The
Exploration Club, The Belfry,
Road
Editor: Estelle Sandford
Acknowledgements:
Chas for cartoon and Bat on front, Tony Jarratt and Andy Sparrow for the
diggers page, Chris Smart for details of the mines lectures, Mike Wilson for
Balch’s potted history, Andy Farrant and the Union of Bristol Geological
Department for the Geological report of St Cuthberts, Roz Bateman for the
membership stuff and Andy Thomas for the caving secretary’s notes.
Contents
- 1 Committee Members
- 2
- 3 Editorial
- 4
- 5 Caving and Belfry News
- 6
- 7 Diggers Corner
- 8
- 9 From the Log Book
- 10
- 11 Mining Lectures
- 12
- 13 Joke Page
- 14
- 15 Caving Secretarys Corner
- 16
- 17 The Exploration Club Song
- 18
- 19 A Potted History of H. E. Balch 1869 -1958
- 20
- 21 St Cuthbert’s Swallet – young or old?
- 22
- 23 Meghalaya 1995 – Or the ‘Not another Puncture Trip
- 24
- 25 B.E.C. Membership List as at 26/10/97
- 26 A Message From Your Membership Secretary
- 27
- 28 Rolling Calendar
Committee Members
Secretary: Nigel Taylor
Treasurer: Chris Smart
Membership Secretary: Roz Bateman
Editor:
Caving Secretary: Andy Thomas
Hut Engineer: Nick Mitchell
Hut Warden: Becky Campbell
Librarian: Alex Gee
Editorial
Hi and welcome to my first Belfry Bulletin as editor.
For those of you who are not aware, the Belfry Bulletin is
now a team effort with Tony Jarratt, Alex Gee, Mike Willett, Andy Sparrow, Dave
Irwin and myself all giving assistance in the production of the BB’s for the
next year. Hopefully with six of us to
nag you all on a regular basis we might get a few more articles!!! Seriously, we need articles, any length, any
format (band-written, typed. fax, e-mail, disk), any subject vaguely related to
exploration, caving, climbing, etc., so come on guys (and girls) get
writing. Any news and views are also
welcome.
We can take just about any format of file, either on disk or
to my e-mail address as above. I have a
program for my scanner, which can read. Typed or faxed documents onto file and also a program that I can talk to
my computer and it will convert into words. Technology ebb!!!
Any real editing beyond spelling and basic grammar (and
changing swear words for ’s) will be returned to the contributor for
checking before publishing.
Please feel free to send or ring me with comments on the BB;
any ideas and suggestions for layout, general pages, etc. would be more than
welcome – I’m no expert, I’ve never edited a journal before???!!!
Cut off date for submission of articles for the next BB is
6th Dec.
A suggestion: As a way of trying to cut costs in postage of
the BB, I would like to be able to e-mail to as many people as possible, their
Belfry Bulletins. It would be in HTML
format, which means that you would be able to read it from any Internet browser
(Internet Explorer/Netscape Navigator). It would be set up so that you can print it out in the same page format
as the posted copies. Please e-mail me
at estelle@qedcs.co.uk if you are prepared to give this a try. (The best thing about doing this is, you can
have your BB the same day I send it to the printers!!!) Why not try it, if you don’t like it, let me
know and I will get a copy posted to you.
Estelle
Note for speleobibliophiles: BB 483 should also be numbered
as Vol 49 no2, BB 484 was misnumbered as 483, BB 487 is also Vol 49 no 6, and
this sequence should be followed through up to BB 492 which is also Vol 49 no
11, making this one Vol 49 no 12. Apologies for the cock up!!!
Also note: At the time of printing most of the BB, there
were no minutes for the AGM. There mayor
may not be minutes with this BB. Nigel has apologised if there isn’t, as he is
very busy at work at the moment. Many
thanks to Nigel if there is.
