1. RATIONALE FOR AND AIMS OF THE DATABASE

i. Caves are a very important and integral component of a limestone (karst) landscape.

Caves may have:

•  Sporting/recreational value

•  Archaeological/palaeo-environmental/palaentological value – repositories of artefacts and environmental indicators that are often destroyed above ground

•  Ecological importance (entrance zone, twilight zone, deep cave habitats);

terrestrial and, in stream caves, aquatic habitats

•  Potential tourist importance (e.g. Dunmore, Crag, Aillwee caves)

•  Folklore associations e.g. Vigo Cave, Kilcorney Cave Co. Clare

ii. Some countries e.g. France, Spain, Slovenia with extensive karst have major conservation programmes for caves – e.g. World Heritage sites such as in Slovenia (Skocjanske Jama) the painted caves of Spain and France; the network of 18 caves with exceptional stalactites and stalagmites in France; Carlsbad and Mammoth Caves in USA; Karain Cave in Turkey; Phong Nha-Ke Bang (Vietnam); Mulu (Deer Cave) Malaysia; Bhimbelka Cave (India)

iii. Despite the widespread occurrence of limestone and hence karst and caves in Ireland (50% of the country is underlain by limestones) the only comparable scheme this far implemented in Ireland is the “Review of the Karst Heritage of the Republic of Ireland carried out for the Geological Survey of Ireland/Duchas. This listed and described karst sites of international, national and regional importance in Ireland. It included all karst features but had a limited number of entries – thus only a few caves were included (for potential protection). Even fewer are caves presently afforded any conservation status, as commercial caves in the case of Aillwee, Mitchelstown and Crag caves, and for archaeological (National Monument) reasons in the case of Dunmore Cave.

iv. This database builds upon this Karst Heritage study by itemising all known caves in

and providing a brief summary of their attributes.

v. Cave sites may be threatened in a variety of ways, for example:

• Water pollution and/or excessive or inappropriate water exploitation
• Infilling with refuse or infilling due to land clearance (common in rural areas)
• Land use changes e.g. afforestation or deforestation which may lead to sediment infilling a cave
• Inappropriate or mismanaged commercialisation
• Excessive use or misuse by sporting cavers
• Quarrying
• Mining
• Urbanisation/industrialization e.g. Ennis, Cork

The database will provide baseline information concerning caves which may be of value if

threats to their integrity become apparent; an ever-increasing risk given the current

rates of development and growth in Ireland .

2. STRUCTURE OF THE DATABASE (the 20 database fields)

•  I.D. number (1-n)

•  Cave name

•  Type of Cave

Location (Location 1-4)

•  1:50,000 O.S. map sheet

•  County

•  National Grid Reference

•  Altitude

Attributes (value) (Att. 1-8)

•  Recreation

•  Geology

•  Archaeology

•  Biota

•  Palaeo-environment

•  Tourism/Educational potential

•  Folklore associations

•  Palaentology

Evaluation (Eval. 1-3)

•  Summary valuation

•  Vulnerability/threat

•  Comments

Cave Description

Reference(s)

3. EXPLANATION OF THE DATABASE FIELDS

Identification

•  I.D. number

•  A unique numeric identifying code Cave name; presently 1-688

•  Cave name

•  Commonly the name given by the original cave explorers. Some caves have more than one name – the most commonly used is adopted in the database and subsidiary name(s) are noted in ‘Comments'.. If no name exists the cave is named after the Townland. in which it is located if it is known. Where several caves occur close to one another they are either treated as a single cave in title or given numbers to differentiate them.

•  Type of Cave

•  Caves carrying a stream (active caves) are differentiated from abandoned, inactive caves whose hydrological origin may not be apparent (Relict Caves).

Location

•  The number of the 1:50,000 O.S. Discovery Series sheet on which the cave is located.

•  County

•  Caves are known from 21 of the 26 counties in Ireland. Those counties with no known caves are: Carlow, Kildare, Meath, Louth and Wexford.

