Caves and underground worlds in fiction

Park up at Stump Cross Caverns and you're greeted by breathtaking views of the Yorkshire Dales. But lying deep beneath this glorious green expanse is a network of chambers and passageways that are breathtaking in a different way.

Caves have always captured the imaginations of poets and writers. Whether they're places of safety or danger, fantasy or reality, they inspire gorgeous prose and gripping tales.

In this article, we take you on a journey through some of fiction's finest underground worlds. First up: one of the oldest surviving works of literature that still thrills readers today.

1. Homer: The Odyssey

In Homer's ancient Greek epic poem The Odyssey, our hero Odysseus and his crew are returning home after war.

At one point, they land on a lush but apparently deserted island. Things are looking up – they stumble on a cave filled with a hearty spread of meat and cheese.

Unfortunately, the cave belongs to a cyclops named Polyphemus. He returns, blocks the men in the cave and starts to feast on the crew. It takes all of Odysseus's cunning to escape… 

2. Dante: Inferno

Dante's poem presents a vision of Hell where different sins are punished in different circles. The closer you get to the centre, the more severe the sin – and the grislier the torment.

There are nine circles, and the eighth is a vast, funnel-shaped cave called Malebolge – an Italian word which literally translates as "evil ditches".

Malebolge is no show cave. It's full of trenches, smashed ledges, broken bridges and demons. It's where, in Dante's version of Hell, people who committed "simple" fraud are sent – counterfeiters, hypocrites, seducers and more.

3. William Shakespeare: Timon of Athens

Timon is a rich Athenian socialite who loves to throw a party. But his friends are concerned that he's overspending and will end up broke.

When this comes to pass, he finds that his friends have deserted him. This leads him to the edge of madness. He spurns Athens and flounces off into the wilderness, cursing not just Athens but humanity as a whole.

If you reject mankind, where can you go? Timon settles on a cave outside Athens, where he digs in the ground for roots to eat.

4. Edgar Rice Burroughs: At the Earth's Core

If you've heard of Edgar Rice Burroughs, it's most likely as the creator of Tarzan. Less iconic but still influential, his 1914 novel At the Earth's Core envisions a hollow earth with an underground world at its centre.

David Innes is the heir to a mining company that develops a digger known as an "iron mole". When he tries out the machine, it gets stuck and ends up digging 500 miles into the centre of the Earth.

There, it uncovers the land of Pellucidar, a place where prehistoric creatures from all eras live. Mankind is represented by Stone-Age humans who have been enslaved by a species of flying reptiles known as the Mahars.

While not widely read today, Burroughs' underground world was influential on H.P. Lovecraft and other writers of "hollow earth" fiction.

5. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

In the second book of The Lord of the Rings, the dwarf Gimli delivers a long, poetic speech about the "glittering caves" of Aglarond.

He gets misty-eyed talking about its "immeasurable halls" and "veins of precious ore" – along with a rock formation that looks like an organ, much like the one here at Stump Cross Caverns.

In a letter, Tolkien revealed that he had based the caves on Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, which he had visited on his honeymoon.

6. C.S. Lewis: The Silver Chair

C.S. Lewis's Narnia series depicts a fantasy world where real-world children mingle with talking animals. But in The Silver Chair – the fourth book in the series – they explore a subterranean world called Underland.

Rilian is a prince of Narnia who's been missing for ten years. Aslan asks Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole to find him.

They travel through Underland's "naturally occurring caverns", where they encounter the Warden of the Marches and his hundred Earthmen – men "of all sizes, from little gnomes barely a foot high to stately figures taller than men".

Eventually, they reach a city ruled by the Lady of the Green Kirtle where Prince Rilian has been enchanted and bound to a silver chair. The children release him – and in doing so weaken the Lady's plot to conquer Narnia.

7. E.M. Forster: A Passage to India

A Passage to India is a novel about India in the colonial era.

A young Muslim doctor named Dr Aziz befriends two Brits – Adela Quested and Mrs Moore. He takes them on a trip to the Marabar Caves – Forster's creation, which he based on the real-life Barabar Caves.

The caves have walls as smooth as glass and make an echo like a heartbeat – but its "ou-boum, ou-boum" comes to haunt the characters.

The upshot of the visit is that Aziz is arrested and charged with assaulting Adela. His trial and its aftermath expose some of the fault lines and prejudices that existed in British India at that time.

8. Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

This American classic tells the story of a fun-loving boy named Tom Sawyer and his adventures near the Mississippi River.

Towards the end of the novel, Tom goes picnicking with his friend Becky. They get lost in a cave and don't come out for several days. When they finally emerge, they learn that they've travelled five miles from the cave entrance.

Things turn around for Tom when he learns that another character named Injun Joe had hidden $12,000 worth of gold in the caves. The novel ends with him and Twain's other famous character, Huckleberry Finn, uncovering the hoard.

Fun fact: Tom Sawyer was one of the first ever novels to be composed on the typewriter.

Our ancient network of caves in Yorkshire is just as magical as any imaginary cavern. Want to explore for yourself? Book your tickets to Stump Cross Caverns today.