Shell Grotto In England

Buried deep underground in the small English town of Margate in Kent is a "shell grotto" shrouded in complete mystery.

Seventy feet of winding underground passages all adorned with shells and a leading to a rectangular chamber, the "shell grotto" is quite a remarkable site to behold.

The story behind it is that, in 1835, a common farm laborer was working in the field when his spade struck the soil and it sank into some unusually soft earth. The man realized that he was standing on something hollow buried beneath the ground, but he was unable to see anything from the surface.

When word spread around town, a local school teacher volunteered his young son named Joshua to be lowered into the hole. Carrying a candle, the boy went into the opening. Upon emerging a few minutes later, Joshua reported that there was a mysterious-looking cavern with several rooms decorated with hundreds of thousands of carefully arranged seashells.

The "shell grotto" is adorned in a mosaic of thousands -- possibly millions of shells arranged in patterns and symbols -- some of which celebrate life and death.

The grotto has a rotunda and several chambers with altars.

The shells include cockles, limpets, mussels, oysters, scallops, and whelks, all of which can be found locally. However, there are some flat, wrinkled shells which are not native to the area, which must have been brought in from elsewhere.

With such detailed artwork on a large scale, the questions which, to this day, remain unanswered include:

(1) Is the underground cavern natural or man-made?
(2) Who created the intricate shell decorations?

(3) How old is the grotto?

Many theories have been proposed as to its age, origin, and purpose.

Some suggest that it is about 3,000 years old. Others believe that the grotto may date as far back as 12,000 years ago, and may even be connected to some alien culture.

While the age of the shells can be determined through carbon dating, it is pricey, according to the Shell Grotto's website.

It has also been suggested that the grotto has religious significance because of its vaulted ceilings and altared chambers.

It has also been suggested that the grotto has religious significance because of its vaulted ceilings and altared chambers.

Some believe that it might have been created as an aristocrat's folly sometime in the 1700s since shell grottoes were quite popular in Europe in the 1700s, especially among the wealthy. However, the idea had been dismissed because of the grotto's location on some farmland which has no history of ever having been part of some wealthy estate.

Still others believe that it may have been used as an astrological calendar. while others suggest that the grotto might be connected with the Freemasons or the Knights Templar.

The mystery of the grotto has left everyone completely stumped, and in the 1930s, some held séances in the hopes of contacting the spirits of whoever built the it.

One thing is clear, the arrangement of the shells involved a lot of effort and time of painstaking work.

Unfortunately, many of the shells in the grotto have faded over time and have lost their luster because of age and
water damage.

In its early days, it had been full of dazzling color. Below is a recreation which suggests what they may have looked years ago. Surely they must have appeared spectacular!

After its discovery in 1835, the school teacher, Joshua's father, acquired the land and in 1837, he opened the Margate Shell Grotto to the public for the first time, and up to this day, it has remained a tourist attraction. –Contributed by Ralph