Deep in the West Lancashire countryside there is a hidden cave, so secret that few will ever see it in person. The Dragon’s Eye cave, in Upholland, is closely guarded by local residents and you can only get to it through a ‘window in the floor’.

At the centre of the cave, which is thought to be formed from an old mine shaft, is the breathtaking ‘dragon’s eye’.

Formed by a pattern in the rock, the eye appears spherical when the light catches it in a certain way, resembling something you’d expect to find in a J.R.R Tolkien novel.

One Urban Explorer from Merseyside visited the cave last year, only to find that the eye itself was not too easy to come by.

“We almost missed it,” said the explorer, who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s believed to be where the roof has collapsed.

“You go through a window in the floor. You have to crawl through and there’s a slope going down. I think it used to be a mine.

“When you get down there it’s a load of caverns and caves. We actually missed the dragon’s eye at first.

“It’s created by a clever camera angle and lighting to get it to look like that. You have to light it up and stand in a certain position.”

Dan Dixon, another urban explorer and creator of well known youtube channel ‘exploring with fighters’, managed to visit the dragon’s eye twice last year.

Despite having travelled the world searching for abandoned locations, Dan claimed that the dragon’s eye was one of the best places he’s ever visited, just a stone’s throw away from where he lives.

“It’s in my top three. I’ve been to battleship island in Japan, which is the holy grail of all abandoned explorers. I’ve stayed the night in Dracula’s castle, I’ve been to all these places, Romania, Italy…

“Ive been traveling the world since 2017 searching for places like this, and when I’ve got one on my doorstep, it was just an unbelievable moment.”