Access
build Derbyshire Key required.
Authorised Entrances
Main Entrance: This does not require permission to use. Located over the wall a short distance up the steep Bonsall footpath off Upperwood Road. A spanner is required to operate the internal door bolt. The door must NOT be left unlocked.
Upper Entrance: This does not require permission to use. From the main entrance follow the path about 100m further up the hill, where the path divides in two, take the right-hand branch then head into the deep cutting. A captive Derbyshire Key system keeps the gate secure, so an adjustable spanner is needed for access. The gate must NOT be left unlocked. The nearby shaft from surface above the main chamber which lands just inside the gate from the Upper Entrance is also approved for access.
Kirkland Shaft: Access by prior email arrangement through the DCA Access Officer at (reveal). 13m deep, and it is within the landowner's garden just downhill from the main entrance, at SK 29067 58379. It connects to the workings downdip from the entrance.
Avoid upsetting residents by parking in one of public car parks in Matlock Bath. Holy Trinity Church don't mind small numbers using their car park, but have requested that cavers do not use the car park before midday on Sundays - please respect this request to maintain good relations. Part of Masson Hill SSSI.
Landowner Update 20/2/21: "I wanted to let you know we’ve put a couple of signs up saying ‘please keep out, private garden’ by the wall near the cavern. Would you mind just letting the caving community know that this doesn’t apply to them, I don’t want them to think we’re stopping people using the cavern. It’s just that this last year has been really awful in terms of people using the area around the cavern as a toilet, and groups of people drinking etc. there and going into the Devonshire when they really shouldn’t be. We had one group who went down there in white track suits with no equipment and just a phone torch – they’d come over on the bus from Chesterfield!"
See the DCA website for competition details.