The
Exploration Club, The Belfry,
Road
Editor: Dave Turner
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Contents
Dates
7th March
meeting in the Belfry – see page 3
7th March Cuthberts
leaders meeting – back room of The Hunters at 7pm. – see page 3
13/21 March 8 1/2
day camp in Daren Cilau – see page 5
6th June
Challenge – Belfry ground at 4pm. – see page 2.
Dinner referendum
As requested, we are including a referendum (skilfully
prepared by Trebor) asking for members comments concerning the annual
dinner. Please find the time to fill it
in and return it to Mike as otherwise we shall continue with the same format as
in previous years.
BEC Sweat and T Shirts
Tony Jarratt has a number of the new sweat and T shirts
still for sale. If you want one (or
more) then contact Tony a.s.a.p.
Membership Changes
New Members
1080 Tony Church, Shepton Mallet,
1081 Phillip Provis, Paulton,
1082 Robin Brown, Cheddar,
1083 Nicholas Sprang,
1084 Richard Stevens,
Worcestershire
Address Changes
890 Jerry Crick, Leighton Buzzard, Bucks
1001 Graeme Johnson, Cosby, Leicester
1046 Dave Shand, Penarth,
949 John Watson, Wells, Somerset
1019 Lavinia Watson, Wells, Somerset
1068 Jon Whiteley, Denbury, Devon
1031 Mike Wigglesworth, Wells,
Somerset
Ratified Members
1070 Mary Robertson 1073
Clive Lovell
1072 Mike McDonald 1074 Tracey Newstead
Membership Changes
See Alfies notes on page 21 for corrections to the list
published in the last BB.
News
Pot
This was first banged open by Pete and Alison Moody in 1983
giving 300 ft. of large passage. A very
strong draught was followed down a tight rift to a choke with distant sound of
a stream (Flange Swallet is only 50 ft. away). Andy Sparrow started digging there with Pete and Alison in the spring of
1986 and the breakthrough occurred on January 17th this year. 100 ft. of passage was found leading to the
water which was followed downstream to an aven and a sump. Upstream there is a larger streamway and extensive
dry series ending in well decorated chambers. Total length is 500 ft. – work continues.
Andy Sparrow
Goughs
Andy Sparrow and Chris Castle have opened up a new route to
the water in Lloyd Hall. Starting at the
top of the 70 ft. pitch is a descending rift to a chimney landing on a
chockstone. From there it is a 35 ft.
pitch to the water.
Andy Sparrow
Challenge
As members are aware it is our duty to organise the Wessex
Challenge for 1987, this being the “prize” for winning it again last
year. The theme of the challenge will be
“The Quest for the Rusty Tankard” and will be held on 6th June at
4pm.
St. Cuthberts
The on-going clean-up down Cuthberts is plodding on at a
leisurely pace but it isn’t until you start bringing rubbish out that you
realise exactly how much is down there.
After a consultation with Brian Prewer, I’ve brought out
quite a bit of the old telephone wire, especially between Wire Rift and Gour
Hall. It was broken in so many places it
was more of a nuisance than an asset. In
any event, for rescue purposes we have the mole phone so the telephone is
presumably not now needed. If needed it
would be quicker to lay a new line than repair the old one.
Although regular specific cleaning-up trips exist everybody
can do their bit by shifting stuff they find scattered about “uphill”
as it were. Every bit helps. In particular, there’s a few bags at the
bottom of the Entrance Rift; a filthy great long piece of tubing at the bottom
of Pulpit Pitch and a dump of stuff just downstream of the main streamway
duck. I’ve also found a carbide dump in
Lower Mud Hall which will be cleaned up next visit. Who the hell’s using carbide down there?
Mike (Trebor) McDonald
St. Cuthberts Leaders Meeting
This had to be postponed and is now due to be held in the
back room of The Hunters on Sat. 7th March at 7pm. It is a long time since we last held a
meeting and I hope that all leaders will make a positive attempt to attend.
For those who are not sure how the leader system works here
are a few notes. The leader system was
set up soon after the cave was opened in 1953 with the prime objective to
protect the cave. It was realised that
if unrestricted access was allowed many passages would be pushed which although
appearing ‘virgin’ have either been carefully pushed to avoid damage to
formations or were known, through the survey, to re-enter the known cave after
after a very short distance.
Leaders have to make a number of trips into the cave,
showing that they are familiar with all the major routes and have their
‘leaders’ form ‘ticked off’ by current leaders. The prospective leader’s
attitude with regards to conservation etc. is also taken into account before
they are issued with a key.
Originally leaders had to be members of the BEC but back in
the late 60’s we extended the scheme to cover people outside the club providing
that they had adequate insurance cover. This move was taken on two accounts; firstly, to head off accusations
that the BEC were keeping Cuthberts as their own private cave; and secondly,
to allow other clubs to provide their own leaders for their trips, thus taken
some of the ‘tourist trip’ load from the BEC leaders.