Caving and Belfry News
The Wigmore Report is out now, and is available from Bat
Products. Priced at £4.50 to members and
£5.50 to non-members. Written by Mike
‘Trebor’ McDonald, Tony Jarratt and Keith Savory, this report covers detail on
the digging, diving, geology and hydrology, with some ‘interesting’ digging
shots by
please review this report for the next BB – Ed)
*****************************************
Wanted: Photos
for the Photo-board at the Belfry. We are after caving photos from anywhere in
this country/the world.
Please Note: Can
you send copies not the originals, as we cannot guarantee being able to return
the photos. Also when we have finished
with the photo on the board we would like to be able to put them in a photo
album in the library. Can you please
send them to the Belfry.
*****************************************
On Friday 17th October, there was a rescue in Dallimores
Cave, in the Oxford Extensions. A young man from Southampton University was
stuck in the tight bits. (Fortunately it
was the weekend of the Wessex Dinner, so there was no shortage of anorexic
dwarfs. After a couple of hours the
victim came unstuck and came out under his own steam, none the worse for wear.
*****************************************
There are plans afoot for the BEC to have an actively
updated web site (rather than the advert we currently have). If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on
this please contact either Andy Sparrow or
Sandford
*****************************************
For those of you who don’t regularly read” The News and
Sun” newspaper published in Waukegan, Illinois then you may have missed
the August 8, 1997 issue!
“BAT SWARM ATTACKS SOLDIERS.
Bats attacked a military patrol in Ecuador’s Southern Amazon
rainforest, injuring 17 soldiers, health officials said Thursday. Health
director Jorge Murillo told a news conference eight children died of rabies and
24 needed medical treatment after a similar bat attack several days earlier in
the region, known as El Tigre.”
Makes you wonder, eh.
*****************************************
There are also plans for another attack on Cuthberts Sump
2. Alex Gee is working on the plans for
this. Anyone interested should contact
Alex.
Thanks to Nigel Taylor for organising a brilliant Annual
Dinner. A Vets college was probably very
apt for the BEC!!! (Just -don’t ask
where the beef and chicken came from, particularly as their incinerator had
broken down!!)
Now for a whinge, the cut off date for this dinner was a
week before and Nigel had 34 paid by then – less than a fifth of the
membership. 63 phone-calls later and
there were 95 at the dinner. A major
thanks to Nigel for all this extra hard work and a thanks to Langford
Veterinary College for extending their cut off date to the day before the
dinner for us. From this poor initial
response, do you as the membership; really want a dinner next year??
*****************************************
Andy Sparrow has set up a ‘Mendip News’ web page (see
diggers page for extracts) which contains up-to-date caving news. The address is:
www.ascavingservices.demon.co.uk
If you have anything to add or update please contact him at:
[removed]
*****************************************
Mendip Technical
Group?
Many Mendip systems are in urgent need of rebolting, (11)
but currently no dedicated body assumes responsibility for this. One way forward would to be to form a Mendip
Technical Group under the auspices of the Council of Southern Caving Clubs
(CSCC). This will be proposed at the
next CSCC meeting on Saturday December 6th (10.30, Hunter’s Lodge, all cavers
welcome). The group could work along the following lines-
* open to all interested cavers
* under the direction of CSCC
training and equipment officers
* assess all current anchors
* prioritise new placements
* organise training
* install and maintain anchors
These are just suggestions and further input is requested,
either bye-mail to Andy Sparrows web page, or by representation at the meeting.
*****************************************
A caver training facility for Mendip Wells community
education have been successful in their lottery bid to finance a new sports
hall which includes a climbing wall and specially designed caver training
facility. This will consist of a balcony
with rigging points where local cavers can practice SRT, ladder and lifeline or
rescue techniques. Completion is due in
early 1999.
Diggers Corner
Hazel Nut Swallet:
A BEC dig in the Biddlecombe valley just outside Wells. There has been a recent small breakthrough
into short length of decorated passage. A way on is visible and work continues enlarging the low and squalid
passage. Cave is about 35ft long at
present. See Mike Willett or Nick Mitchell for details.
Five Buddies: (second entrance)
Progressing downwards through mixed debris. (mostly old
garage and domestic rubbish and old drums and buckets). Depth 5.8m below manhole entrance to rocky
infill immediately below and hence to the horizontal passage entered from the
other side of the road once this has been cleared. (The hedgehog crossing is
nearly complete!!!)
