Although it is perhaps a little early to say it, it looks
very much as though our plans for a large spring number are doomed. It is true that we have received some interesting
long articles, and that the general standard of contributions seems to be
rising, but the fact remains that a large and impressive stack of manuscript
reduces to a very small amount of print.
Nevertheless, some attempt will be made this year to try to
increase the general size of the B.B. by ‘normal’ means. This, of course, imposes a greater strain on
the mechanism and no rash promises will thus be given. Readers will have noticed that the January
number consisted of twelve pages and it is hoped that this one will do the
same. This does enable the inclusion of
one long article without leaving out other material which might interest those
who are not particularly ‘keen on the subject of the long one.
Finally, the B.B. uses smaller print than some other and
otherwise comparable journals, so the amount of matter in the B.B. is not as
small as a comparison of numbers of pages would suggest.
Alfie
Notices
Competitions.
It is planned to close both the 1962 competitions some time
before the Annual Dinner this year so that judging and presentation of the
results may be sorted out in a less hectic atmosphere. If YOU have any ideas regarding these
competitions PLEASE get in touch with the organizers. Mike Baker for the photographs and Alfie for
the songs.
MIKE BAKER could do with any old picture frames for putting
photographs in for hanging in the Belfry and Hunters.
G.B.
Cave
The U.B.S.S. have recently sent us the following notice.
Any member of any party visiting this cave who wishes to
make use of LONG HOUSE BARN must obtain the permission of Mr F. Young of Manor Farm,
Charterhouse. Mr. Young is entitled, if
he so wishes, to make a charge for any use made of the barn.
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There is no truth in the rumour that
Giles and
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The Committee have accepted the resignation of Spike”
Rees from his post on the committee and his job as Belfry Engineer. “Spike” had had to retire owing to
pressure of work. P.M. Giles and G. Dell
have been co-opted on to the committee to act as joint Belfry Engineers owing
to the large amount of work which needs doing around the Belfry.
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Don’t forget that SUBS are due! SEND YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD TO BOB BAGSHAWE
Christmas Hole
by P.M. Giles.
New caves on Mendip are, to say the least, something of a
rarity and as a rule, result from months and sometimes years of hard work. G.B. is a typical example of “Labours
Lost’ with over a decade of disappointments in the history of its discovery. Nearer home, St. Cuthberts too enjoyed
relative immunity from the echoing ring and scrape of the tread of cavers boots
for many years.
Probably one of the most picturesque caves coming to light
in recent years was Balch’s Hole, which was discovered – to the eternal joy of
armchair cavers – by blasting in a quarry.
Quarry, on
responsible for a number of fine caves and Balch’s Hole is no exception. It will, therefore, be no great surprise to
those who know Mendip well to hear of another discovery in this quarry, bringing
the total now to about eight.
Christmas Hole, as this new cave is called, was found,
again, by the quarry staff on December 19th 1961 in the floor of the
quarry. At the request of Mr. Garlic,
the quarry manager, the cave was explored during the evening of the following
day by a combined B.E.C. – Cerberus team in order to ascertain its
parameters. Consequently the cave was
fully explored with the exception of three very small passages and a grade 1
survey made.
The following, in conjunction with the included surveys,
describes the cave.
In the floor of the quarry, and surrounded by several large
boulders (at the time of writing) nestles the entrance to Christmas Hole, at
the foot of the climb to Balch’s Hole. The entrance, an almost rectangular slot about two feet long, gives
access to a forty foot deep rift, one side of which is made up of extremely
shattered rock, possibly the result of normal quarry working. Fortunately, the near side of the rift is of
rough and dusty stalagmite flow, similar to the entrance to
on the far side of the quarry, and so the required ladder can be climbed in
safety.
Halfway down the pitch, a ledge made up partly of flow stone
and partly of jammed boulders and debris presents the major junction of the
cave. If the ladder is continued down to
the bottom of the rift, a small chamber is entered which has a low passage
leading off under the ladder. This is
the ‘
and contains a few not very spectacular formations and except for a short band
of helictites near the end, draws no comparison with nearby Balch’s Hole. The floor of this passage, however, is made
up of a very fine rimstone, which in places is coloured a deep rust red and
forms a marked contrast to the rest of the cave.
The
Way
recess running parallel to the floor on one side for most of its length, and
terminating in a mud, choked chamber with little promise of progressing
further.
Returning to the ledge in the rift, if a ladder is slung
down the passage leading to the south and used as a hand line, a large chamber
some thirty foot high is entered, the floor and ceiling being made up of jammed
boulders. A small grotto in the side of
this chamber provides the perfect haven from stones knocked down from the
entrance by cavers using the ladder. In
the far right hand corner of this small grotto, the ‘Rock Shelter’, a small,
steeply descending solutional passage, leads off past a very dangerous
boulder. This has yet to be explored but
could be well worth pushing.
At the far side of the main chamber, a twelve foot drop
between the boulders and the southeast corner gives way to a small boulder
chamber. A handline is required for this
drop. To the right, a fifteen foot aven,
joining, up with the main chamber and a thought inspiring boulder ruckle
present themselves. With due care and
diligence, navigation through this ruckle is possible, and, after climbing
about fifteen feet, a large boulder strewn passage is reached.