I think that the leader system speaks for itself, there have
been relatively few accidents in spite of the problems of the entrance rift,
and the cave is not being spoilt quite as fast as most of the other caves. This doesn’t mean that we should be
complacent and pat ourselves on the back. In fact we should be ashamed at the amount of rubbish etc. that has
remained in the cave after digging pushes (I am as guilty of this as anyone!),
and I am pleased to see that present members intend to do something about it
(see Trebor’s notes above)
Dave Turner
There will be a meeting in the Belfry on Saturday 7th March,
for anybody interested in corning to
The trip will revolve mainly around connecting last summers
discovery – Weisalmschacht, with the Hirlatzhohle, making one of the deepest
through trips in the world.
We hope to keep the numbers reasonably low this year as 3
car loads of BEC, the same number of NCC and a coach load of South Wales CC.
tourists somewhat upset the local cavers and made a mockery of our host,
Robert’s “camp where you like but don’t let the Foresters see you”
policy!! Those wishing to go should be
proficient in S.R.T.
Mark Lumley
Treasurer’s Report
Since the last B.B. little has changed on the financial
front, we still have regular and quite healthy income arriving from the Belfry
Bednights and deposit savings now total some £750. The current account goes up and down like a
yo-yo and there is little point in telling you what’s in it, but suffice to say
we’re in a generally comfortable financial position at profit.
However, with the winter and cold weather now with us,
guests and members staying at the Belfry may decrease which together with
increased coal consumption and lighting etc. will affect income somewhat. In addition, some £500 has just disappeared
from the current account to pay for the new sweat and T-shirts and although
this will be recovered in due course from sales, the cash flow has been hit a
little.
Furthermore, following the fire in the Belfry over the New
Year, the Committee decided it was necessary to update the fire
prevention/tackling situation. Hopefully
we won’t have another fire but we might as well learn from this one. Some observers on the night of the fire
mentioned a few pertinent matters which may need up-grading and changing. This could cost £500 or so, thus proving a
further drain on resources.
If you keep supporting the club by buying the new sweat and
T-shirts and by using the Belfry, I think we’ll survive a little longer,
Mike (Trebor) McDonald.
Donation
Our thanks go to Ron Wyncoll for the donation to the club of
an
Black Holes Expedition
A 200 hour (8 1/2 day) sponsored camp in Daren Cilau has
been organised starting on Friday 13th March. The team will be digging to try and get the Aggy connection over and
done with. Money raised will go towards
the Black Holes Expedition to
Cork, Dany Bradshaw, Tim Gould, Steve Milner and Mark Lumley. All donations gratefully received. Visitors at the camp are welcome.
Jill Tuck
It is with the deepest regret that we must record the
passing of Jill Tuck, who died on Friday, January 9th of this year. To her husband, Norman, we extend our
heartfelt sympathy.
Jill Rollason, as she was before her marriage, joined the
B.E.C. in 1949 and was one of the first girls to do so. From then on, the club always occupied a
special place in her affections and throughout her life she remained one of its
most loyal supporters. She became a Life
Member in 1973. From assisting in the
work on the excavation of the Roman villa at Kingsweston, she went on to take
part in the early exploration of Stoke Lane Slocker, and pioneered some very
tight passages, including one which became known at the time as ”
Rollason’s Romp”. She took an
active part in a number of club projects; wrote for the B.B. on a variety of
topics and was elected as Ladies’ Representative to the club committee in 1951.
Jill was forced to resign from this position the following
year due to ill health, but came back to play an active part in the surveying
of Redcliffe caves and the opening of Pen Park Hole. On a lighter note, she was responsible for
the expression ‘The B.E.C. get everywhere.’ and her wide range of interests
included submitting entries for the song competitions of 1961 and 1962. She played a very considerable part in
building the stone hut at present used by the M.R.O. and the gargoyle at the
end of this building was her work.
After her marriage to Norman Tuck, they moved to
noted for their work in the Roman mine at Draethen, near Machen,
Roman mine not to have been worked subsequently was a notable ‘first’.
In later years, when her health began to fail; her mind
remained as active as ever and was keen and alert to the very end. It is no exaggeration to say that Jill played
a very great part in creating the club spirit for which the B.E.C. is
justifiably proud.
Fame At Last???
Extensions On
Llangattock
Mountain
By Mark Lumley
A few months ago the Crew started speculating about likely
places to dig in Agen Allwedd with a view to a Hard Rock Connection. Superimposing a grid of probable fault lines
onto a survey of caves of the CWM Clydach Catchment, it became apparent that
both Daren and Aggy largely follow a set pattern through the mountain. Passages head predominantly from NNW-SSE
interrupted by minor holdups and switchbacks which almost invariably head off
to the East. A logical assumption was
that the 12 O’clock High boulder choke was held up on a major fault running
down through the Trident passage in Aggy. I drew on a passage heading NNW from this point and, assuming that it
behaved in the same way as those on either side projected it through a point
very closed to Gothic Passage (Southern Streamway) and on up to Midnight
Passage (Just off the second boulder choke in Aggy).
