Day Trip From London: Margate’s Mysterious Shell Grotto

Perched on the coast just 90 minutes by train from London’s Victoria station is the sleepy seaside town of Margate, a popular holiday destination for Brits and home to a little-known mystery: the Shell Grotto. I first heard about the grotto when it was featured on a travel show I had been watching absent-mindedly. My curiosity was piqued, and I eagerly watched the rest of the show, deciding that I needed to check out this intriguing underground cave for myself. One recent sunny weekend saw me promising my husband and housemate a mystery-filled day trip, and so it came to be that we journeyed to the English seaside in search of the Shell Grotto.

Alighting at the quiet station in Margate, we walked along the typically British seafront and turned down one of the backstreets, passing a plethora of cute antique shops, pubs and cafes. After getting a little lost, we ambled in what we hoped was the right direction and eventually arrived at the residential street that is home to the Shell Grotto. Legend has it that in 1835, a local man and his son were digging a duckpond and discovered a hole in the ground. The man lowered his son into the cavern and they discovered the 2000 square foot underground grotto, decorated in a mosaic of 4.5 million shells.

Since its discovery, no one has been able to determine who built the Shell Grotto or why. There are plenty of theories, including one that it was built by the knight’s templar, and another that it was a smuggler’s cave. Carbon dating has until now been unsuccessful and there are no tales passed down from generation to generation, no records on maps and no word breathed of the grotto until its discovery in the 1800s.

The grotto is small, but there is an air of mystery inside the dark cave; walking through the dimly lit narrow tunnels inspires a feeling of awe similar to that which is experienced when entering a huge and ornate cathedral. So much painstaking work has gone into the mosaics that encrust the walls and ceilings of Margate’s Shell Grotto, but unlike a cathedral there is no indication as to who, or what, this work was for. Was it a place of worship, a tomb, a memorial, a meeting place, or something else entirely? We may never know.

As we emerged from underground, blinking in the daylight, we found ourselves in the small on-site cafe that doubles as a gift shop selling hundreds of shell-themed knick-knacks. The Shell Grotto really is a gem, not hidden but certainly not well known. Entry costs just £3.50 and when we visited there were just a few curious souls other than ourselves inside. To be honest, I almost considered not hitting the ‘Publish’ button on this post, as the grotto felt like a secret I’d stumbled upon by accident, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to share it. But share I did, and I hope, like me, you will find yourself in Margate one day, seeking adventure, a little bit of mystery and a healthy dose of English seaside air.

The Shell Grotto
Grotto Hill
Margate
Kent CT9 2BU