The Poached Egg Chamber

This bizarre set of formations is Poole's Cavern's one truly unique feature. The alarming looking 'poached egg' stalagmites are the result of human activity on the ground above the cave, combined with natural processes. Several decades of quarrying resulted in huge mounds of lime waste being dumped on the hillside. Rainwater passing through this fine material picks up an unusually large amount of lime. This results in massively accelerated calcite build-up, the largest features here having taken just 400 years to reach their present size. When compared to the Flitch of Bacon's tens of thousands of years, the magnitude of this accelerated growth can be appreciated.

The same unique conditions have also given rise to some bizarrely contorted flowstone, and to fine stalactite 'straws'- the source of the poached eggs. The orange staining on the 'eggs' was long thought to be the result of iron-oxide in the water, but recent research has implicated an organic element too, the source being bacteria from the hillside's rich leaf litter.

Highlights in this extensive section of the cavern include the poached egg Elephant's Head, and the imposing Poole's Cat. You can also marvel at the Frozen Waterfall, and the Big Drip. The speed of the drip and the 'poached egg' effect combine to make this feature grow before your very eyes. Well, almost.