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Petticowick Harbour Cave (E entrance)

St. Abbs, St. Abb's Head, Berwickshire.

BN03CV01, Cave at Petticowick Harbour, is let into a steeply sloping cliff of hard metamorphic rock, and is essentially cruciform in plan view. The entrance, with a fullwidth rock pool, consists of a narrow gully for approximately 5m before the roof closes over. The cave then widens gradually into a high chamber, and at 9 to 11m distance, narrow overhanging side arms go off to either side (the western arm isn't closed, but connects via a very narrow slanted slot into another cave or 'exit tunnel' next door). At 11 to 12m, the main chamber is crossed by a sloping rock wall (this forms the opposite wall for the two side arms) which slopes back up to the ceiling, but which is cut through centrally by a narrow gully. This narrow gully continues up a slope to meet the descending ceiling at the rear of the cave approximately 22m from the entrance.

The rock pool at the entrance is at approximately 3.0m ACD, but behind this the boulder floor slopes up to the back of the cave by an additional 2.7m. The floor and walls of the outer half of the main cave receive light through the constricted entrance, but the floor and walls towards the rear of the cave are less well lit. The overhanging and sloping walls of the side arms to the cave, the ceiling, and the side tunnel are dark. The exit tunnel opens out of the same sloping cliff as the main cave, some 10m further to the west (Figure 3.2 and Figure 3.3)

Despite having an entrance high in the mid shore, the physical character of this cave is clearly influenced by wave action, with a floor of smoothly rounded cobbles to large boulders and an outer half with smoothly eroded lower walls. [Report 069]

This GSG entry is in dispute with the above description in that it considers all the tunnels shown in the Report 069 plan below as contributing to the total length. Report 069 gives the length at 22.1 m which is that of the E tunnel. On the 'all tunnels' basis, the plan - when looking from the entrances - resembles a lower case 'h'.

Alternative Names: Pettico Wick Harbour Cave

Notes: Access: from shore at low tide.

Altitude is ACD.

The full length of this cave system scales out at about 49 m from the plan below, but an estimated 4 m needs to be subtracted because both entrances are open at the top for some distance.