Sculptor's Cave, Lossiemouth, United Kingdom

The Sculptor's Cave is a sandstone cave on the south shore of the Moray Firth near the small settlement of Covesea, between Burghead and Lossiemouth in Moray. It is named after the Pictish carvings incised on the walls of the cave near its entrances. There are seven groups of carvings dating from the 6th or 7th century, including fish, crescent and V-rod, pentacle, triple oval, step, rectangle, disc and rectangle, flower, and mirror patterns, some very basic but others more sophisticated.

The cave is 20m deep and 13.5m wide with a 5.5m high roof and can be entered by two parallel 11m long passages, each 2-3m wide. It lies at the base of 30m high cliffs and is largely inaccessible at high tide.

The cave was first excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Sylvia Benton, who discovered evidence of two main periods of activity on the site: the first during the late Bronze Age, and the second during the late Roman Iron Age, between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.

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User Reviews

Nikki McKinnell (10 months ago)
Bit of a walk to get to it so wear appropriate footwear. Also check the tide times. Fascinating cave

Howdy Cowboy (2 years ago)
Beautiful walk along the beach from covesea, stunning rock formations all along the coast but did involve some slippy rocks and lots of rockpools. All in all a very fun and rewarding walk but can see its not for everyone.

Ingrid Peebles (2 years ago)
Very hard to get too. We walked from the silver sands caravan park with 6 kids. I wouldn't recommend that in all honestly ?‍? interesting history though, unfortunately some recent carvings have been added which spoils it abit. Very steep drops, so take care while walking.

Rob Brennan (3 years ago)
Didn't get to see the cave so no reflection on what it offers. Just a warning - there is no way down from the cliffs above so don't try it! Apparently the only way to get there is to walk along the rocks at low tide, but you are advised to check the times carefully so you don't get stuck. Better still, join a guided tour which takes you there by boat

Skelly Skelly (3 years ago)
Terrible road to get to it through a field

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