Hon. Sec: A.R. Thomas. Allens House, Priddy, Wells,
Hon. Editor: – S.J. Collins, Homeleigh, Bishop Sutton,
Contents
Editorial
The Last Straw?
A friend of mine, a member of the M.N.R.C., went down
Shatter last weekend, being particularly anxious to see the erratics for which
this cave is noted. He did not find
them, and was told by the Cerberus that they had, unfortunately, gone in the
way of the streaky bacon curtain in Rods; the Golf Clubs and Bulrushes in
Balch; the erratics in the First Grotto of G.B. and many other fine calcite
formations which user to decorate Mendip.
A certain amount of natural wastage of delicate formations
is probably inevitable, And part of the price we must pay for the sheer number
of cavers on Mendip today. Nobody is
perfect, and even the best caver may occasionally do a little unintentional
damage. It is said that a drowning man
will clutch at a straw, and likewise a man who has lost his balance might well
be excused a little damage in avoiding a nasty accident. The requirements of
explorers must also from time to time conflict with the need to preserve the
decorative features of our caves.
The damage which has been done in the past to some of the
most interesting of Mendip cave formations cannot, unfortunately, be explained
away by this reasoning, and deliberate vandalism or a degree of carelessness
inappropriate to good caving become the only explanation possible. I can remember a time when it was proposed to
destroy a not very good formation in a very minor cave in order for further
exploration to become possible. Not
until the formation had been photographed, and the prints considered good
enough was the destruction actually carried out and even then, with care.
If we are to have anything better on Mendip in the years to
come than a series of muddy holes in the ground, without any relieving
features, then steps must be taken now to conserve what we have and to protect
any future discoveries from the word go. The diminution of interest shown in cave photography may well be due to
the narrowing range of worthwhile subjects. At the rate we are going, it may soon be the rule that unless the
photographer is lucky enough to get in on the original exploration trip down a
new hole, he will know that it is probably not worth taking a camera down on
subsequent trip.
Until somebody comes up with a better solution, the only
answer seems to be rigorous policy of restricted access coupled with an
efficient leader system since it must regretfully be assumed that the average
party will contain at least one couldnt care less type. Now that the spotlight has been focussed on
the subject of pollution and of conservation of our environment, could we not
include the preservation of cave scenery as part of this drive?
The B.B. Handicap
We are able to report progress on this race. Delays due to the sudden and tragically
unexpected change of Editor, and to the change of the printing arrangements
have been overcome. The next move was to
get sufficient material to allow the B.B. to catch up. This has now been done. From now on, it is important that the B.B.
comes out on time, as we have the A.G.M. beginning to loom up. This can, and will be done with the B.B. at
its present size of greater providing that you continue to send in material.
Regular Features
Readers will notice that Monthly Notes and Just a Sec
are both absent from this issue. Also,
the feature on the Belfry has not yet appeared in a proper form. Wig is in the states, but the Monthly Notes
will re-appear as soon as his substitute gets going. Alan reports that there is insufficient
material for Just a Sec this month, and the Hut Warden is going to contribute
to the feature on the Belfry. Meanwhile,
we start another regular feature a monthly crossword. Supplies are in hand for several months to come,
but if any members wish to contribute, the required form is a 9 by 9 square
puzzle, of symmetrical or skew-symmetrical design with clues mostly connected
with caving or climbing and of cryptic form.
Letters
Redland
Dear Sir,
I wonder if you would allow me to insert an appeal in the
B.B.? I am collecting information about
the lead workings in the Priddy area, and already have several old photographs
including one of the interior of the Cuthberts works and a photograph of the
Chewton Minery. If any reader of the
B.B. has access to any old photographs, etchings, etc. of these or any other
local lead works, I would very much like to borrow them. The same applies to old large scale maps of
the area or to any other unusual references. All material borrowed will, of course, be treated with great care and
duly returned to their owners. Please
contact me at the above address if you have any material which you think might
be of interest in this connection.
P.A.E.
Stewart.
Patchway,
Dear Sir,
Is anyone in the B.E.C. interested in acquiring a
penny-farthing? I have a genuine 1890
Singer Challenger which is in very good condition apart from its having no
tyres. Please get in touch with me if
you are interested.
John
Ransom.