On the right (north) a mud carpeted solution tunnel about
six feet high with a group of broken formations can be followed for about
twenty feet, whereupon the roof dips down to within inches of the floor. It would appear from shining a light through
this sump like aperture and observing the reflections caused that the tunnel
opens up again a few feet beyond. In
spite of the tenacious nature of the mud, this spot would make a worthwhile
dig.
Climbing uphill (south) from the top of the boulder ruckle
the passage becomes a cavern of similar dimensions to the Main Chamber with a
great flow of rocks, earth and of all things, grass coming from a choked
chimney on the
on the east side, giving a view of a drop of ten feet or more, this chamber
concludes the extent of the cave.
Owing to the dangerous nature of this cave, great caution
should be observed at all times. For
those readers acquainted with the entrance to Balch’s Hole, the accompanying
survey includes a section through Balch’s Hole showing a possible
connection. As regards the future of the
cave, this rests entirely with the company owning the quarry, and nothing
further has been heard from that source to date.
Tackle
Required: Entrance. Pitch: 40′ ladder.
40′ lifeline or
80 line & pulley.
20′ tether.
Ladder belayed
to nearby boulder
Main
Chamber: 20′ handline.
Care must be taken when laddering the entrance rift to avoid
the shattered side of the rift and movement of boulders wedged in the entrance
and on the ledge.
A plan of Christmas Hole follows on this page, and an
elevation showing the relationship of Christmas Hole to Balch’s Hole will be
found on the next page.
Spain
by Ray Winch.
Last summer I was invited to take part in the
expedition to western
and I could not leave until early August, I missed the lorry transport and set
off with “Fushy and a pre¬arranged hitch took us to
alps! After this there came a fabulous
four day journey across
by third class train. It involved two
nights kipping by the track. It was
ridiculously cheap; incredibly slow; excruciatingly uncomfortable and
altogether delightful in retrospect, the best memories were of the gay,
courteous, song loving working class men we travelled with and of the sturdy insistence that every night was a
Hunter’s night (not to speak of the priest who believed in Hunters mornings as
well’.)
The expedition was operating in the western massif of the
Picos de Europas – a range of rugged mountains, which rise to a height of 2,600
metres. The peaks are dolomitic in
appearance and have constant snow. The
rainfall in the area is very high and there are few water courses and these
were dry. The area had not previously
been explored from the spelaeological angle and even the surface surveying has
obviously been of the most cursory sort. The expedition had its headquarters in an enlarged shepherds hut by the
lakes Enol and Encia, some three hours journey up from the famous cave shrine
of our Lady of Coradonga. A large number
of
firms had assisted the expedition with presents of equipment and these made
such a show that shepherds made immense
journeys just to stand and wonder at it. Certainly I myself was greatly impressed and felt that in the way of
ropes and ladders seen the Shepton Mallet’s mighty hoard might look feeble by
comparison.
Before I arrived some thirteen caves and eight potholes had
been discovered, but most of them were disappointingly small. The difference between pots and caves is that
the former are used by goats as cemeteries and the latter by cows as
lavatories. The biggest pot so far, P.1,
had a sheep in the entrance shaft of 150 (quite a large sheep. – Ed.) At the bottom it resembled Swildons Four
except that it was very much colder. My
first descent was for surveying P.1 but when we had to wait for the pool in
which we had dropped the compass to clear I decided to press the exploration,
and had the gloomy honour of discovering the final choke at no great distance. P.1 is only a little more than 2,000 feet long.
The scope of the Expedition included archaeology,
geomorphology, hydrology and meteorology and it was a constant problem to
decide how manpower could best be used. Even with the limited field of caving, there were the rival thrills of
discovering new caves; pressing exploration; surveying, etc. On the whole, the systematic approach tended
to win. This was the correct policy but
it led to disappointing speleological results. A magnetometric survey of the whole area had been suggested but the
nature of the terrain, made the completion of only a minute amount of this
programme, a formidable task. Again, in
order to make the magnetometric survey of use to others we had to link it with
a plane table survey.
The score of new caves steadily mounted, but in terms of
size, most were disappointing. This is
astonishing because all the evidence suggested the presence of large
systems. Enormous quantities of melted
snow from above must go somewhere and that somewhere must be underground. My own view is that we were working at too low an altitude. The programme provided little time for trips
to the peaks, but one of the biggest, caves was found on one of these ‘holiday’
jaunts. On the way home and after I had
left, the canons of Coradonga invited the expedition to investigate the sink
where the water goes down to come out at the shrine some 1,000 feet
below. This was a different proposition
and 450′ of ladder were quickly used up and huge chambers and underground lakes
encountered. Unfortunately this
exploration had to be left far from complete.
On the whole the speleological results – only one facet of
the expedition – were disappointing. However, there had been no preliminary reconnaissance and this was a
great disadvantage. I am certain that,
one day, the Picas de Europas will come into their own as outstanding caving
country. Very hearty congratulations are
due to the Oxford University Cave Club and their colleagues for staging such a
good expedition and for welcoming me to it.