•  NGR

•  A 4,6 or 8 figure grid reference depending on the precision with which the site can be described (less exact if for a group of caves). The grid references are derived from the literature, from 1:50,000, 1:10,500 maps and from GPS measurements in the field. In some cases it is not possible to give a grid reference as although a cave has been described in the literature its location has not.

•  Altitude

•  From 1:50,000, 1:10,500 maps and GPS measurements. Datum is Malin and values are commonly to within 5-10m though only approximate altitudes are available in some instances.

Attributes

•  Recreation

•  An assessment of whether a cave provides a recreational experience for an experienced and fully equipped caver. Limiting cases would be a cave that consists solely of a short muddy crawl and which would be regarded as having (as of now) no recreational value as compared to an extensive cave system with a variety of situations and obstacles which would be considered to be of great recreational value (for example the Coolagh River Cave in Co. Clare). Aside from these clear cut examples, rating caves in terms of their recreational value is a largely subjective process. The rating takes into account only the present extent of the cave and not the potential for finding further passages. The rating does not take into account the difficulty of the cave.

•  Geology

•  Caves which possess significant geological, geomorphological or hydrological features such as unusual passage morphology, fossil passages, complex hydrology, unusual lithology, secondary deposits such as calcite. For example the Aille River Cave in Co. Mayo; Moran's Cave, Co. Galway.

•  Archaeology

•  Caves in which human remains/artefacts or other associations have been discovered.: e.g. Kilturagh Cave, Co. Limerick ; Dunmore Cave Co. Kilkenny. Such data have been supplied by Marion Dowd of N.U.I. Cork, Department of Archaeology It is important to note that the fact that archaeological material has not been discovered at a cave does not necessarily mean that the cave does not contain such materials. Many more caves in Ireland have the potential to yield such finds, especially relict caves with potential palaeo-environmental significance and/or with entrance facies.

•  Biota

•  Caves known to have a biological significance e.g. because of a distinctive entrance ecology, or because of the presence of , for example, cave fish, insects or bats (hibernation or occasional visiting site in respect of bats). In practice most of these sites relate to their occupation by lesser horseshoe bats as this has been the focus of cave faunal research in recent years: e.g. Edenvale Caves, Co. Clare; although there are exceptions: e.g. Ballyglunin Cave, Co. Galway (eels).

•  Palaeo-environment

•  Caves which contain material which has been or could be used to derive palaeo-environmental information either relating to the cave itself or to the outside surroundings, e.g. calcite deposits for dating, cave sediments:

e.g. Crag Cave, Co. Kerry; Aillwee Cave, Co. Clare To date, few caves have been investigated in this respect but all caves which contain secondary deposits are potentially valuable as sources of palaeo-environmental and indeed archaeological and palaentological information.

•  Tourism/Educational potential

•  Caves that have already been developed as tourist attractions (Crag, Mitchelstown, Aillwee, Dunmore) and caves which have such potential or are of general interest as sites: e.g. The Pullauns, Co. Donegal.

•  Folkloric or cultural or historical associations: Caves which are associated with mythical or actual past events e.g. Kilcorney Cave, Co. Clare (wild horses), Tory Cave Co. Cavan (Lughnasa celebrations). Only caves for which such information has been published are included but it is very probably that on a local level and in the aural tradition many more caves could be identified with folkloric beliefs.

•  Palaentological

•  Caves which have yielded the remains of extinct fauna: e.g. Mammoth Cave, Co. Cork, Kesh Caves, Co. Sligo Only a fraction of potential cave sites in Ireland have been excavated to date, mainly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

If a cave is known to possess one or more of the attributes listed above this is indicated by (1) in the cell. The total number of attributes known and listed for each cave is given (out of a total of 8 attributes included) but as remarked earlier this is a minimum value corresponding to the present day state of knowledge of each cave.

Vulnerability

•  An assessment of known actual or potential threats to the integrity of the cave and/or its contents: e.g. pollution/tipping, e.g. proximity to developments such as urbanization. Almost all cave entrances are vulnerable to damage or even closure in the event of land-use changes e.g. afforestation, reclamation, urbanization in their vicinity. These generalized, potential threats are referred to in the data base where appropriate but the threat may not be realized in any particular instance..