June Committee Meeting
Arrangements for the fitting out of the Belfry continued to
be the main business of the meeting. The
barn has now been sold to the S.M.C.C. and we have the money. Arrangements for the showers and wiring
continue. Mike Palmer reported on the
progress made on the club exhibition at the
Shafts and all that
By Martin Webster
The Eastwater weekend must have been quite quiet Mendip, as
vast hordes of Mendip cavers abandoned their native caving area and converged
on the Yorkshire Dales, with its abundance of excellent caves.
Our small group was no exception and, together with a party
of NHASA members, we spent a wet but very enjoyable four days camping at the
Hill Inn. The first day saw a team of
seven striding out in the direction of Car Pot, which is quite close to Gaping
Ghyll. Unfortunately, however, the
dreaded Baptistery Crawl took its toll and only four of the thinner members
managed to bottom the pot. Saturday was
spent on the Langdale Pikes in the
snowing quite hard. The night at the
pub, some of the team for our Sunday trip down Long Kin West, elected to go
down Gravel Pit diving (as there were tales of vast sumps) which left our party
a bit low on the hauling side. However,
the Sunday dawned and eventually, after some misgivings, as team of five
assembled at Newby.
The long hard trek up into Newby Moss was conducted in thick
swirling mist and, after searching for the elusive hole for some time; we
parked our loads by a convenient shake hole and spread out across the
moor. Eventually, by luck rather than
skill, the long slit-like entrance was found, so we raced back to collect the
tackle. On trying to find the hole
again, we found to our embarrassment that once again we had lost it. After much swearing and cursing, the hole
once again appeared out of the mist and we were son busily pouring vast amounts
of ladder down the two hundred and eighty five feet of entrance pitch.
Long Kin West is a pothole in every sense. It has recently been extended by the Kendal
Caving Club to a depth of five hundred and ten feet, the pitches being the
entrance pitch already noted, a twenty foot pitch and a hundred and sixty five
foot pitch. The whole pothole goes
vertically downwards except for one short section at the bottom of the twenty
foot pitch.
The big pitch of two hundred and eighty five feet has been
descended by Mendip teams on many occasions, mainly as ladder practice, but
today we were going to attempt to get right to the bottom of the new extension.
As only two of us had got changed, we were naturally
expected to descend first, so the end of the lifeline was thrust into my hands
and I soon found myself at the bottom of the abyss, looking up at the dwindling
thread of ladder leading up to the two spots of light which marked the
surface. Little time was lost, and soon
a large bundle of ropes and ladders came hurtling down the shaft on the end of
the life line. Unfortunately, it was
accompanied by a large rock. I leapt
into a corner and meditated on the folly of potholing!
Bob Mehew (S.M.C.C.) soon joined me, and together we climbed
down the obvious twenty foot pitch and then on down to a tight rocky passage
which doubled back on itself and led into a low passage with a large slit in
the floor. This marks the head of the hundred
and sixty five foot pitch. We soon
located a belay point, which looked as if it might hold with a bit of luck, and
set to work lowering the ladder into the gulf.
The first difficulty was encountered when, after descending
about fifty feet, I found myself standing on a ledge waist deep in a mountain
of tangled tackle. This was easily
overcome however, by dragging the whole mountain of writhing beastie to the
brink and hurling into the void. The
rest of the climb went unhindered and after a quick prod about at the bottom, I
returned and Bob leaped off down the pitch to have the dubious honour of seeing
the boulders at the bottom.
The whole pitch is quite sizeable, being about six feet wide
and some fifty feet long at the bottom. The walls have some excellent scallop formations all in all, a very
fine find by the Kendal. If the final
choke could be forced, it might easily reveal quite a length of large
streamway, as there is still about two hundred and fifty feet drop to the
rising. This would prove a very good
trip indeed.
Bob soon arrived back from the bottom and we returned to the
big pitch, where I started on the long climb to the surface. The hauling team was by then getting g quite
cold, and they didnt seem at all keen on getting changed to go down. Eventually, Martin Mills (S.M.C.C.) decided
it would be probably warmer down the cave anyway and valiantly disappeared into
the next shake hole, soon to reappear in his caving grot.
He quickly joined the by now despondent bod at the bottom of
the big pitch and so Bob Craig (S.M.C.C.) Martin Hauan (B.E.C.) and I sat and
waited. The mist hung low and the wind
howled unmercifully round our aching limbs; the rain and sleet poured down, and
the chattering of teeth grew louder and louder.
