Dumore cave - Viking massacre cave - Ireland

Dunmore cave is located in Kilkenny, Ireland and is one of the many amazing natural monuments in Ireland. Dunmore caves, along with loads of the historical sites in Ireland are run by the Office of Public Works (OPW), and are cheap and in our experience have had excellent guides.

Exploring Dumore caves is only by guided tour, so it might pay to book ahead to avoid disappointment.

The entrance to the cave is literally a hole in the ground - it is easy to imagine how the land would have just collapsed millions of years ago. There are many steps down to get into the cave and it is cool as you start to get the feeling that you are really going underground.

As we continued our walk down into the cave I noticed a couple of things. Firstly that it started to get alot colder - the guides did suggest that we take warmer clothes as it could get cold down here. This makes sense as there is no sunlight down here! It is also quite damp down here, with leaks and drips often being felt from above.

Many of the rock formations are truly amazing, and the guide does an amazing job putting these into context explaining how these were created over millions of years, and how they are are build up of many different minerals. It is amazing to think that they are constantly changing shape - in another million years the cave would look completely different.

Dunmore caves is an archaeological site, and has been closed a few times over the years so that research can be undertaken. Dunmore caves was the site of a viking massacre in 928, and many viking artifacts have been found including jewelry and the remains of viking bones. After hearing the guide tell us about this I could really imagine how vikings would have been here, and it would have set an amazing backdrop for some battles.

Dumore cave is MASSIVE, and the public are only allowed to see a certain section of it as alot of it is unsafe or accessible. When the cave closes to the public researchers search through the hidden crevices looking for new artifacts or to help and tell more of histories story. I imagine many people have been lost and died in here over the years.

One of the largest rock formations has been labelled "market cross", and is the accumulation of millions of years of calcite formations. It is hard to explain how massive and impressive this is without seeing it in person. Along with market cross, the guides have stories and names for the different rock formations - it is great to let your imagination run wild with these!

Obviously with modern technology the cave is fitted with lights so we can see where we are going, and actually enjoy the rock formations. Only a few hundred years ago people would have relied on lamps, and at times would have been in complete darkness. Near the end of the tour the guide switched off all of the lights so we could see what it might be like - it was a bit creepy!

After this the tour comes to a climax and the tour groups heads back out again. This was a good time to ask any questions - our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful!

The your was only 5 euros, so very affordable for the fact that it involves touring a real cave! Well worth it!

All photos taken by me :)

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