Barrow Rake:
In temporary abeyance.
White Pit:
Bad air (4.3% CO2!!) continues to be a hazard below Prophecy
Pot and the area should not be entered without consulting BEC diggers. Recent work has entered 100 feet of large
passage below Prophecy Pot. This
terminates in a sump which will make future digging a problem.
Swildons
Swildon’s Entrance is now apparently stable after the series
of collapses that began a few years ago. Following the stream now provides a safe route between a solid roof and
floor which bypasses the 8foot climb. The Z bend route to the Dry Ways remains closed.
The Mud Sump drain hole is still blocked and the recent wet
weather has reduced the airspace. Bailing is now very difficult from either side and parties completing a
reverse Round Trip or Priddy Green Sink through trip may find exit this way
impossible.
UPDATE – Mudsump is
currently sumped. It has been free-dived
by groups attempting reverseround trips but this is VERY DANGEROUS as the sump
is getting gradually longer with rising levels.
Also in Swildon’s Sump 12 has been revisited and the
underwater passage has been enlarged. It
is hoped that a route can be forced up towards airspace very soon.
Hunters Hole:
There is a massive digging operation in the bottom by a BEC
team, and much equipment left in situ. Progress is slow but ongoing.
Cairo Shaft: (WCC dig)
A new dig in a partly natural lead (??) mine at Fernhill
Farm near Compton Martin. 120ft of passage rediscovered and ending in a
possible sump. Named after Rich Blake’s
present location as they didn’t want to name it after his underpants!!! (That’s what they told Tony Jarratt –
honest!!)
Frog Pot:
Kate Lawrence and WCC dig at Chancellors Farm, Priddy. The team is 20ft down in a promising water
worn rift. Imperial College CC dug this in the 60’s.
GB: (WCC Dig)
Les Williams and co. are digging a draughting tube on LHS –
3ft in so far. Visitors, please mind the
formations.
Dave Mitchell’s dig: (WCC)
This dig at Charterhouse is progressing well. This depression was opened with a Himac and
work continues between stal cemented boulders.
Gruffy Field Mine Shaft: (CCC dig)
Graham Mullan, Tony Boycott and co. are digging this. It is draughting well and may be a future
connection to Charterhouse.
Tyning’s Farm:
The owner has requested NO night-time parking at the stables
please. Daytime parking is still
available at £1 for those who want a bit more safety for their vehicles for GB
and alike.
Bolting Update:
Bolt Update Resin anchors have been installed on the
Entrance, New Atlas and High Atlas pitch heads in Thrupe. The climb to Ladder Dig in GB will be resin
anchored very soon, and work will begin on Rhino Rift in the autumn. There are two stripped spits in Hunter’s Hole
one over the main pitch and one above Far Right Pitch. Coral Cave has recently been SRT bolted.
From the Log Book
From the Five
Buddies Log Book: (Lives in the Hunters, should anyone want more
information)
28/8/96 Estelle, J’Rat, Trevor, Nick, Mike
Lots more clearing of slag, earth and rocks. Five van loads were taken and dumped by Trev,
who was questioned by the local policeman as to what he was up to (as if a
large, hairy, overalled figure dumping heavy sacks in a remote location at
night could be at all suspicious!) Another 3″ nut and bolt were found but nothing else of interested. The place was infested with tiny frogs.
(J’Rat)
29/12/96 Estelle, Trevor
It has collapsed!! approx. 8ft from the road. Everything beyond the false roof has come
in. It’s frozen solid, inside and
out. No digging or even bucket emptying
possible. Heaven help when it
thaws!! We now have cones and scaffold
frame to stop people from parking there. (Estelle)
30/12/96am Trev, J’Rat, Quackers, Martin, Roz Bateman,
Phil Collet
In the morning J’Rat phoned Mr Harris of the C. Council, who
was grateful for the collapse information, but not too concerned. He asked to be kept informed. Phone number in back of book. We then dug and cleared rocks and spoil from
the choke and filled the two collapses with assorted bags of frozen debris,
etc. (J’Rat)
9/6/97am J’Rat BREAKTHROUGH!
