Sawney Bean and Bennane Caves - South Ayrshire

Sawney Bean’s Cave 

 The Tale of the Ayrshire Cannibals

Click the Picture to read Craig Jackson's BBC Article

A cave on the coast near the Ayrshire town of Maybole, Sawney Bean's Cave was reported to have housed a family of cannibals who abducted and ate gullible travellers. Legend has it that the clan was captured and locked up in the Edinurgh Tollbooth before they were all executed: the women were burned at the stake, while the men were dismembered and left to bleed to death from their wounds.

Accounts are unclear as to when precisely this occurred however: Some reference appears in English rumour sheets during the Jacobite rebellion, and it has been suggested that it was simply anti-Scottish propaganda; but perhaps the Bean family actually were Jacobites, and feasting on the passing English was their way of supporting the cause? 

“The place which they inhabited was quite solitary and lonesome, and, when the tide came up, the sea water went nearly two hundred yards into their subterraneous habitation,which reached a mile underground; so that when people,

who have been sent armed to search all the places about,

have passed by the mouth of the cave, they'd have never taken any notice of it,

never supposing any human being being would reside in such a place of perpetual horror and darkness.”

-The Terrible Tale Of Sawney Bean

Here's the most comprehensive account of the Sawney Bean story:

The Terrible Tale of Sawney Bean

Here’s a link I found through the UK Caving forum site:
Sawney Bean's Cave

Cave Location:

The Cave is located down the coast, south of Girvan

A rather inaccurate drawing of Sawney Bean's cave

Bennane Cave

The Home of Snib Scott: Banker turned Caveman

The best reference I have found about this cave is a blurb on the UK Caving website: Snib's Cave

Born in 1912,  this guy was a successful banker in Dundee for ten years before suddenly abandoning his friends, family and job and took to a life wandering in the hills of the west of Scotland. Spending some time in Arrochar, he later took up residence in Bennane Cave, on the coast south of Girvan. There, he lived until he died of Hypothermia in 1983.

The earliest reference I have found to this cave so far is in J. Paterson’s 1847 book,) History of the county of Ayr:

“A cavern more than 100ft long, 30ft high and 20ft wide,

which has been strongly defended by a wall of crude masonry 5ft thick,

 parts of which remain at the mouth, attached to the rock both above and below.

The entrance has been further protected by a breast work in front,

 which appears to have been flanked by smaller buildings.

The cave is divided into two compartments by two stone walls and appears

 to have been inhabited in recent as well as ancient years.

 The outer wall has a door, window and fireplace,

 but the inner compartment is dungeon-like with only a door in the wall.”

                                                         -J. Paterson, 1847

Other reports say that it was inhabited by travelling Gypsies, but there is nothing to say when it was walled-in, or who did the original work. Although it is unlikely to have any limestone or Karst significance, It is important to include the historical relevance of caves in Scotland in our explorations. Some may say it’s not a cave because it isn’t cold, wet, and covered in calcite, but I tend to be a bit more inclusive in my categorizing.

I am looking forward to updating these pages once we have visited the caves.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in taking part in our adventures, join the Scottish Caving Forum  and come along!