Crank Caverns

It appears that the main portals are much newer than the deeper tunnels found behind the tight squeeze through the gated entrance.

The woodland surrounding the caverns were used as a game reserve by the Earl of Derby until 1939, when they became a storage facility for ammunition for the anti-aircraft position at Crank.

Beyond the roadway is an extensive network of tunnels, with access being possible through what is now a filled in entrance in a small patch of woodland just behind Crossdale Way, Moss Bank.

The Mousey is a smaller gated cavern next to the Elephant cave which leads into a much deeper and older set of tunnels.

The tunnels that are in the deepest section of this entrance are much older and feature long and vast stalactites and stalagmites compared to the Pillar and Stall method seen in the newer caverns.

Many people have tried to dig through here but none have succeeded, the mixture stone, mud and clay has appeared to create a natural aggregate and makes it near impossible to move.

The most well known is that during the Reformation local Catholics being persecuted by King Henry VIII (1491–1547) took shelter in the caverns and conducted secret mass there, but mining on the quarry only began in about 1730.

The petrified child stumbled over human bones in the caves and finally managed to scramble through an opening to the surface as a hand was grabbing at his ankle.