Caving Log
3rd
November. Bottlehead. Mike Thompson and Alfie. Quick trip to lay bang in Bottleneck.
4th
November. Bottlehead. Mike & Liz Thompson, Alfie, Jill, Bob Pike.
Unsuccessful trip to remove blockage
after bang.
4th
November.
11th
November. Fernhill. B. Prewer, Alfie, Jill, Jim Giles, G. Selby, B.
Johnson, J. Strickland plus one other. Photographic trip.
11h
November. Balchs Hole. B. Prewer, M. Thompson, S. Collins, J. Rollason,
P.M. Giles, B. Johnson, G. Selby and 2 Cerberus. Many cavers, dangerous boulders at entrance, gardening,
despondency, retreat, Fernhill trip (see above).
12th
November. Heale Slocker. M. Baker, P.M. Giles Esq. Digging commenced. No cave yet, but water rapidly disappearing
through holes.
18th
November. Heale Slocker. P.M. Giles. Digging continued with Mike Baker
19th
November. Balch’s Hole. B. Prewer, M. Thompson, G.Selby, S.Collins, J.
Rollason, P.M. Giles. Help from quarry
manager (chemical) enabled us to get down the entrance pitch. Alfie and Jim spent several hours
photographing in passage containing some excellent formations. Mike and Prew continued through pool passage
and Chamber to the Stream Series. About
50 downstream a sump is encountered (to be more accurate a duck since there is
one inch of airspace). After a little
probing, Mike went through. He reported
sump” only nine inches long. Within another ten feet another sump bars the way. This has yet to be tackled.
19th
November. Swildons. B. Pyke, M. Luckwill. Short trip to look at an aven in Keith’s
Chamber. Walk at the bottom of Willy
Stanton’s climb and Derek Ford’s dig is extremely dangerous.
26th
November. St. Cuthbert’s. A party of Sandhurst people led by Mo Marriott
and John Eatough down to Cascade – Rabbit Warren – Duck then to the Dining Room
and Cerberus Series. The lake was full
(Mike Baker please note).
26th November. St. Cuthbert’s. Leader R. Roberts (with 3 W.C.C.) Trip down to Dining Room. Confirmed existence of
26th
November. Balch’s Hole. B. Prewer, M. Thompson, S. Collins, P.M. Giles,
M. Baker, A. Sandall, P. Davies and K. Dawe (S.M.C.C.) B. Johnson, J.
Strickland and two other Cerberus cavers. Line survey of system carried out by A. Sandall and the Cerberus
types. Photography continued by Messrs
Collins, Giles and Baker. Second sump passed
and third, discovered some ten feet further on. Digging carried on at upstream end of stream passage (no results as yet). Air circulation in lower reaches of the cave,
in spite of the running water, is rather poor, similar to some parts of the Paradise
Regained system in Swildons Hole.
25th
November. Ffynnon Ddu. R.Stenner, 4 Lockleaze boys and two lockleaze girls.
Leader, Brian de Graaf. Tourist trip with a good photographic session
in the main stream passage, which was most impressively wet (accidental baptism
for three of the party). This succeeded
in dampening the spirits of those concerned so effectively that the party split
at Rawls Chain, and only half of the party went round the Rawl Series. Bothered by Lamp Pox, var, Nife Cell.
3rd
December. Gough’s Cave (Rear Series). J. Cornwall, P.M. Giles, A. Sandall, S. Collins,
C.A. Marriott, J. Rollason, J .Lamb J. Eatough, K. Franklyn, P. Franklyn, J. Ransom,
G. Tilley, and J. Watham. Rediscovered pit
and poached photographs. Only one member
lost his way going back through the show’ cave, but still he’s only been caving
for twenty years. A. Spoon.
3rd
December. St. Cuthbert’s. B. Ellis, M. Luckwill. Survey trip from Drinking Fountain to Upper Traverse
Chamber and line survey from top of chain to Upper Mud Hall.
10th
December. Balch’s Hole. B. Prewer, F. Darbon, M. Baker, P.M. Giles, S.
Wynn-Roberts, R. Pyke. Photographs by
Jim and Mike. They had the Flashgun Pox.
The rest had an enjoyable trip.
16th
December. G.B. C.A. Marriott, P. Franklyn, K. Franklyn, M. Baker,
J. Eatough, P.M. Giles, M. Luckwill, J. Cornwall, J. Ransom and G. Tilley. Photographic trip in main chamber, white
passage and ladder dig.
19th
December. Christmas Hole. See
article.
27th
December. St. Cuthbert’s Swallet. Survey of September Series by R. Roberts and
P.M. Giles. Completed High Chamber to
Trafalgar via Paperweight Chamber. Also
think weve found some Palettes”.
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The Belfry Bulletin. Secretary. R.J. Bagshaw, 699, Wells Rd,
Knowle ,
Bristol Editor, S.J. Collins, 33, Richmond Terrace, Clifton, Bristol 8.
Postal Dept.
78,
Eastville,