After what seemed an eternity (actually about an hour and a
half) the merry chirp of a whistle wafted up the huge shaft and we started the
job of bod extraction. We quickly
completed this job and midst the jangle of ladders and creaking of bones, we
were soon fighting our way down the fell against a fierce headwind. On the way back, we stopped at Ingleton, only
to find that the shop of the greasy ones was closed, so we struggled back for a
night on the beer after a satisfying day of ups and downs!
The Northern Caving Scene
By Mike Yeandle
During the last five years, an explosion of activity in the
dales has yielded an impressive array of discoveries. It is the purpose of this article to outline
some of the major events of the last year.
In the spring of this year, The Happy Wanderers Cave and
Pothole Club unearthed an important system in the previously insignificant
Pippikin Pot on Leck Fell. A tight
entrance section gives access to a fine streamway which ends in a sump. Well decorated high level passages form the
greater part of the system. One such
passage has been named Gour Hall, and it about a hundred feet long and full of
large gours. The system is about two
hours long and three hundred and twenty feet deep. Its furthest reaches are nearing Upper
Lancaster Hole in one direction and Gavel Pot in the other. The Wanderers hope to find an easier entrance
to the cave and work with this in mind is the progress in the
this club are the Gavel Extensions, the high level series in Lost Johns and
Peteram Pot. The Gavel Extension is very
well decorated and about half a mile long. The high level series in Lost Johns is about fifteen hundred feet long
and about a hundred and fifty feet above the master cave. Petersons Pot is now four hundred feet long
and a hundred and twenty feet deep.
At the moment many conflicting theories are being put
forward in an attempt to explain the Leck Fell drainage. The main uncertainty is the point of
resurgence of the Leck Fell water. The
two possibilities are Leck Beck Head (along with the Lancaster-Easegill water)
or in the numerous small cracks in the
Beck Head not being accurately known, and the same applies to the level of the
Lost Johns sump.
Soon after their discovery of Pippikin, the Wanderers
modified an impenetrable crack somewhat. The result was the discovery of Burdle Moss Pot a huge rift five
hundred feet long and three hundred feet and twenty feet deep. The main pitch is in two ninety foot sections
and rivals even
Newby Moss and its existence poses some interesting questions as to the geology
of the area.
The first major ULSA discovery of the year came this May in
the White Scar Cavern. This extension is
a large inlet taking a small stream. It
is reached after a climb through extreme loose boulders. The passage is generally large, sometimes
dropping down to stream level, the formations are reasonable and there are several
short side passages. There are two large
avens, one of which has been climbed to a height of fifty feet, at which point
it began to close down. A sump at the
end of a bedding plane type passage marks the limit of exploration at
present. The series is a mile long and
is heading towards Boggarts Roaring Hole on Newby Moss. Exploration is finished at the moment due to
some access problems.
Work continues in the Allotment. A recent visit by ULSA to Marble Sink
uncovered a continuation a hundred feet in length to the streamway below
Fissure Pitch. The end is, however,
completely choked. A promising dig at
the bottom of Marble Pot gave access to a muddy chamber choked with boulders
with no apparent way on. The resurgence
of the Marble Sink Marble Pot water is probably Austwick Beck Head, a large
accessible system could well exist in the area. A sobering thought is that this water might conceivably go under
Ingleborough and resurge along with Chapel-le-Dale water. A silly thought is a Black Shiver Marble
Sink through trip!
Some diving is beginning to get underway in the dales. Recently Mike Wooding dived
for a distance in the order of a thousand feet. He carried on to find eight hundred feet of fossil passage, ending in an
area of collapse. The end of this
passage and that of Mountain Hall in Far Country cannot be separated by much,
so the G.G.
look like a reality. It is also rumoured
that Wooding has been diving in Keld Head recently.
While on the subject of the
Carrort Passage has now been extended a further hundred feet by ULSA to a very
bitter end. The passage has become
hopelessly tight and further digging is impractical at present. Recently, a B.E.C. Shepton party dived
Penyghent. This I believe is shortly to
be described in rather more detail in the B.B. Grey Wife sump has now been dived by an ULSA member and was found to
close down to a tight bedding plane after about twenty feet. Also on Newby Moss, the Kendal Caving Club
have extended Long Kin West to a depth of five hundred and ten feet. (This pot is described in this B.B.