Fish used to dig Gothic Passage back in the 60’s. His description of it sounded very much like
parts of Hard Rock. Blitz and I went to look at Midnight Passage. I burst out laughing when we climbed into
it. It’s identical to the Rock Steady
Cruise – crystal covered walls, constricted switchbacks, undulating red roof
etc.
We wrote to Bill Gascoigne of the Aggy Committee requesting
permanent key and permission to dig Gothic Passage and Midnight Passage. The key was granted, Midnight was O.K. to dig
but the Gloucester C.C. and Chelsea S.S. had both started digging in different
parts of Gothic.
Preliminary digs in Midnight by teams of BEC and UC4 made
minor extensions but a large rubble cone fallen from an aven blocks the way
on. Work continues and looks very
promising.
Meanwhile, on the 11th of January, the two Rival digging
groups down at Gothic Passage both made breakthroughs, the Gloucester finding
400ft of Railway Tunnel sized passage and the Chelsea about 1200ft of wide
bedding passage with occasional chambers.
The following weekend Jim Smart and I drove over to
Whitewalls and were amused to see two somewhat over manned digging teams
heading down the cave in search of ‘caverns measureless!!’ We followed them down early in the evening.
The
extension (Renaissance) is excellent despite several long, low crawls.
cover the walls and there are some fine walking passages. Again, it’s similar to Hard Rock. Jim and I arrived at the end to find the four
remaining
cavers digging out a sand choke.
We joined in and an hour later broke through into another
180 foot of open passage ending in another straightforward sandy dig. The end of this passage is right next to the
first sump in Aggy and it looks likely to connect to ‘a dry’ inlet between
sumps in the May time series.
Meanwhile, the
group had broken through again into extensive walking passage broken up with
occasional crawls. Large Avens in both
extensions suggest the presence of a higher series. This extension is heading South East,
straight towards the terminal boulder choke of the Hard Rock.
In all about a mile of passage has been explored so
far. Both extensions follow the lines of
our projected passage extensions with almost alarming accuracy. Needless to say, the crew are back down at
Hard Rock next weekend as a race is clearly on with a connection definitely on the
cards in the near future.
The Exploration Of
West End Series. May
1983 May 1986
The following article was
intended for inclusion in a Caving Report to be published on completion of the
survey of the West End Series. Due to
present caving politics it would seem that any future publishing of surveys of
S.S.S.Is would be against the interests of the Mendip caving fraternity and so
it has been decided to include this write-up in the B.B. My apologies for the somewhat monotonous
nature of this report but it has been written essentially to record details of
the exploration of the series for the benefit of future speleohistorians. Should an Eastwater Caving Report ever come
to fruition this article will be updated and included.
Tony Jarratt. 4/7/86
“Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough to mask thy
monstrous visage?” Shakespeare
From the B.E.C. Log(8/5/83) – Keith Gladman and Andy Lolley
visited Ifold’s Series, via Dolphin Pot and Harris’s Passage, where they had a
“frig in the boulders’!
INITIAL DISCOVERY
On an uncertain date, probably the 28th May, KG and
hundred feet of roomy inclined bedding and rift passages after a total of some
six hours of excavation in the low tube at the end of Ifold’s Series. The two main rift passages in the new SOHO
and THE STRAND series were named
STRAND the extension itself being christened WEST END SERIES due to its
position relative to the rest of the cave.
The following week KG and eight B.E.C. entered the new stuff
intent on surveying, unfortunately forgetting the tape in their
excitement! Tim Large’s compass bearings
showed the dip to be 210o.
SNOTROM AVEN
Most of the obvious side passages were explored to gain a
couple of hundred feet of extensions, one of these leading to an 80ft high aven
free climbed by TL and Stuart MacManus to where it became too tight. This was
later estimated to be almost directly below the club’s Morton’ s Pot Dig. The new series was dry at this time.
Phil Romford, Tony Jarratt and John Watson followed the
first team after a liquid lunch. It was
raining on the surface as they entered the cave. After route finding problems they met KGs
team at the breakthrough point, continuing on into the
End
cave and entered
(Snotrom Aven), sinking in a tight bedding plane below. The three tried to follow this water, the
most likely route being an awkward bedding (the ORGAN GRINDER) which PR pushed
for some way to a very tight squeeze. AJ
passed the squeeze after a struggle and he and JW pushed two further squeezes
to reach a descending canyon passage with a 20ft pitch in the floor which was
traversed over to reach an eyehole above a deep pitch. This was estimated at 60-80ft deep and the stream
could be heard clearly below, though blasting of the eyehole was deemed
necessary to allow access. The 20ft
pitch was free climbed to a short passage and further tight pitch estimated at
30ft. This section of cave was named
a low thoroughfare in
in the 380ft Way testified to the amount of floodwater that had passed through
the cave. A third team of Jim Smart and
Mark Lumley never reached the new series, getting lost in Ifold’s en route.
