Hilton's Cove N

A partly intertidal double rift cave. There is a big lump of conglomerate under the entrance which looks as if it was once part of a dividing wall between two parallel tunnels, the W end of which extend 12.4 and 13.4 (N) beyond an inner dividing wall. There is extensive flowstone on the N wall of the N tunnel.

The cave is 14.8 m wide 5m inside (the W end of the lump), and is 10.9 floor to ceiling at that point. The current ridge of the pebble storm beach is from 22 to 16 m in and the width there is 11.8 m and beach to ceiling 6.3 m. The rise to this point was estimated to be 3.5 m.

The dividing pillar is 33.3 m in at local beach level - it leans quite a bit seaward. Cave width is 14 m at this point and the extension tunnel axes are about 7m apart. The N tunnel is about 5m wide for 9.6 m, with its N wall at about 45 deg up to 2.5 m above the beach and further up it leans back to the N. The last 3.8 m is a narrow rift with the usual crop of buoys, drums and drink bottles jammed in the end crack. The flowstone is on the N wall only - see photos.

The S extension is narrow to begin with and the opens out to about 5.2 m wide and 2.5 m floor to ceiling.

Links and Resources:

Current OS cave dot.
OS 1st Ed 25in map shows this cave as 'Hilton's Cove' and an outline, which, like that of Braddie's and the cave immediately S, is inaccurate - as it shows the tunnel turning right (N) and does not show the division into two tunnels at the W end. Perhaps it got mixed up with Braddie's - which does turn quite sharply right, but is shown as being straight.
OS Namebook for Kinneff & Catterline, Kincardineshire, p27 Hilton's Cove: A large cave on the coast immediately S. [South] of Braddie's Cove.
Photo 1 This cave is the one in the middle.
Photo 2 - entrance near HW. The entrances to the two extension tunnels can be seen at the back.
Photo 3 - the same view as photo 2, but near a 1.8 m neap low tide.
Photo 4 shows the S side of the beach, near HW on 4 Nov 20. The two white objects fairly low on the beach are seal pups. They must have been less than 3 weeks old because they are white and were probably still being suckled - perhaps by the adult grey seal to the right of them.
Photo 5 looks out ENE from about 24 m inside. The block on the far side of the kayak was probably once part of a dividing wall between two rift tunnels.
Photo 6 looks WSW into the entrance of the S extension tunnel. Note the pale green algal growth which is much less present on the N side of the dividing wall.
Photo 7 was taken looking ENE from the mouth of the S extension tunnel. The white line is a 30m tape. Note the ridge at the top of the storm beach with a shallow depression towards the landward side. This is common in such caves and means that unless a landing is made, one cannot be sure whether or not there is some low feature beyond the ridge which cannot be seen from the water.
Photo 8 - the last 2.8 m of the N extension tunnel, now a narrow rift. The is some flowstone near top right.
Photo 9 - closeup of some flowstone on the RH (N) wall of the N extension.
Photo 10 - more flowstone on the N wall. It slopes away from the camera quite sharply - ca 45 deg.

This entry was last updated: 2021-08-08 10:38:49

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NGR:	NO 87588 79021
WGS84:	56.90236, -2.20540
Length:	59.1 m
Vert. Range:	9.8 m
Altitude:	1 m
Geology:	Catterline Conglomerate Formation
Tags:	Cave, SeaCave
Registry:	main

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