Gypsies' Cave

A raised beach sea cave, running east along the south face of the block through which the Clashach Cove Subterraneous Passage runs. It is 4.1 m high and 4.1 m wide (at ground level) at the entrance. The floor slopes down for ca. 10 m and is then fairly level. Sand floor. (3)

"Its companion 40 feet inland is a raised beach cave some 30 feet above high tide level. The entrance is 17 feet wide, roughly the same height and leads into a passage of similar dimensions for 100 feet at which point the passage narrows and lowers to seven feet high, five feet wide. It goes for a further 60 feet, belling out in the middle to about 10 feet." (2)

(4) and (5) make it clear that the N wall of the cave is on a fault line which is of considerable interest to oilfield geologists. It is also clear that the cave itself is of no interest to them at all.

Access: from the Moray coastal path, east from Hopeman - or see access to Clashach Quarry Cave.

Links and Resources:

(1) 1st Ed 25" OS for the name. The current OS has a cave dot at NJ 16018 70111 (23 m away) which presumably refers to this cave, as there is no cave visible at the dot location.
(2) GSG Bulletin, 4th Series, vol. 3, no. 3, Mar 10, p. 18 by Jim Salvona.
(3) Photo 1 visit 14 Nov 20 by N Feilden.
(4) www.geolsoc.org.uk/GeositesClashachMoray
(5) www.pet.hw.ac.uk/vft/quarry.html
Memories by Constance Gordon-Cumming, 1904 has her picture labelled 'Hell's Hole'. See linked text on the following page 63. Clearly a depiction of the entrance to Gypsie's Cave with the entrance to the subterranean passage on its left. Its viewpoint is a bit to the left of that of photo 1.
Illustration of Hell's Hole in 'Memories'. It is not clear what the row of objects sticking out of the sea are. They do however remind one of the channel marking poles common in muddy estuaries around East Anglia - so just possibly buoys with poles marking the way in to Clashach Port at NJ 16229 70305 marked on the 1st Ed OS map.
3D model of Clashach Cove which allows one to view all the exterior surfaces around Clashach Cove, including this cave. Best using a mouse because the wheel controls zoom in or out along the current line of sight. It would be even better if the interiors of the several caves were included.
Photo 2 shows the entrance from closer to, looking E.
Photo 3 taken from about the middle of the first chamber, showing the narrower passage on the left, to the middle chamber.
Photo 4 inside the middle chamber, looking inward (E).
Photo 5 looking E at the end of the tunnel.
Photo 6 looking back (W) towards the entrance. A careful look will see a bit of sky over the top of the sand dune/talus pile.
Oldham, Tony, 2007, Caves of Scotland: A Bibliography has a reference to Helg's Hole via Zehmeke, Eric, 1990, Covesea Caving - A Step into the Past, translated from the German by Uwe Strauss. BC 110 1-22 and a location given as NJ 180 707 the reasoning behind which is a mystery.

This entry was last updated: 2025-01-16 13:16:05

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NGR:	NJ 16006 70131
WGS84:	57.71309, -3.41142
Length:	49 m
Vert. Range:	6 m
Altitude:	12 m
Geology:	Hopeman Sandstone Formation
Tags:	Cave, SeaCave
Registry:	main

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