THE TIGHT AND NASTIES
June 11th saw a large team, I.G,
TL, SM and G1yn Bolt (W.C.C.) on a 7+ hour trip attempting to push Greek
St. After widening the top section of
the 30ft pitch AJ descended to a wider section with an extremely tight inclined
squeeze entering the side of the un-descended 75ft pitch. He and KG passed the squeeze and laddered
25ft to the floor of the pitch, christened GLADMAN SHAFT. They went off to explore while the others attempted
to widen the eyehole above with a hammer and chisel as it was thought the
squeeze could not be reversed.
The explorers entered a high rift passage where a 2ft
sta1agmite column was- removed to pass a constricted section. Beyond lay some 200ft of larger passage with
many loose boulders, ending in another tight section. This and various climbs in the main rift were
left for the future and the two had a desperate struggle back up the inclined
squeeze as the chisellers had failed to open up the eyehole – the thought of
being blasted out of their predicament losing all appeal when the strong inward
draught was noted! A slow, tiring exit
was made which set the trend for all future trips in this awkward and
exhausting series. Before leaving the
eyehole was “banged” by TL.
The results of the bang were checked the following day by JW
a Darren Granfield who found the eyehole to be comp1etely demolished. They laddered the resulting 25ft rift to
reach a ledge with a further roomy 50ft pitch to the bottom of the shaft. The passages below we re-inspected but
nothing new found apart from some fine helictites.
REGENT STREET
Returning to the squeeze out of the Organ Grinder, an up-dip
passage with a stalagmite false floor was pushed for some 30ft to junction with
a large rift passage – REGENT STREET – 8ft wide by 3 high and liberally
decorated with flowstone, helictites, cave pearls etc. At one point the passage was barred by a
series of foot high crystal cones – the TERMITE HILLS. Its delicate beauty earned this area the
title of
STREET
The two completely mind-boggled explorers returned along
expecting to almost walk into another 100ft of high level rift 15ft above the
floor of the main passage. This was
later named
passage but JW looked at possible climbs to reach higher levels that could be
seen above. The rift was estimated at
probably 100ft high in places.
Hardly able to believe their luck the two started out but
soon met Graham Wilton – Jones, Jane Clarke and Bucket Tilbury. These three were dubious when told of the new
finds so were dragged off to
forced to repent. The Termite Hills were
passed with care and a short stretch of formation filled passage entered which
dropped down to yet another marvel – an emerald green lake 3ft wide by 30ft
long with a drop beyond to a further pool and stalagmite choke. Following the mode of
THE SERPENTINE. All then made an excited
exit to spread the good news, though anyone who was familiar with Eastwater was
found to be difficult to convince!
STREET
On 15th June PR photographed
and
examined and named
STREET
These rifts were again looked at three days later by AJ, TL,
GB, JW and Andy Sparrow. They were
pushed in various directions for some 200ft and found to be well adorned with
thousands of small helictites. As
established, a handshake connection from a tight hole in the floor of the
entrance to
to the “dog-legs” at the head of Greek St.
LOLLY POT
This team then continued to the end of
with hammer and chisel. When widened to
the size of AJ, he was poked through to discover 20ft of tight, potholed canyon
passage which abruptly doubled back on itself at the head of a beautiful 40ft
pitch – LOLLEY POT. His screams of
ecstasy lured AS and JW through the squeeze and while GB rushed back to Gladman
Shaft for a ladder the three admired the new pitch. Perfectly oval and some 20ft long by 8ft wide
the pot was a free-hanging one in black limestone. A real classic. On receiving the ladder all three descended
to find 80ft of slimy keyhole passage, a 6ft pot and 30ft of roomy phreatic
tube ending in a body sized tube with a howling draught whistling in. This was half full of water and obvious signs
of recent sumping to some 30ft up the walls precluded any investigation at this
time. Great difficulty was had in
reversing the muddy 6ft pot and keyhole passage and another weary exit was
made. To quote the B.E.C. Log
“
with much moaning and cursing. A
bloody fine trip.
Work on mapping the new finds commenced on June 22nd when
Trevor Hughes, Rob Harper, Edric Hobbs and DG completed a grade 5 survey from
the Serpentine to the
/ Organ Grinder junction.
UPPER
STREET
25th June. AJ, SM, TL, PR, JW, Matt Tuck and Brian
Prewer. JW continued his series of
climbs into the roof of
St.
– which was not fully explored. Two
teams surveyed from the squeeze above Lolley Pot and from the head of
35ft pitch below Dolphin Pot. A
draughting hole above the “Lolley Pot squeeze” was banged by TL.
The following day JW and Mark Brown found a further 100ft in
to a point where loose boulders blocked the way on. Some small red stalagmite flow was noted and
it was assumed that the end was not far below the surface. Meanwhile TH and RH surveyed
remainder of
first used. From the Log “
.Rob
says it’s where Blue Movies are made! Also from the Log TH pleaded Will somebody stop Quiet John discovering
passage quicker than we can survey it.
