Clearwell Caves are a collection of six mines; Clearwell, Old Ham, Lambsquay, Old Bow, Oak Pit, New Dunn. The interconnected cave systems were formed by underground streams from around 180 million years ago. They have been mined originally for ochre, then for iron ore from Iron Age times Circa 100BC increasing from Roman times and extensively in the last century, which considerably enlarged and extended the network of natural caverns. Ochre has been mined here for even longer. The nearby scowles at the Secret Forest and Puzzlewood represent shallow surface mines which have been exposed from above and later became entrances to the deeper mines. Clearwell Caves are still worked intermittently to produce coloured ochres for use as natural pigments. These are washed and milled for sale in the mine's own shop. A range of ochre colours are available, from golden yellow to English Reds. Clearwell is also known as one of the few locations where the rare purple ochre may be found. Nine well lit chambers have been made easily accessible to the visitors, with displays throughout. There is a small museum, shop and café. A network of much deeper chambers can be visited in the presence of an experienced guide and with appropriate caving equipment for safety. The upper caves are open to the general public.
Recreational use
Parts of the caves were originally opened to the public by Ray Wright from 1968 and are now managed by his son Jonathan Wright. The caves have been used as a Santa's Grotto at Christmas time for many years, for easter egg hunts and in the summer barbecues, concerts and theatrical performances. One chamber is large enough to permit underground functions, including an annual Halloween Party hosting over 300 people. Parts of the Doctor Who episodes "The Christmas Invasion", "The Satan Pit" and "Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" were filmed in the caves,. All the underground scenes of the BBC series "Merlin", were filmed in the Caves. The caves have also long been used for filming science fiction scenes, such as in Blake's 7. The caves featured substantially in the children's series "The Changes", "The Jensen Code" and "Kidnapped" among many others. More recently the caves have been featured in episodes of Britannia and His Dark Materials.
Claims of paranormal phenomena at the caves have been made over the years. These include reports of the sound of metal clanging in the distance and reported sightings of an old miner and the sound of footsteps and pick axes working.
The caves were featured in an episode of Words and Pictures presented by Michael Hobbs featuring the letter U and the book Under the Stairs by Fiona Dunbar. The caves were also used as the interior for the Sycorax spaceship in the Doctor Who Christmas special, The Christmas Invasion in 2005.
