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Deil's Kettle (NW)

Bowduns, S of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, (Kincardineshire).

A seacave system consisting of two fairly short tunnels, running SW/NE side by side, separated by a vertical wall with two internal 'windows' near the ceiling.

There are two blowholes, one at the end of each tunnel/chamber. The SE chamber has, in addition, a front window above the MHWS level. It is possible to see diagonally through this, the S internal window in the dividing wall through the SW blowhole to the cliff behind. The end of this sight-line is above the entrance to Bowduns N (3).

The SW tunnel curves round to the right and ends in a jumble of boulders, above which (from inside) is a large roundish hole where the back wall would have been.

The entrance is open to waves and swell from the NE, and if this is large enough, every so often the wave action is deflected outwards and upwards through the blowhole, in much the same way as is seen against a harbour wall. Because of the jumble of rocks, the water sprays partly sideways - see geograph 6348240 . The Deil's Kettle name seems very apt if you see this in action.

Alternative Names: Devil's Kettle (NW), Bowduns (1) NW

Notes: Access: By sea

By land: The blowhole at NO 88362 84536 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 the long cave whose entrance is at NO 88321 84543 '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 gloup of that cave. Unlike the two blowholes of this cave, there is no wall at the end of the gloup to deflect waves upward. In addition, the mouth of that cave is very much less open to swell than the mouths of this cave.

2) "A cave in the cliff opposite the Bowdens" can easily be applied to the SW blowhole of this cave, but is hard to reconcile with the location of the long cave at NO 88321 84543. The latter is on the main block of Bowduns and not on any opposite cliff.