Wednesday, April 20, 2016

ABC Wednesday: O is for Ogofs below the Great Orme


Ogof is the Welsh word for cave. This is Ogof Colomennod one of several found in the Great Orme. Otherwise known as "Pigeons' Cave" it is found in Porth yr Helyg where a quarry was established to produce stone for the construction of Telford's Conwy Bridge and delivered by boat c1820. The wide limestone shelf is easily accessible and is a favourite location for sea angling. Still within Porth yr Helyg are features known as Frog's Head (a natural rock resemblance to a frog seen only from the sea) and Austen's Rock. The latter is a submerged limestone shelf named after the first keeper of Llandudno lighthouse who drew attention to this dangerous underwater feature that can only be seen at low tide.


Leftmost here is Ogof Pen Trwyn which is probably a sea cave and is only visible from the sea.

To the right of that is Ogof Haner Dydd (The Midday Cave). At 12 noon on the 21st March and the 21st September the sun shines directly into the mouth of the cave. It stretches 30m and is thought by some to be part of the Elephant Cave system.

More information on Caves of the Llandudno Area can be found on the Caves of North Wales site.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday and Wednesday Waters.

7 comments:

  1. Both picture are very nice.Telling lot of story.

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  2. Interesting account of the 'Ogofs ..I thought I was quite about the history surrounding North Wales, particularly the bridges and castles.
    Whilst I knew about Telfords Conwy Bridge I wasn't aware of the source of the Limestone used in it's construction,
    Never to old to learn something new and most interesting...
    Thank you for sharing this with us,
    Best wishes,
    Di.
    ABCW team.

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  3. Wonderful photo's.... i like rough sceneries

    Have a nice abc-wednesday-day / – week
    ♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)

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  4. Welsh is such a fascinating language.

    ROG, ABCW

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  5. Interesting post. I love that word ogof!

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  6. The Bronze Age mine on the Great Orme goes down several levels, I think it's 9 or 12. Tourists can go down a couple of levels. It can be a tight squeeze. A dead cat surrounded by a garland of blackberry seeds was found down there. Lewis Carrol was inspired to write his Alice books after meeting a young girl who worked in a hotel in Deganwy, a village on the Orme. Orme, by the way means Dragon.

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