Clearwell Caves

17/03/2026

17/03/2026

Jess arranged a fun hen party!

02/03/2026

We are so excited to welcome back Ailsa Tully for another beautiful performance in our intimate candlelit cavern, 100ft beneath the forest floor… and this time she’s bringing friends!

Join – supported by and – for a truly intimate, meditative soundscape combining folk, brooding basslines, tender vocals, and subtle pop synths.

**Tickets selling fast. Get yours now at clearwellcaves.com/events**

🕯 This Saturday, 7th March | Clearwell Caves, GL16 8JR
✨ 7pm doors | 7.30pm start
🍷 Underground bar (cash only!)

02/11/2025

Repost from

Colour Beneath the Earth

Deep beneath the Forest of Dean in rural Gloucestershire, a labyrinth of passages winds its way through ancient rock. These are the Clearwell Caves - part natural wonder, part industrial relic - where for millennia people have mined for ochre, the most elemental of colours. Today, the iron-rich caves are managed by Jonathan Wright, the only freeminer in the forest mining for iron and ochre, and his son Wilf, an art historian and curator. Together, they have transformed this subterranean world into a space where geology, heritage and art meet in extraordinary ways.

Read more about Jonathan and Wilf’s work on the via the link in bio.
wright

Words by Claudia Baillie ()
Photography by Sophie Davidson ().

31/08/2025

And that’s all, folks! (For now..!) ‘Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum’ had its final viewing today. Thank you for another phenomenal collaboration , and to everyone involved in making it such a success, and to all our wonderful visitors over the last three months. ❤️

We will be open again (weekends only) in October, and for October half term – see our website for full dates. Until then… enjoy the last of the summer season!

Pictured: Heather locking up the entrance at Clearwell Caves. Photography: Marsha Dunstan

30/08/2025

The final day of our extraordinary exhibition ‘Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum’ is tomorrow (31 August)! We open at 10am, and last entry will be 4.30pm.

In collaboration with , the 70 sculptures by 60 acclaimed artists span the breadth of the caves and take you on a journey through colour, form and texture.

What an incredible experience it has been for everyone involved. Thank you to all who have visited and spread word of the breathtaking art nestled deep beneath the forest floor. ❤️

Pictured: ’s ‘Five Friends (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald)’, 2017, Patinated and painted bronze

Photography:

02/08/2025

Dreamlike…

12/07/2025

Antony Gormley, STIK, and Isaac Okwir feature in ’s latest 2nd July issue, where arts and antiques editor Carla Passino-Bargioni reviews our sculpture exhibition ‘Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum’, running until 31st August 2025. Thanks for the glowing review ❤️ pick up your copy of Country Life today!

23/06/2025

What’s the best way to escape the heat? 😎

…by visiting a cave, or fanning yourself with the latest issue of Cotswold Life?!

Thank you and Tracy Spiers for our spectacular feature in your July issue! (Out now! 👀)

Pick up your copy today from all good supermarkets and newsagents.

Our international sculpture exhibition in collaboration with ‘Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum’ runs until 31 August 2025. Book online at clearwellcaves.com.

18/06/2025

A pictorial neon match, endlessly lighting on and off, the matchstick as a symbol, represents possibilities, a spark to start fire, bringing light into darkness, or simply to light a cigarette.

Yellow, blue and orange flashes illuminate the space, the colours of fire, entice the viewer. The work riffs on the visual language of advertising, where neon gas glows with the insistence of the marketplace: look at this, look at this!

‘Gotta lite’ might be a phrase to ask for a way of lighting a cigarette or pipe. A light that both poses as Magritte’s pipe whilst simultaneously offering to lite it. Magritte’s ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’, this is not a lite, only its image.

‘Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum’ is an exhibition of 70 Modern and contemporary sculptures by 60 artists from across the globe, held 100ft beneath the earth.

🗓️ Exhibition runs until 31 August 2025
📍 Clearwell Caves (Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire), in collaboration with

Pictured: Gavin Turk at Clearwell Caves, Lite, 2009, Animated Neon, Edition of 3, 95 x 128.5 x 20.5 cm
Photo: