What is Peak Cavern known for?

Britain's largest cave entrance

How do visitors travel through Speedwell Cavern?

By boat along a flooded mine tunnel

Castleton Caverns Quiz: Blue John Stone and Peak Cavern

This Castleton caverns quiz explores the show caves beneath a Derbyshire village in the Peak District. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on rare Blue John stone, Treak Cliff and Blue John caverns, Peak Cavern's huge entrance and rope makers, the boat trip in Speedwell Cavern, Peveril Castle, Winnats Pass and Mam Tor, the shivering mountain.

Start Castleton Caverns Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Village
Which Derbyshire village has four show caves?
Stone
What rare banded mineral is found there?
Where
Where is Blue John stone found naturally?
Entrance
What is Peak Cavern known for?
Rope
Who once lived and worked inside Peak Cavern's mouth?
Boat
How do visitors travel through Speedwell Cavern?
Castle
Which Norman castle overlooks the village?
Pass
Which steep limestone gorge leads out of Castleton?
Mam
Why is Mam Tor called the shivering mountain?
Mining
What were people mining in many local caves?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which Derbyshire village has four show caves?
Answer: Castleton
It lies in the Hope Valley.
Q2: What rare banded mineral is found there?
Answer: Blue John
It is a form of fluorite.
Q3: Where is Blue John stone found naturally?
Answer: Only near Castleton
That makes it highly prized.
Q4: What is Peak Cavern known for?
Answer: Britain's largest cave entrance
It once had an old rude nickname.
Q5: Who once lived and worked inside Peak Cavern's mouth?
Answer: Rope makers
Their rope walk can still be seen.
Q6: How do visitors travel through Speedwell Cavern?
Answer: By boat along a flooded mine tunnel
It leads to a deep pit.
Q7: Which Norman castle overlooks the village?
Answer: Peveril Castle
It sits high above Peak Cavern.
Q8: Which steep limestone gorge leads out of Castleton?
Answer: Winnats Pass
Its road is very steep.
Q9: Why is Mam Tor called the shivering mountain?
Answer: Its shale slopes keep slipping
A road on it collapsed.
Q10: What were people mining in many local caves?
Answer: Lead
Old lead mines riddle the hills.

Blue John Stone and Derbyshire's Show Caves

Castleton is a village in Derbyshire's Peak District with four show caves beneath its limestone hills. Two of them, Treak Cliff and Blue John caverns, contain Blue John, a rare banded fluorite found naturally only near Castleton and carved into bowls and jewelry.

Peak Cavern has the largest cave entrance in Britain. For centuries, rope makers lived and worked inside its mouth, and their rope walk can still be seen. At Speedwell Cavern, visitors ride a boat along a flooded lead mine tunnel to a deep cavern called the Bottomless Pit.

Above the village stand the ruins of Norman Peveril Castle. Winnats Pass, a steep limestone gorge, leads west, and Mam Tor, the shivering mountain, has slopes of shale that keep slipping; an old main road across it collapsed and was abandoned in 1979.

What This Quiz Teaches

Cave fans will enjoy these questions.

What Blue John is
Which caves to visit
Who lived in the caves
How visitors travel underground
Which landmarks surround the village

Did You Know?

Peak Cavern's old nickname was too rude for Victorian guidebooks.
Concerts are sometimes held inside Peak Cavern.
Castleton holds a Garland Day each May.
Walkers climb Mam Tor for views of the Hope Valley.
Blue John was popular with Georgian collectors.