Clapham is a village in North Yorkshire, with a population of roughly 600. It's set in the limestone scenery of the Dales, and its main attractions are Ingleborough show cave and the cave complex of Gaping Gill.
Get in
[edit]
Clapham is off A65 between Settle and Kirkby Lonsdale. This road is congested on summer weekends. Use the Dales National Park pay and display: there are public toilets here and a charging point. At quiet times you might find free parking in the village but please avoid inconvenience to residents.
Lonsdale Bus 581 takes 25 min from Kirkby Lonsdale via Ingleton, and continues to Austwick, Giggleswick and Settle. There are seven M-Sa, none on Sunday. The bus stop is by New Inn Hotel.
Dales Bus 832 runs April-mid Oct on Sundays from Hawes, taking an hour via Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Settle and Giggleswick, continuing to Ingleton. It connects in Hawes with a bus from Middlesborough via Darlington and Richmond. At Ingleton it waits an hour then sets off back, so it's not much use for a day trip.
1 Clapham Station is 1½ miles west of the village. Trains from Leeds run every two hours, taking 70 min via Keighley, Skipton, Gargrave and Giggleswick, and continuing to Bentham, Carnforth, Lancaster and Morecambe.
No ticket office or machines, buy on board if your journey starts here. No toilets or waiting room. There is step-free access to Platform 1 for Leeds, but a footbridge with no wheelchair work-around to Platform 2 for Lancaster.
Get around
[edit]You're here to hike, so grit your teeth against the weather and get going. Best maps are OS Landranger 98 "Wensleydale & Upper Wharfedale" at 1:50,000, and OS Outdoor Leisure 2 "Yorkshire Dales West" at 1:25,000.
There's a toll to use the trail along Clapham Beck, of £2.50 adult / £1 child in 2025. This trail is the best approach to Ingleborough Cave and the toll is rolled into your admission price. There are alternative routes to Ingleborough summit: not that you begrudge the toll, but the "family-oriented" amusements along it are twee to the point of nausea.
See and do
[edit]
- Village centre is grey-harled traditional farmsteads, stern and practical. St James Church was founded in Norman times but the building is mostly 19th century.
- The lake above the village is ornamental, formed by a dam over the beck, which escapes down artificial waterfalls. The beck flows southwest into the River Wenning near the railway station, eventually to join the Lune then the Irish Sea below Lancaster.
- 1 Ingleborough Cave, Clapham LA2 8EE, ☏ +44 1524 251242. Daily 10AM–4PM. Large show cave decorated with stalactites and stalagmites, part of an extensive system carved out by streams plunging down through the mountain. The ticket price includes the toll for the access trail. Adults £17.50, conc £15, child £9.50.
- Ingleborough is the only show cave, suitable for the general public. The others should only be entered with suitable training, experience, equipment and back-up. Folk larking about by the light of their phone are not destined to return in one piece.
- 2 Trow Gill is a ravine along the path ascending Ingleborough, probably formed by collapse of a cave system. It's a dry gorge, as the stream that carved it out is nowadays somewhere underground. Its cliffs are popular rock-climbing routes. Foxholes is a nearby small cave in which were found remains of prehistoric man.
- 3 Bar Pot is a large sinkhole that's one of the main access routes into the Gaping Gill cave system, as it's drier than most. A descending passage leads to the first of two substantial pitches - underground cliffs - and so on down. Two alternate entrances nearby are Small Mammal Pot (named for the bones found within) and Stile Pot, where one tight squeeze is known as the Molestrangler.
- Flood Entrance Pot 100 yards north of Bar Pot is perhaps a misnomer - it's not where water cascades in, but the way into Gaping Gill cave system when other routes are flooded. However an easier way starts 30 yards northeast, Wade's Entrance, with OBJ Entrance another 80 yards on.
- Disappointment Pot is 130 yards southeast of the main entrance to Gaping Gill. It looked sure to be an alternate, but got its name when initial exploration in 1912 fetched up against a flooded passage. In 1944 one bold soul swam through to an air pocket and cleared the rubble damming the stream. This opened the passage to Hensler's Master Cave in the main system.
- 4 Gaping Gill is a large sinkhole where the Fell Beck cascades over a 98 m / 322 ft drop - the longest sheer-drop waterfall in England - to percolate an extensive cave system and re-emerge from Ingleborough Cave. Because it's such a large sheer chasm, light percolates to the main chamber at the base, and it's possible for non-cavers to be winched in and out. This is organised over summer public holiday weekends, by Bradford Pothole Club in late May and by Craven Pothole Club in August. Booking essential and allow two hours to hike up from Clapham village.
- Stream Passage Pot is yet another entrance, 350 yards east of the main chasm.
- 5 Ingleborough is a peak of 2372 ft / 723 m, a soggy tableland above a striking alternation of limestone and shale layers. The top was fortified by Iron Age tribes as prime real estate and the Romans saw no reason to disillusion them. Near the summit is the remains of a round tower built in 1830 as a shelter for shooting parties, and promptly wrecked. Legend blames drunken celebrations at its completion, but it was an era when disputes over land access were breaking out, and aggrieved smallholders would be pleased to have their sabotage blamed on Hooray Henrys.
- 6 Whernside at 2415 ft / 736 m is the highest of the Three Peaks. It's usually climbed from Ingleton.
- Pen-y-ghent the third of the Three Peaks is usually climbed from Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
Buy
[edit]
- Village Store, Main St LA2 8DP (opposite New Inn), ☏ +44 1524 251524. Daily 8AM–5:30PM. The community-run shop sells hot food and coffee, which you can eat in their garden.
- Badger in the Wall is an art gallery and gift shop by the car park, open W-Sa 11AM-5PM.
Eat
[edit]- New Inn Hotel is the main eating place, so it gets busy and may sell out.
- Old Sawmill Cafe is at the top of Riverside at the start of the cave trail, open daily 9:30AM-4PM.
Drink
[edit]Old Manor House is a tiny pub on Church Ave next to New Inn, open Th-M 2-6PM.
Sleep
[edit]
- 1 New Inn Hotel, Old Rd LA2 8HH, ☏ +44 1524 489569. The only catered accommodation within the village, now part of OYO franchise. B&B double £120.
- Giffords camping and caravan site is across the river from the railway station.
Connect
[edit]Clapham and A65 have 4G from all UK carriers, though it's patchy with Vodafone. As of Oct 2025, 5G has not reached this area.
For emergencies on the mountains or in the caves, call the police on 999 if you have a signal. They'll mobilise the appropriate specialists, which might include cave rescue or the ambulance helicopter.
Go next
[edit]- Settle 6 miles southeast will feel very busy after Clapham.
- Horton-in-Ribblesdale in the next valley east is the usual base for climbing the "Three Peaks" of Pen-y-gent, Whernside and Ingleborough.
- Kirkby Lonsdale 11 miles northwest is a market town on the road to the Lake District.