Three days later TL, Dave Turner and Paul Hodgson inspected
the results of the previous weeks bang, which had done little, and looked at
other holes in the roof of
St
photographed the pretties in
St
July saw continued enthusiastic exploration. On the 2nd, DG, JW, Andrew George and Ian
Caldwell carried on with investigations in the
On the 7th Barry Wharton was conned into dragging RB’s
diving gear to the Serpentine where a dive was made to 12ft depth and all parts
of the pool checked. Definitely NO way
on!
Two days later a large party entered the cave. GB, Pete Hann
and Julie Wootton (all W.C.C.) photographed in Regent St. while JW, AJ, TL and
Dave Skunk Newsome (U.S.A.) took radio – location equipment to the end of
successful fix was established by BP and helpers on the surface. The point located is 150-200ft below ground
level at a point near the E.S.C.C. hut. Also on this trip another 30ft of rift was found off
from the top of
Series. Only a few rocks were moved to
open this up revealing that the new series has always been virtually open! The connection was not physically passed due
to its loose nature but may be useful in the event of a rescue.
On the 13th July (!) Pete & Angie Glanville and Tony
Boycott (C.S.S.) failed to find the new series. On the 21st JS and Neill Scallon (C.S.S.) at last succeeded but light
failure ended their trip. They returned
the following day with fresh lights and visited
AJ, TL, Martin Grass, Chris Castle,
members Chris Birkhead and Hark Bound followed them a day later to photograph
and place a further bang on the “Lolley Pot II Squeeze.
With the continued good weather, an attack on the end of
planned and on 6th August AJ and Graham “Ug” Summers (N.C.C.) moved
eight sandbags of liquid mud and gravel from the tube before disillusionment
set in. Very strong draught was evident. JW extended his examination of roof passages
to the
area. On the same day
ML visited the “pretties” but light failure again forced a
retreat. Will they ever reach the
bottom?
Work on the dig continued on the 27th when TL, AJ, and Peter
Bolt (C.U.C.C.) accompanied by Howard & Debbie Limbert, Alan Box and
“Noddy” (N.C.C.) removed more bags of mud and gravel to allow AJ to
squeeze along 15ft of foul, muddy crawl into 20ft of roomier phreatic rift
passage. The stream sank behind mud banks
just below this and a nearby hole appeared to connect with the continuation of
the streamway but this was too tight to pass. TL yet again banged the “Lolley Pot squeeze. PB photographed the pretties and got lost
three times. He also lost most of his
overalls and the arse of AJ’s furry suit which was underneath! The N.C.C. team were suitably derogatory
about Mendip caves.
BLACKWALL TUNNEL
October saw the next visit to the series when, on the 8th,
AJ, and BW were there in wet conditions. No water was entering via Snotrom Aven but a stream was heard in
reappeared in the 20ft aven off
St.
waterfall seen through a rock window high on the south east wall. Beyond the “terminal dig” some 50ft
of inclined tube was pushed and named BLACKWALL TUNNEL – neither for its ample
size or cleanliness. Smoke bombs fired
at the draughting rift above “Lolley Pot squeeze” were not detected
in
or anywhere else. Other bombs lit in the
present.
29th October. TL and AJ, later assisted by Alan Taylor
(W.C.C.) re-excavated the old route from the Boulder Ruckle straight into
Boulder Chamber to give an easier access route to parties working in
As a result of five months of almost exclusive Eastwater
trips and with the approach of winter, visits to the new series tailed off and
it was not until 15th April, 1984 that the next important trip took place. TL,
the draughting hole above “Lolley Pot squeeze” but were foiled by
lack of wire which it was forgotten had been removed from the cave some weeks
before! AL and AJ surveyed from the end
of Blackwall Tunnel to the aforementioned squeeze – a filthy and arduous job. All left the cave at 8.20pm, one and a half
hours overdue, to be met by a prospective rescue party of Alan Downton and
Fiona Lewis. On this trip a hibernating
bat was noticed in the passage between Soho and the
On the 5th May TL and AJ surveyed up-dip in the
Aven. The cave was bone dry apart from
the providentially continuous trickle at the Magic Fountain in Ifold Series.
Surveying continued on the 26th with JW, AJ and Nick Hill
(S.M.C.C.) completing Upper Wardour St. Smoke bombs lit in Morton’s Pot were
not detected in
smell at the Magic Fountain. The new
series was now one year old.
On the two Wednesday evenings of 13th and 20th June PR and
TL dug and banged at the sharp bend just before
M.C.G.) rushed to this site for the breakthrough. PR shifted about half a ton of boulders,
blocking both his own exit and that of those below him for over an hour! A short section of open passage was entered
but was blocked by more loose boulders. A couple of narrow escapes resulted from this trip – large
“Henrys” and gravity being responsible. To cure this PR, TL and Jeremy Henley banged
the offending boulders on the 27th noting that fumes were evident at the top of
the strand.