Filled about 20 buckets at the end (which were later taken
to the surface and dumped) and heaved out a huge pile of rocks (which were
later dumped in the hole below the miners wooden beam). After an hour or so I opened up a hole
straight ahead giving a view into a narrow, tall chamber under the road. A lot of time was then spent making it safe
enough to gently creep through (at exactly noon) keeping a very wary eye on the
‘hanging death’ above!! The chamber was
the start of 50ft of dry, apparently natural stream passage possibly modified
by the ‘Old Man’ in places and ending in a mud/rock choke which looks
relatively easily diggable. ‘Old Man’
timbers littered the floor and in places protruded from the walls. No other artefacts were seen, apart from a
small amount of black lead slag. Several
small phreatic passages were noted at roof level with layers of sediment
showing that the place has been flooded in the past. There are dodgy looking boulders in places –
beware. The entrance needs concreting
ASAP. We are now behind the main choke,
which can be made safe. The road will
now not fall in!! Some underground and
surface tidying before I returned, suitably smug, to the pub. (J’Rat)
NB The half bore of an Old Mans shothole near the
breakthrough point indicates that the cave passage was enlarged TOWARDS the
entrance. Did they get in via the filled
shaft across the road?
From the BEC
logbook – From the few that have been written up!!!
18/5/97 Trebor and Barnsy 7hrs
Continued digging in Swildons sump 12. Making progress widening the tight squeeze at
– 6m, 25m in. This is to make
digging/banging the rift beyond safer so that falling debris does not block the
retreat. Bale-out tanks left at 9 to
ease the carrying.
(See logbook for sketch)
Cowsh Avens smelling a bit more than last time. On exit we wandered into a thunderstorm
blitzkrieg with lightning crashing around us. We had to lie in the field and wait for it to pass.
To date there are no
trips in the log since 5/7/97. Come on
everyone, you should be writing up your trips; it’s part of the club’s history.
(And it gives me something to put in the BB!!)
Mining Lectures
The following are a selection of lectures and courses put on
by the Universities of Bath and Bristol and available to the general
public. Unfortunately you have missed
one of the best, which included an excellent afternoon’s guided tour of the
workings of Monk’s Park underground quarry after a morning session on the
geology of Bath Freestone, but here is a selection of the rest.
THE MINES OF SOMERSET AND THE MEN WHO WORKED THEM
A free lecture by Richad Maggs at the University of Bath
from 5.15pm to 6.15pmon Wednesday November 5th 1997 in Room 8 West 1.1
Drawing upon contemporary achieves, photographs and
artefacts, the lecture will map the rise of the Somerset coalfield and
illustrate life in the communities it supported in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Richard Maggs is Chairman of
the Radstock, Midsomer Norton and District Society.
BATH ROCKS AND LANDSCAPE
A Mathieson BSc Wednesday 3 and 10 June 1998 from 7pm to 9pm
at Abbey Church House, Hetling Court, Westgate Buildings, Bath and outdoors on
Sunday 7 June 1998 from 10am to 1pm
Tel 0117 xxxxxxxx Fee £16 Course reference S97COO5SIA
Bath Stone forms the landscape of the surrounding flat
topped Downs of the University, where it was quarried and mined. Most of the rocks in the Bath originated
beneath the Jurassic Sea, but there were also local mines with evidence of
earlier rain forests and traces of volcanoes.
FROM PIG LEAD TO COPPER KETTLES: A HERITAGE IN METALS
J M Day FSA 8 meetings weekly on Wednesdays from 7.3Opm to
9pm starting 8 October 1997 at the Faculty of Law, Room 3.33, Wills Memorial
Building.
Tel 0117 928 xxxx Fee £32 Course reference B97H002RC.
Mendip Mining of Lead and its use in the Roman Baths is well
known, but Bristol methods of lead production pioneered locally and later
adapted to copper in the late seventeenth century lack proper appreciation in
their history and archaeology.
