Facing south-west, Bacon Hole has a large wide entrance which is partially blocked with with fallen rock and sections of the fossil raised beach. The cave is 36m long with an entrance 18m in width and 6m in height. As with several caves in the area, Col E.R. Wood carried out excavations in 1850 discovering pleistocene deposits and recent fauna. One antler bone bore 'distinct marks of having been wrought by human hands" (R.C.A.H.M. 1976 No 14). An Iron Age A bowl was found in superficial mud. Casual finds over the next hundred years indicate occasional domestic occupation of the cave. These finds are listed on the SMR record card, a copy of which is bound into the back of the NT report. Excavations carried out by the British Museum (Natural History) in the 1970's and 80's revealed a complex stratigraphy in the cave earths (Stringer 1975, 1977). Bone finds included bison, elephant, rhinocerus, red deer and hyena. These discoveries were used to demonstrate that the complexity in the faunal change between the last interstadial or warm climatic phase and the last glaciation was more complex than previously thought (Stringer et al 1986)
A natural cave in sea-cliffs, explored from 1850, that has produced IA, possibly RB and e.med material.
(source Os495card; SS58NE8) J.Wiles 09.07.02
also Emma Plunkett Dillon (NT Report ca 1988)

John Latham RCAHMW 21 April 2015