System News

The Peak Cavern Showcave tour currently ends at the top of Devil's Staircase in a passage called Pluto Dining Room, a fence crosses the passage and stops tourists passing this point. Cavers use a gate for access beyond this point. This point wasn't always the end of the showcave, prior to 1989, the tour used to drop down the staircase through into Five Arches. The path traverses the passage, crossing the River Styx in four places until it reached the junction of Buxton Water and Speedwell Water, in the area below Victoria Aven.

This section of the tour use to require constant maintenance to remove silt from the floor of the passage to make it passable underfoot by members of the public. Members of the Technical Speleological Group (TSG) used to help the cavern staff in clearing these paths at the start of each summer season, and the odd summer floods that occur. Cavern staff would have to fix fences to ensure they were secure on the path edges and the bridges that cross the river. 

The showcave was only open during the summer months between March and October each year. This changed to full year round opening when the new owners took over in March 1997.

The Devils Staircase and Five Arches section of the tour was closed in 1989 after the filming of The Chroicles of Narnia TV Series, The Silver Chair episode that aired in 1990. This was due to the deterioration of the paths, as they were very uneven underfoot and that the Devil's Staircase is no longer a staircase, more like a slippery slope.