Comments

•  This may include very brief description of the cave attributes or peculiarities that distinguish the cave and/or other singularities pertaining to the cave.

Cave Description

•  A one-line description of the cave. The length and depth given for a cave are the explored and surveyed (or estimated) values presently available. Unlike mountains and other natural land features, the total number of caves is unknown as many have not yet been discovered. Likewise, the size of a cave may increase if new passages are discovered and so the values given are applicable only to the time of writing.

References

•  Key reference(s) if available, normally a maximum of two per cave. One reference normally describes the cave in some detail whilst a second reference usually elaborates on one or more attribute; e.g. archaeological interest, that the cave possesses. If the cave has importance for two or more disparate attributes then a key reference for each is given wherever possible (e.g. geology, archaeology) as the literature for these disciplines is commonly very separate. Counties Cork and Clare, with numerous caves, are well documented with guide books for cavers and these sources are commonly given as primary descriptive references for the caves in those areas.

These guide books are:

Oldham, A. 1981, The Caves of Co. Cork, Crymych, Dyfed

Mullan, G. 2003 Caves of County Clare and South Galway, Bristol

For archaeological sites the normal general reference given is:

Dowd, M. 2004 Caves: Sacred Places in the Irish Landscape, PhD Thesis, Dept. Archaeology, University College Cork

4. NOTES ON THE DATABASE

• Included in the database are all known all accessible caves (included flooded caves) but not potential cave sites such as springs, swallow holes and dolines which do not have an associated cave explored as yet.
• Only caves of solutional origin (karst caves) and tectonic origin (the latter being very limited in number in Ireland) are included. Caves presumed to be of purely marine or human origin are not included.
• Data sources for the listed caves include the published and unpublished literature, information from individual cavers or researchers and site visits. Caving/speleological literature is by far the most abundant source of information.
• The database is certainly not complete and not wholly accurate. A central assumption is that it is intended to provide a base on to which new information can be added – either new caves or new data concerning known caves (e.g. archaeological, biological). It is not just that not all explored caves in Ireland have been documented but also the fact that new caves can be and are being discovered on a regular basis . unlike mountains for example where the number is known and unchanging.
• Some areas with caves are well described in the literature (e.g. Clare, Cavan have detailed and up-to-date guide books to the caves) whilst other regions (e.g. Midlands, south) are less well documented. For example, County Leitrim, though having the second largest number of caves of any county, is very poorly documented, in respect of cave numbers and locations. In some areas (e.g. Monaghan) little information has been added since the 1965 publication Caves of Ireland by J. C. Coleman, still the only caving handbook on a national scale.
• The most abundant information available is that concerning caves as recreational sites. Considerable information is now also available concerning caves as archaeological sites thanks to the research of Marion Dowd (N.U.I. Cork). However, other aspects of caves have generated comparatively few publications and have been the subject of comparatively little research: e.g. palaentology (information is confined to a list of sites in Coleman, subsequently updated by Coilin O' Drisceoil); e.g. biota – (largely confined to regionally limited surveys of bats).

• The valuation procedure attempts to evaluate caves as heritage resources. Inevitably the method is subjective and can only yield a rough approximation as to the ‘worth' of a site. The ‘value' of many attributes of caves is unknown – few caves have been the subject of archaeological, biological or palaeo-environmental surveys for example, so in many instances it is the potential value that is given rather than known significance. For example all dry caves with sediment fills are potentially important in geological, archaeological and palaeo-environmental terms. The fact that a cave is not listed as having a particular attribute does not necessarily mean that it is not present but may simply mean that the cave has not been examined with respect to that attribute.
• In instances where the existence and/or provenance of a cave is uncertain, the site has normally been included in the database so that a record of the site exists which may subsequently be confirmed or refuted in the light of improved knowledge. Any such uncertainty is acknowledged in the ‘comments' field.

5. SUMMARY STATISTICS FROM THE DATABASE

The main findings from the database concerning caves in Ireland are as follows.