This area saw its final visit on 11th July by PR, TL, JH and
Tim Swan. The last bang had removed some
of the boulders but many more blocked the way on. An aural connection was established through
the choke to a similar blockage in the floor of
With a distinct lack of enthusiasm from B.E.C. members who
had worked bloody hard in the cave for over a year and with a tight and muddy
crawl being the only feasible way on, it was decided to invite the W.C.C. in
the shape of Pete and Alison Moody to assist in further exploration. Accordingly on 30th June they went to the end
of the new series with AJ, JW and Rich Websell (WC.C.). Alison managed to pass the terminal squeeze
at the top of Blackwall Tunnel to be stopped by another squeeze after 6ft. The stream sink and nearby hole were
investigated but need banging.
Meanwhile work on the survey slowly progressed. On 11th August AJ and JW surveyed the loop
passage off Organ Grinder and the remainder of
Tunnel to place 2lb of bang on the two end squeezes. The result was inspected within half an hour
as the fumes quickly dispersed in the strong draught. AM passed the final section to gain 10ft of
tight passage and a further constriction which was then blasted with another
21b. All then left the cave.
A return was made here on 15th September by AJ, P & AM
and Pete Watts (W.C.C.). The terminal
squeeze was chiselled out and passed by AM to yet another squeeze which PM
banged. AM then conquered this to
jubilantly emerge in a 10-15ft high, well decorated cross rift with a
descending bedding plane ahead. Loneliness, pools of bang fumes and the instability of the floor gave AM
good excuses for an honourable retreat, but before struggling back to sanity
the last squeeze was again banged.
Further exploration here was then delayed due to an
unfortunate club squabble which lasted for a few weeks until resolved in the
traditional manner at a convivial
to the “wide” open extensions in very wet conditions. JW, AJ, P &. AM and Paul Whybro (W.C.C.)
all passed the squeezes to
up and down-dip though an extra down-dip section led to a small static
sump. The cross rift was not pushed far
up-dip as straws and loose boulders partially blocked the route. The down-dip continuation, to the south east,
was a fairly level and crystal floored rift with a profusion of formations
similar to those of Regent St, somewhere above. AJ doffed his filthy boots and oversuit to follow this for some 60ft to
a junction with a much larger gallery.
JUBILEE LINE
This sealed the fate of the crystal floor and all were soon
assembled in this 10ft high sandy floored passage admiring a stalagmite resembling
a cricket ball on a stick. With the 50th
anniversary of both clubs being upon them it was unanimously decided to
christen this major new passage JUBILEE LINE. Some 60ft further, after a traverse over a collapsed area of floor, the
edge of a 50ft pitch was reached. The
large black space below issued forth the siren call of an active stream. Not
having any tackle the area was searched for alternative ways down resulting in
the discovery of two more pitches, 30ft and 20ft deep but definitely not free-climbable. On the way “out an interesting
hole” under a flow stone bank in the up-dip rift of Charing Cross was
chiselled open to allow AM to force another squeeze to the head of a 15ft
phreatic pot, assumed to connect with the unknown route below the other
pitches.
CHAMBER OF HORRORS
After a suitable rest the attack was resumed on 10th
November with a strong party of TL, AJ, P & AM, Pete W, GB, Geoff Newton
and Jeff Price (W.C.W.). Passage versus
body size left GB at “Lolley squeeze” and JP in the Blackwall
Tunnel. The rest reached the new stuff
with a struggle and an awkward descent of the 20ft pitch Pot was made into a
large but gloomy and obviously flood prone chamber at the base of the two
larger pitches. This instantly became
the CHAMBER OF HORRORS. The enticing
stream entered from a tiny crawl only to sink into a tight rift some 20ft below
the boulder floor. This inlet proved
to give a visual connection back to JP in the bottom of Blackwall Tunnel which
could be blasted to provide much easier access. The whole of the chamber was coated in sticky mud and small bits of
polythene bag perched high up on boulders are evidence of recent flooding to a
depth of around 60ft above the stream sink. The intermittent
stream can hardly be the cause of this and so a hidden streamway beneath the
chamber is assumed to be the villain of the piece. The area bears a distinctly unhealthy
appearance to parts of the flood prone Ogof Hesp Alyn in
Wales
PW climbed 20ft into the continuation of Jubilee Line and followed a fine
section of passage some 200ft long. Partly of walking size and with fine though muddy formations, its main
claim to fame is an immaculate nest of cave pearls set off by their presence on
a wide mud bank. Conditioned to accept
the worst the team were not surprised when the passage lowered to about 5
inches high in a descending crawl. AM
again proved to be the best invention since drain rods when she forced the
crawl to a small chamber and wet u-tube beyond. PH then took over and pushed this after a struggle up the steep and
muddy far side. He gained a further 50ft
of fine passage ending in an impassable wet squeeze with a stalagmite choke
above. Just prior to this a strongly
draughting rift is undoubtedly the way on but requires bang. Back at the climb up, various side passages
were examined to reveal a sumped inlet with descending phreatic ramps below
leading to a mud choke and a small active sink. Time and exhaustion then forced the team to leave the series without
descending the 15ft phreatic pitch or checking possible up-dip routes towards
Regent St.
