to be fair you wouldn’t really see most of the exciting parts of this cave without a guide unless you knew what you were looking for.
Barons’ Cave is located in the Castle Grounds in the centre of Reigate. Nobody knows exactly how old the cave actually is, the oldest reference the WCMS have found dates to 1586. The most likely reason for the cave to have been built was as a wine cellar in medieval times for the Earl of Surrey. Again you can see why with the temperature difference between inside the cave and outside.
The guide will show you along the chambers and highlight carvings along the wall. The light has to be shone just at the right angle for you to catch a glimpse of how impressive they are and how much time must have gone into carving them. The cave itself has a high ceiling and is an impressive piece of engineering for its time.
Overall impressions
We found the history of both caves visited, incredibly interesting and would highly recommend visiting them. If you have little ones in tow, the cave on the Eastern side of Tunnel Road may hold their interest the longest. Our two children both had had enough by the time we visited Barons’ Cave so unfortunately Mr Little Reigate had to make a quick exit, definitely worth picking one cave and visiting it or spreading your visit to the caves over the day with snack or lunch breaks in between. Also worth remembering to wear sensible footwear. We will visit again in June, this time to explore the West side of Tunnel Road.
We have shared a few images with you to wet your appetite, why not pop along to the next open day to discover the full wealth of history and information the caves offer? The next open day for the caves is 9th June. After that there are three further dates for 2018–14th July, 11th August and 8th September.
Cost
Visiting the caves is FREE for children under 5, for children 5–15 the cost £1.50 for Barons’ Cave and £2.00 for Tunnel Road both sides. Adults are £2.00 and £3.00. Alternatively you can get a family ticket for £6.00 for Barons’ Cave and £9.00 for both sides of Tunnel road.
You can also find out more information by visiting http://www.reigatecaves.com/
