Secret world of Bull's Head caves 

The first thing you notice when you enter the cave under the Bull's Head pub is how cold and dark it is. It is around 100ft long but it is impossible to see more than a few yards.

An outside view of the pub And even while outside temperatures are well into the 70s, there is an eerie coolness. "It's the rock," explains Bull's Head chef Stuart Coles. "It would have also kept the heat in when they lit the furnace." Yes, the furnace: little more than 100 years ago these caves were being used as a factory. It is hard to comprehend what conditions must have been like for people working underground.

Thousands of people will drive past the pub in Bridge Road, Cookley, completely unaware of the wonders underneath the village's oldest inn. Many more will walk along the canal towpath without noticing the caverns set in the hillside, so well has it been concealed with vegetation.

Some of the people who sit in the beer garden directly above will be unaware of what is below them. "It is Cookley's best kept secret," says Mr Coles. But it is a secret well worth exploring.

The caves are accessed by walking down the steps from the terrace at the rear of the pub, which lead to a tiny, ivy-covered entrance next to the canal.

Cookley historian Betty Caswell says it is likely the caves were initially created by hundreds of years' natural erosion, but were later carved out by industrialists eager to exploit the opportunities they presented.

It is not known when they were first occupied, but it is possible they may have been used for industrial purposes as early as the 17th century.



 What is certain is that there was a woodscrew factory there in the first half of the 19th century. In 1837 the rate book showed they were occupied by a Thomas Woodyatt, who was also licensee of the pub when it opened in 1825.

It is hard to imagine the work that must have gone into carving out the caves. "There would probably have been four or five men working on them," says Mr Coles. Long before the introduction of modern machinery, the workers would have had to cut the cave into the stone by hand.

Pick axe marks are visible in the roof and walls of the cave, a tell-tale of the thousands of back-breaking strokes it would have taken to create these workshops in the hillside. On the right-hand side of the cave there is a kiln area, and a wide circular chimney has been cut into the roof of the cave, leading up to where the car park is now.

At the rear of the main cavern, there is a staircase which used to lead up to the cellar of the pub. A second, smaller cave, to the left of the entrance, is believed to have been the store area.

The expanse of soft sandstone rock, and the proximity to the River Stour, made the site an ideal location for early industry. When the canal opened in 1777, it gave access to markets across the Midlands, making the site an ideal location for light industry.

The woodscrew factory closed in 1862, but in 1888 it was taken over by Joseph Harrison who operated a wire and nail factory until 1892.

"You don't need a lot of imagination to picture what used to go on in here," says Mr Coles.

Today, pub landlady Sharon Smith shows school parties around the cave

Credit for this article is given to  Mark Andrews and Express And Star


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