Travelmania Ireland - Aillwee Cave, County Clare

Aillwee Cave, Co. Clare

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Description

Aillwee Cave (Irish: Pluaiseanna na hAille Buí) (Also known as McGanns Cave) is the most famous of the many thousands of ancient caves beneath the karst-landscape of the Burren in northwest County Clare. The name Aillwee is derived from the Irish Aill Bhuí which means yellow cliff.

The cave system consists of over a kilometer of passages leading into the heart of the mountain. Its features include an underground river and a waterfall as well as some large stalactites and stalagmites. The remains of bears can also be seen inside the caves and allusions have been made to it being the last bear den in Ireland. Roughly 300 meters of cave passage is open to the public, one third of the total length of the cave. The tours end at a point called the highway and exit the cave via a 250 meter manmade tunnel. The cave is typical of the Clare caves, consisting in the main of stream passage and ending in a sump. The general direction is east-west but turns due south some 600 meters into the cave.

The cave is considerably older than most of the Clare caves and originally contained a large stream. The cave is now largely deserted of the stream and is heavily backfilled with glacial infill. The formations visible on the show cave tour are rarely more than 8000 years old but calcite samples in the recesses of the cave have been dated to over 350,000 years old.

It was discovered in 1944, when a farmer named Jacko McGann followed his dog that was chasing a rabbit. The farmer did not explore very far into the caves, and did not tell anyone of the find for nearly 40 years. He told cavers of the cave in 1973 and that summer the cave was explored as far a boulder choke. Show cave development began quite soon after. The boulder choke was removed in 1977 and access was gained to the rest of the cave. The Marine Blast tunnel was completed in 1992 to allow a circular trip. The caves are now open daily from 9:30am throughout the year.

The caves appear in the Father Ted episode "The Mainland" under the name "The Very Dark Caves".

Watch cheese being made in the dairy, or perhaps honey being extracted from dripping combs in the apiary. Award winning cheese is a Gouda-type cheese. It is classed as a farmhouse cheese because we use unpasturised cows milk. You can come into the Farm Shop and sample the cheeses for yourself and see the ongoing process.

History
- 1944 discovered by Jacko McGann
- 1973 first exploration by cavers
- 1976 work began on making the cave accessible to the public, first tours through the cave
- 21st June 1977 breakthrough to great cavern behind a boulder fall
- 1979 tour path completed to the Highway
- 1986 Jacko McGann died, age 89 years
- 1988 October 1-millionth visitor
- 1989 a tricke enlarged to form a waterfall
- 1992 circular tour completed