Ed.) Another addition of the strictly
pothole type, is the Mohole on Cragareth an ULSA find which was dug into and
refuses to go deeper than three hundred feet. This is disappointing as it is well placed for the conjectural Kingsdale
Master cave Marble Steps link or the Three Counties System. Further digs in this area have yielded
little.
This June has seen much ULSA activity in Rangcliff Pot. This challenging system has a potential depth
of nine hundred and fifty feet and is of the order of five miles long. The first for a series of trips down this pot
established over a thousand feet of new inlets to the system. One of these is approximately six hundred
feet long and still going. Perhaps inlet
is the wrong word for this passage, as it takes the main stream. The passage starts at the downstream end of
the Boulder Crawl and goes upstream. The
other inlet which has been surveyed is six hundred feet long and is heading
towards Thunder Pot. Also on this trip,
a way on was found into the continuation of the main stream beyond the end of
the old cave. Further trips enabled the
downstream end of the cave to be pushed a further eight hundred feet or so to a
very disappointing sump, which can be seen to have blocked up to a height of
forty feet. However, after this setback,
a dry passage of fine proportions was entered and followed for about fifteen
hundred feet to a large chamber. This
passage is the first dry one of any length to be found in Langcliff its
friendly nature makes a pleasant contrast ot the hostile wet crawls which form
so much of the cave. In the chamber
there are some excellent formations, including a white cascade of
flowstone. A further trip into this new
series enabled a large passage containing deep gours to be entered. This passage went for about half a mile to
the junction with the stream. Ten feet
down this stream was a sump. Upstream, a
waterfall was climbed and a passage followed for about six hundred feet. This passage ended in a seemingly
impenetrable boulder choke. This is
still the situation at present. The
source of this new stream is not known. A survey has already been started and further trips should uncover much
interesting passage. As for the way on,
this will take much time and effort.
For further reading on the areas discussed in this article,
the reader is recommended to see ULSA review numbers 1 to 6 and the ULSA
exploration journal.
Notice!
Our Hon. Sec. has changed his address. It is now: –
Alan Thomas
Hon. Sec. B.E.C.
Allens House
Priddy
Wells,
Somerset
Progress Report From Cuthberts Two
By Tim Large
Since the breakthrough into Cuthberts II at the end of
October last, the sump has flooded and silted due to the winter weather
conditions. The digging team, which
consisted of Bob Craig, Roy Bennett, Martin Webster, Martin Mills, John Riley,
Alan Butcher, Bob Meyhew and myself worked throughout the winter to re-open the
sump.
This was accomplished by building a concrete and boulder dam
in the sump passage and piping the water through the sump. By this method, the sump pool could be bailed
and the passage kept open with about six inches of air space. This work was completed on April the 11th. At this time, the soak away in the sump was
still taking some water, thus draining away any percolation that entered the
sump area.
Now, the sump open, the team joined by Ray Mansfield and
Pete Rose could get down to some serious digging. Initially, the soak away hole in the sump was dug to a depth of
about three feet below the general sump level. This only succeeded in blocking it, so that the sump flooded again. Thus, on May the 9th another plan of attack
was put into operation. The sump was
bailed to a passable level and a hundred and twenty feet of hosepipe was used
to siphon the water out of the sump. It
was set up so that it would siphon continuously, thus keeping the water level
in the sump constantly low. Thus it has
been done very successfully ever since.
As the bottom of the soak away was now continuously under
water it was decided to dig in the side passage just downstream from the
sump. This was begun on May the
9th. To make digging easier, the passage
was dug out to walking size. The first
minor breakthrough came on May the 19th when a drought was located blowing out
from the dig from a four inch high airspace above the mud infill. From this pointy, the dig went upwards and
over a mud and gravel infill which was interlayered with stalagmite false flooring
some two inches thick. The team were
now burrowing a passage which followed the roof, and the airspace could be seen
to get bigger a little way ahead. The
further the dig progresses, the more glutinous the mud became, until everyone
was walking up to their necks in it.
The Whitsun weekend saw a hive of activity at the dig when
Bob Craig, Bob Mayhew, Martin Mills and myself put in fourteen hours digging
and dug the final thirty five feet that led to the breakthrough.
