United Kingdom Cave
Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site
10 °C inside, all year.
Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 104 m.
The real relief above Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
104m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
10°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
60m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
10 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 10 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 19 °C at the entrance, 9 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are in December: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 7°3°Jan
- 7°3°Feb
- 8°3°Mar
- 12°5°Apr
- 15°8°May
- 17°11°Jun
- 19°12°Jul
- 18°12°Aug
- 16°11°Sep
- 13°8°Oct
- 10°6°Nov
- 8°4°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave and archaeological site in Wales
Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site is a cave in United Kingdom. The entrance is at 104 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Henllannearest town · 3.1 km in a straight line
- Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 43 km in a straight lineCar hire at LPL airport (Liverpool)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The Afon Elwy runs highest from November to February.
The Afon Elwy carries about 5.8 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to February.
- 8.6 m³/sJan
- 6.8 m³/sFeb
- 5.3 m³/sMar
- 3.6 m³/sApr
- 2.7 m³/sMay
- 2.5 m³/sJun
- 3.0 m³/sJul
- 3.9 m³/sAug
- 4.2 m³/sSep
- 6.3 m³/sOct
- 8.3 m³/sNov
- 9.5 m³/sDec
From about 2.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 9.5 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 221 km².
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 5other cave entrances within 3 kmBontnewydd Cave, Cefn-yr-Ogof Cave, Plas Heaton Cave and 2 more
- 2springs within 2 kmFfynnon Fair Holy Well, Brasgyll Rising
- 1marked hiking routes within 3 kmNorth Wales Pilgrim's Way
- 4car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 40campsites within 8 kmTy Mawr Holiday Park, Hart's Caravan Park, Sun Valley Caravan Park and 37 more
- 22hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmThe Kinmel Arms, Gwesty Glyndwr, Castle House and 19 more
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Henllan3.1 km in a straight line
- Trefnant3.7 km in a straight line
- Saint Asaph4.0 km in a straight line
- Bodelwyddan4.9 km in a straight line
- Denbigh6.3 km in a straight line
- Rhuddlan7.2 km in a straight line
- Dyserth9.2 km in a straight line
- Abergele9.5 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas30 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 7 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Afternoon | 7 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Night | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| Rain (mm) | 126 | 104 | 94 | 77 | 87 | 99 | 112 | 119 | 108 | 135 | 142 | 148 |
| Rainy days | 20 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 21 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.1 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7 | 7 | 3 | 126 | 1.1 |
| Feb | 7 | 7 | 3 | 104 | 2.4 |
| Mar | 8 | 8 | 3 | 94 | 4.1 |
| Apr | 12 | 12 | 5 | 77 | 5.9 |
| May | 15 | 15 | 8 | 87 | 6.7 |
| Jun | 17 | 17 | 11 | 99 | 6.3 |
| Jul | 19 | 19 | 12 | 112 | 6.1 |
| Aug | 18 | 18 | 12 | 119 | 5.4 |
| Sep | 16 | 16 | 11 | 108 | 4.4 |
| Oct | 13 | 13 | 8 | 135 | 2.6 |
| Nov | 10 | 10 | 6 | 142 | 1.4 |
| Dec | 8 | 8 | 4 | 148 | 0.9 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (104 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 94% | 262% | 116% | 53% | 22% | 142% | 134% | 138% | 77% | 152% | 102% | 156% |
| 2021 | 173% | 117% | 127% | 24% | 210% | 44% | 73% | 71% | 96% | 146% | 66% | 118% |
| 2022 | 42% | 185% | 47% | 67% | 91% | 53% | 58% | 43% | 106% | 111% | 116% | 77% |
| 2023 | 110% | 31% | 169% | 110% | 40% | 60% | 154% | 116% | 143% | 148% | 113% | 132% |
| 2024 | 133% | 150% | 139% | 153% | 122% | 59% | 96% | 82% | 112% | 79% | 56% | 119% |
| 2025 | 118% | 59% | 30% | 87% | 72% | 111% | 74% | 44% | 201% | 94% | 133% | 114% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site
United Kingdom
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 104 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Poole's Cavern
United Kingdom · 103 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 331 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Peak Cavern
United Kingdom · 114 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 269 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Thor's Cave
United Kingdom · 109 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 252 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q4942628) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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viewpoints
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