Shield Hill [1]

A rectangular wide mouthed (12m) cave facing the sea and with a rock wall/cliff sticking out a short way on the S side of the entrance.

It has a much smaller tunnel low down near its SW corner, starting 15m in from the main entrance, which ends in a wall 14m in from the narrow part ( photo 4) which operates as a blow-back feature near high tide and depending on the swell. (see video) This inner tunnel is completely submerged by a springs high tide - see photo 3 when it is still just visible.

This inner tunnel was first entered on 25 Mar 22 by Neale Menzies and Nigel Feilden. At the end, it widens to a width of 9.5 m in the form of apses either side.

Links and Resources:

photo1 shows the entrance in the cliff face. There is a buttress type natural arch on the right and you can just see through a part of that. 2 Aug 18
photo 2 shows the entrance from closer. The blow-back tunnel can just be made out, not quite at the bottom left corner. 2 Aug 18
photo 3 shows the top of the entrance to the inner tunnel exposed during a trough in the swell on 27 Feb 21 This is a frame from the video below.
video taken 27 Feb 21 at 15:52 about 2hrs after a 4.5 m high tide. Only 30 mins previously, the level was higher so that the inner cave was nearly sealed and only a few bubbles went in or out.
Photo 4 was taken on 3 Mar 21 at 11:34, about 1.5 hrs after a 0.8 m low tide. There was too much swell to go into the inner cave. There was no view of what happens on the inside to the right or left.
Photo 5 taken on 16 June 22 at 19:48. The tide level was 2.1 m and almost none of the S swell got in here.
Photo 6 shows the apse on the left (S) at the end. Taken just after photo 5.
Photo 7 shows the apse on the right (N) at the end. Taken just after photo 6.
Not on OS.

This entry was last updated: 2022-06-17 20:08:25

Errors or omissions in this information? Submit corrections/additions/comments for this entry to the registrars.

NGR:	NO 85900 74721
WGS84:	56.86369, -2.23288
Length:	29 m
Vert. Range:	16 m
Altitude:	-1 m
Geology:	Gourdon Sandstone Formation
Tags:	Cave, SeaCave
Registry:	main

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