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Bowduns N (2)

Dunnottar, Bowdun Head, Aberdeenshire, (Kincardineshire).

A tall, straight sea cave running approx west-south-west. It has a sinkhole, approx 20m long, close to the entrance which, from above, is in the bottom of a steep sided depression.

Beyond the sinkhole, the section is riftlike, becoming rapidly narrower as it goes up.

At the SW end there is a pebble beach.

Width at entrance is 3.4m. It widens out a bit after that.

Alternative Names: Deil's Kettle

Notes: Access: By sea

By land: The sinkhole at NO 88311 84535 can be reached by leaving the coastal path at NO 87924 84552 and walking down the edge of the field and then on rough paths on Bowduns.

As noted below, the 1st Ed 25in OS labels this cave as 'Deil's Kettle'. However, that is inconsistent with the Namebook description below in two respects:

1) In stormy weather, there is no visible tendency for spray to come up through the sinkhole of this cave. Unlike the two blowholes of the cave under NO 88360 84550, there is no wall at the SW end of the sinkhole to deflect waves upward. The entrance is much too tall for storm waves to seal the entrance and blow air out by a water piston action. In addition, the mouth of this cave is very much less open to swell than the mouths of the cave under NO 88360 84550. Both blowholes of the latter cave have been observed to match the Namebook description exactly.

2) "A cave in the cliff opposite the Bowdens" can easily be applied to the SW blowhole of that cave, but is hard to reconcile with this one - which is on the main block of Bowduns and not on any opposite cliff.