Tom Norman's Hole is a large cave over 50 metres deep, a kilometre north-east of Hele, on West Haggington Beach at the western side of Rillage Point. The cave is just below a zigzag donkey path leading down from Rillage that ends in a sheer drop about 4 metres above the beach. Presumably the path once led all the way down. There are blast-holes all around the beach here, although small limestone deposits appear to have been ignored. There is a short tunnel, dug into a large mass of rock, which has certainly been mined. It is likely that Tom Norman's hole similarly began as a prospector's tunnel, subsequently enlarged by the sea.

There was a local miner called Tom Norman, born in Combe Martin in 1838, son of  Sussanah and William Norman (a silver-lead miner). Tom worked at Knapp Down silver-lead mine in the 1860's and it is possible that he later worked this cave and the surrounding beach, but it is not known if he found anything. He may even have been looking for gold; the first recorded gold mine in the country, discovered in 1262, may have been nearby.

Tom Norman's Hole is so-called on the OS map of 1891.

"It is only to be expected that this quiet and sheltered bay should be associated with smuggling. The very names of some of the beaches and coves remind us of these old beach-combers. Tom Normans Cave...Tom used to frequent this part of the shore about 120 years ago, and was connected with another well-known family named Pickett." (Ilfracombe Chronicle Sept. 1st 1933 p 6)

There was a local miner called Tom Norman - he was the son of William Norman (a lead miner) and Sussanah, of Combe Martin, and was born in Combe Martin in 1838. He worked as a miner at Knapp Down in the 1860’s and on Fileigh tunnel in the 1870’s. (M Warburton). Perhaps in the 1880’s he was mining below Rillage.