Pigeon Pot

County Fermanagh

Pigeon Pot Two is found amongst a series of smaller potholes in a large rift in the East Cuilcagh region. It opens as a very nice daylight pitch which is then followed through a darkening horizontal passage to a further series of pots. It features more horizontal passage than many caves of the region and is a good fun all-round trip.

One interesting and little known fact about Pigeon Pot is that is the source of the mighty Shannon river, the longest river in Ireland and the UK. Traditional knowledge maintained that the Shannon originated from the Shannon Pot ten miles from Pigeon on the south-western flank of Cuilcagh mountain. However, water has been traced from the pot leading back to the Pigeon Series on that great mountain’s eastern extreme.

A caver stands at the bottom of the 2nd pitch and another on the mid-pitch traverse

From Pigeon this subterranean ‘juvenile’ Shannon river flows underground through many regions unknown even to cavers. One section, appropriately known as Shannon Cave, is a well developed and primarily horizontal cave; known as one of the finest in Ireland.