• The total number of caves in the Republic of Ireland recorded in the database is 676. Their distribution by county is shown in Table 1 below and graphically in Figure 1

Table 1 Cave numbers in Ireland by County

Clare, with almost 38% of all caves (259 caves) is overwhelmingly dominant with Leitrim (99 caves, 14% of the total) coming second. Between them counties Clare, Leitrim, Galway, Cork, and Sligo account for 80% of known caves. The cave number given for Leitrim is certainly an underestimate as many undifferentiated groups of rift caves on the plateaux have been listed as single site. Further field surveys are required to clarify and distinguish the cave sites.

Figure 1 Proportion of total cave numbers by county

• In terms of total length of cave passage per county, the dominance of Co. Clare is even more marked. Of the total passage length of 147km in the country, Clare has 67% whilst Leitrim, with a large number of shorter caves has only 2% of the total. Counties Galway, Cork and Kerry each have only 7 -8% of the cave passage length of Co. Clare. Clare caves (often long stream passages) average twice the length of those of any other county (Table 2, Figure 2).

Table 2 Cave passage length per county

Table 3 Cave attributes by county

• Cave attributes by county and in total are shown in Table 3.

•  Some 42% of caves have geological significance and 41% have potential palaeo-environmental significance. This is to be expected given the ‘museum' function of caves.

•  The low proportion of caves with known folkloric or palaentological interest may reflect a lack of research in these fields rather than being actually the case

•  Some 58 caves have tourism interest, actual or realized, in which either the cave interior or its site is of wider public interest. A much greater number of caves might, upon investigation, prove to have general public interest either directly or via their associations (folkloric or archaeological for example).

• Table 4 shows the absolute and relative distribution of cave types, caves with streams and relict (abandoned) caves. Caves which have relict passages but which also contain a stream have been classified as stream caves.

•  Overall some 51% of caves are classified as ‘stream' and 49% as being ‘relict'. The proportions would be different had allowance been made for those relict systems which have subsequently been invaded by a stream

•  Of the areas with a significant number of caves, counties Cork, Waterford and Sligo have a high proportion of relict caves (100% in the case of Waterford) and consequently a high proportion of the caves in these counties have archaeological or palaeo-environmental interest.

Table 4 Distribution of Stream Caves and Relict Caves by County

• 123 caves (19% of the total) have actual or potential hazards which render the cave system vulnerable in whole or part. Most of the threats are potential e.g. forestry, quarrying Of the actual hazards the commonest are related to pollution (usually agricultural in origin). Severe pressure due to the number of visitors is confined to a few caves which are extensively used for recreation.

6. FUTURE WORK

In order for the database to be of any value its contents must be available to organizations and individuals who may have an interest in caves. To this end it is intended that:

• The database will be published in the leading Irish and British Speleological Journals.
• That on-line versions be provided on appropriate web sites (Speleological Union of Ireland, University of Bristol Speleological Society and an archaeological and a palaeo-environmental web site)
• That planning authorities, Government Departments concerned with the environment, heritage and wildlife and An Taisce, are made aware of the existence of the database.

The database will be updated regularly and, it is hoped, expanded in terms of explanatory detail and bibliographic coverage.

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Marion Dowd of N.U.I. Cork supplied all the information concerning caves as archaeological sites, the information being taken from her PhD thesis: Caves: Sacred Places in the Irish Landscape (2004).

Ferdia Marnell of Parks and WildlifeDepartment and Kate Makaney of the VWT Bat Project kindly provided information from their bat databases,

Coilin O' Drisceoil provided information on caves containing extinct faunal remains.

Graham Prole contributed information on caves in Leinster

Nigel Monaghan of the National Museum of Ireland provided data from the National Museum of Ireland files on cave sites.

Gareth Jones, John Kelly, Graham Mullan, Mike Simms gave information on various caves throughout the country. Adrian Thomas investigated some Limerick caves. Frank McDermott (N.U.I. Dublin) provided data on caves with calcite deposits which have been dated.