ABERFAN
A return visit was made on 17th November by P & AM, GN,
PW, GW-J and JC, when the 15ft pitch was laddered to reach another typical
Eastwater bedding plane, choking down-dip in the direction of the Chamber of
Horrors but developing up-dip into a slippery, mud covered incline – ABERFAN
PASSAGE. Across the bedding from the
foot of the pitch a dried up streamway with large sandstone cobbles led after
100ft to the superb CENOTAPH AVEN, 20-30ft in diameter and at least 60ft
high. Meanwhile, in
Cross
frustration.
GW-J and JC were back again on 9th December together with BT
and Mike Davies (N.U.C.C.). They rigged
a fixed rope traverse above the Chamber of Horrors to link the two sections of
Jubilee Line and once again surveyed the dreadful Blackwall Tunnel – by
mistake!
On 15th JW, GN, PW and PM spent some time chemically
widening the squeeze to the 15ft pot, Blackwall Tunnel squeezes and the
hoped-for by-pass to Blackwall Tunnel itself. JW not appearing with the others was found on the way out at Dolphin
35ft Pitch with light pox.
The following day ML and the L.A.D.S. descended upon Chamber
of Horrors where a muddy squeeze was dug open into a 6ft wide by 15ft long and
40ft high aven with possible passages off at the top.
This was looked at again on 30th December by ML, Steve
Milner and Lisa Taylor and after being climbed was found to have no ways
on. The rest of the team, Andy Lovell,
Dave Shand, Tim Gould and Nipper Harrison were stopped by the Blackwall Tunnel
Squeezes.
The new years work commenced on 5th January with a climbing
attempt on Cenotaph Aven by GN and AJ. The latter free-climbed the notch at the far side of the aven to a
height of 30ft where it could be seen to close down some 15ft above. This is merely an alcove to the main part of
the aven which will need bolting from floor level. GN then pushed the inclined Aberfan Passage
to his limit but thought that someone very thin and determined could get
further.
St.
,EH, RH and Chris Batstone visited the area. A brief dig in the left hand rift was followed with an even briefer
detonation of 1+lbs of bang in the right hand rift where a stubborn boulder
blocked the way on. The very strong
outward draughts in both these passages could be evidence of a connection with
the Cenotaph Aven area below.
To test this theory SH, JS and ML smoke-bombed the Aven on
the next day but nothing was detected by TG who was waiting in
A
team of P & AM, PPW, GE, Martin Buckley and Paul Sutton tied up some loose
ends on 26th. A 20ft draughting aven in
small tubes. In Jubilee Line the passage
to the left, by the pearls was pushed to some tubes heading back to the start
of Jubilee.
A B.E.C. team of AJ, John Dukes, Pete Rose, Pete
“Snablet” Macnab and Tom Chapman removed bang debris from the
dig on 3rd February.
On 9th Feb. a prospective aven-bolting squad of ML, GN and
SM got as far as “Lolley Pot squeeze” where PW and PIM informed them
that the grovel before Blackwall Tunnel had sumped back up the passage – very
off-putting and unfortunately the shape of things to come!
The next attempt here on 2nd March nearly ended in
disaster. P & AM and PW met TG and
DS on their way out; who told the newcomers that the Blackwall Tunnel grovel
was open but pretty wet. They passed the
grovel with 2 inches of airspace and carried on to Cenotaph where GN, ML and SN
had just got their first bolt in. PH
told the others of the state of the duck and they told him that it was okay on
the way in. Both club logs here state
that each thought the other was bullshitting! Suddenly realisation dawned on the assembled and a dash for freedom was
made, discarding all the bolting kit in their rush. On arrival at the duck it was found to have
unusable airspace but PW miraculously managed to get through. After 2 hours of damming and bailing the
interred ones managed to escape, having learnt a valuable lesson for the
future.
Hoping to by-pass this obstacle AJ, Andy Cave and Tim
Robbins (S.V.C.G.) went to Regent St. on the 9th March and removed more debris
from the Threadneedle St. dig to create enough space for AJ to squeeze into a
vertical rift where a climb up 20ft of loose boulders reached a short level
section containing a superb solitary stalagmite – cream with an orange top and
about a foot high. This made up for the
lack of any way on. TR managed to reach
the same spot by squeezing through the tight rift above the dug way in.
April saw only a tourist trip by PM, TC and Rich York, and a
potential pushing trip on 4th May by GN, MB, Bob Lewis, Dave and Hike
(S.V.C.C.) was dogged by minor disasters and aborted.
Trips really began to tail off now with the treacherous
nature of the duck giving many weary diggers a chance to escape to a change of
scenery. GN, P & AM, Doug Mills and
Simon? had another bash though on 8th June. The choked drain-hole in the duck proved to be un-clearable and even
approaching it from the crawl in the Chamber of Horrors didn’t help as the
crawl became too tight.
