This cave is situated on the rock-face of a minor headland bounding the westerly side of the small beach of Traie Coan near Port St Mary. The site was excavated in 1969-70 and 1975-76 by FJ Radcliffe, who found a midden sealed under slate slabs that had fallen from the roof and overlying an apparently undisturbed beach deposit. A very low 'inner cave' held a similar beach deposit.


The midden contained a considerable number of limpet shells as well as bird and mammal bones. Human bones, apparently from a single adult skeleton, were recovered together with worked bone points. The remains were thought to represent either a prehistoric burial or a victim of a shipwreck.


Radiocarbon dating of carbonised wood in the midden material by Birmingham University suggested a date 1880 +/- 150 BP, or a mean of 70 AD.


Nothing was found to prove that the cave was inhabited but this does not preclude its use for a shelter.