It came on may 24th, when a passage five feet wide and six
feet high was entered. Everything was
coated with mud, the floor being a foot deep semi-liquid mud lake. At the far side of this chamber there was a
bedding plane about six feet high at the top, rising steeply and trending back
up towards Gour Rift. Dotted along the
passage were some fine and unusual stalactite formations. All were inactive and appeared to be very
old. At the top of the bedding plane,
the passage sloped upwards over boulders and stal flows to a squeeze over a
flowstone floor. This led to a small
well decorated chamber. Most of the
formations were inactive and in the process of disintegrating, thus producing
some peculiar and interesting shapes. From the nearside of the chamber a way on could be seen, but this
entailed crossing the chamber and damaging some of the formations. It was decided to wait until the chamber had
been photographed before continuing. This has since proved to have been a wise decision, as the chamber has
suffered unavoidably from the passage of cavers.
On May 26th, the chamber was photographed. The survey was begun by Martin Mills. Afterwards the chamber was crossed by
squeezing under some fine curtains to an obvious exit on the right. The passage turned sharp right and was even
more finely decorated white sparkling stal adorning the whole passage and dry
gours full of crystals on the floor. After twenty feet, the passage turned sharp left down of a stal slope
about five feet wide to a rift which appeared to be about twenty feet
deep. From the top, it located is if the
passage continued in both directions.
During the trips along the bedding plane, a strange noise
could be heard. This was eventually
traced to a small hole halfway along the passage. Aural connection was established between this
hole and one of the holes in the roof of the sump passage. The noise was that of the water entering the
pipes from the sump passage dam. This
connection was later proved by pouring water down the tube. The unfortunate watcher received a full face
of muddy water!
The new extension, although not getting us any nearer to
Wookey, has possibly provided an answer as to where the Dinning Room dig would
come out. It will be seen from the
survey that the end of the new passage is heading straight for the Dining Room
dig and bears the same characteristics as the dig.
As well as digging, there has been much other work done in
Cuthberts II. A thorough exploration of
the roof, looking at high level routes has been undertaken, but nothing has been
found. About six sites were maypoled in
the area of the Ten Foot Pot, but were all just high level continuation of the
sttreamway. Just below the pot, the
stream passage is about seventy feet high.
The next digging site is at present uncertain. There are three possibilities. The first is a return to the soak away
which has now been completely rained by increasing the rate of flow from the
siphon. The second possibility would be
to dig at Sump II hoping to break into Cuthberts III. This would involve building a dam just
upstream if sump II and possibly using techniques similar to those which
enabled Sump I to be broken through and drained. Finally, Dave Turner and Colin Clarke have
started a dig at the end of the Gour Rift which is making steady progress.
Some work has already been done at Sump II which has
encouraged the diggers. When the dams
are put in, Sump II drains very quickly, thus enabling us to get twenty feet
into this sump before rock meets water and the sump continues amid a floor of
liquid mud. The sump was dived,
incidentally, on the 15th of February this year by John Parker in very bad
conditions. He reported that the sump
went down about fifteen feet to a tight hole.
Despite the many setbacks, prospects still look good for extending
the limits of Cuthberts yet again.
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Most readers of the B.B. will know that the prize for the
Stop the Clock competition was won by Kay Mansfield. We have recently received a letter from her
expressing her thanks for the prize money of £25, which she used to buy a
diamond ring.
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A survey of the new discoveries in Cuthberts II which
formed the subject of the article concluded above will be published in the NEXT
ISSUE of the B.B. The survey has been
held over to enable this B.B. to be got out as quickly as possible.
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Next months B.B. will include articles by Martin Webster on
the Lost Johns New Roof Traverse, the resumption of Monthly Notes, and an
article on the Swinsto-Kingsdale link by Roy Bennett.
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We need more articles, letters, bits of information etc. for
the B.B. can YOU help?
Monthly Crossword Number 1.
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ACROSS: 1. A.C.
Cased in Cuthberts (7). 6. Do this in
survey productions or hydrology (5). 7.
Neck and Neck? (3). 8. Cell with two
elements (4). 10. See 3 and 11 down
(4). 12. Found in the nearest pub
(3). 13. On top of too much beer, Vimto
could become this (5). 15. Some think
it pretty (4,3).
DOWN: 2. Reference Level (3). 3. Found in cave neighbourhood (4). 4. First move in caving? (5).
5. Highest point in Cuthberts (7). 6. Deepest point in Cuthberts? (3,4). 9. Alf at last (5). 11. Sounds like a wet 3 down or a type of 10
across (4). 14. Sump or escalator (3).
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Stencils completed 24th July 1970.