25th August saw the next working trip with AJ, GN and Duncan
Frew tackling the cave in preparation of the duck drying out. The duck itself was well sumped up and all of
the series was very wet – Lolley Pot being particularly impressive.
Only two
trips occurred in September. On 21st PN
and DF again found the duck to be sumped back 20ft despite only a tiny stream
flowing into it. On 28th GN, on a solo
trip, had a good look around the upper passages looking for worthwhile
leads!.
JW and CC made a visit to
on 8th October with similar ideas. November and December 1985 saw only de-tackling trips by P&A.M and
G.N. and the latter led two tourist trips in January 1986 – that on 27th
resulting in the rediscovery of the voice connection between Regent St and the
head of Greek St.
In April (appropriately enough on All Fool’s Day) GN, DF and
Maggie McPherson found the S-bend still sumped and rigged the pitches in
preparation for a dam building exercise to alleviate the situation.
Two days later GN end DF transported cement, polybags and a
length of pipe to the site and commenced work on the dam.
In June 1986 the cave was closed due to meddling by the
Nature Conservancy Council. It is hoped
that work will continue when this problem is resolved.
Tony Jarratt, 4/7/86.
Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund
Spelaeological Society
Prof. R. J. G. Savage,
Department of Geology,
The University
The Secretary
exploration Club
OLIVER LLOYD
MEMORIAL FUND
The UBSS Committee recently resolved to establish a fund to
commemorate the memory of our late Treasurer and Editor, Oliver Lloyd. In view of the importance Oliver attached to
the Proceedings we see it as highly appropriate that we use a substantial part
of the annual interest on the fund’s capital to help with the shortfall in
publication costs.
Since the founding of the UBSS in 1919 we have published 50
issues of the Proceedings. Its standing
in spelaeological and archaeological circles is very high, because of both the
quality of the contents – it is one of the very few refereed journals in the
caving world – and the quality of production.
As we are a student society, student members receive free
copies as of right and the price to others is kept low to ensure adequate sales
among cavers. The University provides an
annual grant in aid of publication and from time to time other small grants can
be obtained. But with the present
stringency in academic finances there can be no increase from these sources;
nevertheless printing costs continue to rise.
The quantity of good material suitable for publication
continues to increase and it would be sad to have to reject any of it solely on
grounds of poverty. The 1986 issue will
be large with the second group of papers on Gough’s Cave in addition to other
caving contents. In the coming year we
shall be facing a shortfall of around £500 in the printing bill. In attempts to
avert this, Oliver recommended increased membership subscriptions, and we are
currently seeking advertising and other sources of grants.
Readership and influence of the Proceedings spreads far
beyond the UBSS; it is one of the major British caving journals and has an
international circulation. Oliver’s
activities and reputation also extended far beyond the confines of the
UBSS. It is this wider context therefore
that we appeal to all cavers for support.
We aim to raise £7,500 and use the interest to aid
publications. So if you are still active
in caving, or if you still have a
nostalgia for the good old days with Oliver, do please give us your support in
perpetuating the memory of a very much loved caver. Cheques small and large should be made out to
Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund and sent to me at the above address.
Bob Savage UBSS President
Corrections To 1986 Membership List
|
NAME |
No. AS PRINTED |
CORRECT No. |
PERSON WHOSE No. IS THAT PRINTED |
|
P. Blogg |
384 |
364 |
R.G. Brown (1957 – 1960) |
|
F. Darbon |
454 |
405 |
G. Blankhorn (1960) |
|
P. Ford |
894 |
895 |
B. Glocking (1976 1979) |
|
G. Ford |
949 |
947 |
J. Watson (1979 – ) |
|
D. Glover |
648 |
647 |
Jane Glover (1967 1971) |
|
Tony Hollis |
899 |
898 |
Liz Hollis |
|
Liz Hollis |
898 |
899 |
Tony Hollis |
|
M. Jaenmaire |
669 |
668 |
I. Rees (1967) |
|
D. Statham |
547 |
575 |
|
In addiction, Pete McNab is quoted as his original number on
first joining in 1967. He left in 1971;
rejoined in 1985 and was given No 1051. The list is correct, since he should have kept his original number, but
now the number 1051 is vacant. However,
there is NO TRACE of any membership number for Trevor Hughes. He is given as 92 which is Pat Woodroffe
(1946-53) arid the other ’92’s are as follows:
192 Bob Crabtree (1950 – 53)
292 B. Goodwin (1953)
392 Mike Baker (1958 – present
day)
492 Sheila Paul (1961 – 1971 )
592 Eddie Welch (1965-1979)
692 Roger Toms (1968 – 1979)
792 Ken James (1972 – 1981)
892 Marion Barlow (1976 –
1980)
992 Mark Brown (1981 – 1985)
Ive looked all down the list, but can’t find him
anywhere. It might help to know-which
year he joined.
Hope this helps.
Alfie
Editor’s Note: Trevor Hughes has membership number 923,
somehow his number lost a digit in my computer sorry Trevor and Alfie.
Dave