An Actual Mystery

Today I learned about the existence of the mysterious Shell Grotto in Margate, Kent. 

The write-up I saw on Facebook described it this way:

Underground caves lined with millions of shells, and no one knows who built them. The Shell Grotto in Margate, Kent, England, stands as one of history’s most baffling mysteries. Discovered in 1835, this hidden passageway is adorned with over 4.6 million meticulously arranged shells, forming elaborate mosaics that cover every inch of its walls and ceilings. The designs are precise and intricate, depicting symbols, patterns, and figures whose meanings remain shrouded in mystery.

The Wikipedia page says:

Hypotheses [on its origin] include: it was an 18th or 19th-century rich man’s folly; it was a prehistoric astronomical calendar; it was a meeting place for sea witchcraft; and it is connected with the Knights Templar or Freemasonry. Since the 2007 discovery of a domed cave under the Palatine Hill in Rome with shells, mosaics and marble in similar patterns to those in the Rectangular Chamber in Margate, some credence has been given to the theory that the Shell Grotto could have been created by the Phoenicians in the second half of the first millennium BCE, when they were founding many colonies from their base in Carthage, however the gothic style of the arches would be a first for a pre-12th century arcade.

It's possible it's an elaborate Cardiff Giant hoax, but obviously it's much more worth seeing than that. I find it a bit hard to believe someone hasn't figured out a way to analyze the material the shells are set into or some other aspect of the physical nature of the place to determine its age. 

But maybe they don't really want to know the answer.

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Photo by Alby - Own work, CC0.