CLEARWELL CA
GOING UNDERGR
When you stand on the ground, do
you ever think if there is a world
underneath? Caves are exactly
that - an awesome network of
underground rooms joined together.
In winter, caves can be warmer than
the ground above! They stay at 10
degrees all year round.
and sometimes they’re not hard
but soft and crumbly and colourful,
which we call “ochre”. Iron is used to
make metal tools and ochre is used in
paint – who knows, it could be in paint
you’ve used yourself! In fact Clearwell
Caves is one of the last places in
Great Britain where ochre is found.
Caves - animals live in them, people
explore them and some are used for
mining. Mining (it sounds like my-ning)
means that the most useful rocks and
minerals are taken out so that we can
use them. I went along to Clearwell
Caves which are used for all of those.
Clearwell Caves are in a beautiful
area of England called the Forest
of Dean. The caves are very special
because there is an important
metal in them called iron. Rocks
containing iron are called “iron ore”
10 SPARK
Three types of
ochre