NU1023 : Inside the Cateran Hole looking back towards the entrance steps NU1023 : Cateran Hole"The CATERANES' HOLE, on Bewick Moor, a natural cave, formed by a narrow fissure in the freestone rock, and descending towards the west, to a very great depth, at an angle of about 150 degrees. By this instructive name we learn, that this cave has probably been, in former times, the hidden retreat of Cateranes, an old Scotch word, signifying bands of robbers," which Jamieson derives from the Irish ceatharnach, a soldier."
A Hedley (1822). An Essay towards ascertaining the Etymology of the Names of Places in the County of Northumberland. Archaeologia Aeliana, series 1, vol 1, p. 256.