MENDIP CAVES: FROM START TO FINISH
Joanna L Wright BSc PhD. 6 meetings weekly on Thursdays from 7.3Opm to 9pm starting 15 January in
the Department of Geology, Room G25, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road,
Bristol.
Tel 0117 928 xxxx Fee £24 Course Reference B97FOO5S1.
Caves can be very interesting sources of information – they
can preserve evidence of ancient climates, they act as sediment traps, with
rare fossils, and they are also important in the water cycle, acting as
underground reservoirs. This short
course will explain some of their mysteries.
WEST COUNTRY MINERALS AND MINING
Peter Stanier Day-school in Salisbury 29 Nov 1997 Fee £20
Tel. 0117 9287153 Course Reference W97D014SIA Sorry I haven’t got any more
details at present!
Might see you at one of more or these?
Chris Smart
Joke Page
A vampire bat came flapping in from the night covered in
fresh blood and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.
Pretty soon all the other bats smelt the blood and began
hassling him about where he got it. He
told them to go away and let him get some sleep but they persisted until
finally he gave in.
“OK, follow me,” he said and flew out of the cave
with hundreds of bats behind him. Down
through a valley they went, across a river and into a forest full of
trees. Finally he slowed down and all
the other bats excitedly milled around him.
“Now, do you see that tree over there?” he asked.
“Yes, yes, yes!” the bats all screamed in frenzy.
“Good,” said the first bat, “Because I
didn’t!”
After Christmas Sales
A young man wanted to purchase a gift for his new
girlfriend, and as they had not been dating for very long, after careful
consideration, he decided a pair of gloves would strike the right note:
romantic, but not too personal. Accompanied
by his girlfriend’s younger sister, he went to Nordstrom and bought a pair of
white gloves. The sister purchased a
pair of panties for herself.
During the wrapping, the clerk mixed up the items and the
sister got the gloves and the girlfriend got the panties. Without checking the contents, the young man
sealed the package and sent it to his girlfriend with the following note:
“I chose these because I noticed that you are not in
the habit of wearing any when we go out in the evening. If it had not been for your sister, I would
have chosen the long ones with the buttons, but she wears short ones that are
easier to remove.
“These are a delicate shade, but the lady I bought them
from showed me the pair she had been wearing for the past three weeks, and they
were hardly soiled, I had her try yours on for me and she looked really
smart. “I wish I was there to put
them on for you the first rime, as no doubt other hands will come in contact
with them before I have a chance to see you again.
“When you take them off, remember to blow on them as
they will naturally be a little damp from wearing. “Just think how many times I will kiss
them during the coming year. I hope you
will wear them for me on Friday night.
“All my love.
“P.S. the latest style is to wear them folded down,
with a little fur showing,”
Q: How does a woman hold her liquor?
A: By the ears.
Q: What’s the difference between
men and jellybeans?
A: Jellybeans come in different
colours.
Q: What’s the difference between American beer and making
love in a rowing-boat?
A: They’re both f**king close to water.
Q: What do you call a deer with
no eyes?
A: No idea.
Q: What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?
A: Still no idea.
Q: What do you call a dear with
no feet, legs, torso, neck or head?
A: A hat rack.
Q: What have Soya beans and a vibrator got in common
A: They’re both meat
substitutes.
If you have any better jokes for this page then please send
them to me. If the general consensus is
you don’t like this page, I’ll ditch it. (Anything I put in is an experiment at this
stage)
Caving Secretarys Corner
From Andy Thomas,
Tel: 01749 xxxxxx
I am compiling a list of meets for 1998.
If anyone would like an away trip, would they please get in
touch so I can arrange it?
Also anybody wanting Mendip meets, please contact me so I
can compile a rolling calendar.
Finally I would like to hear from anyone interested in
leading any Mendip trips for new and prospective members.
For those who have time off on a Monday, Tony Jarratt is
always looking for assistance with digs. (he might even go caving if you ask
nicely).
One other question: Is anyone interested in a Berger trip
sometime in the next couple of years? Let me know and dependent on numbers we can plan accordingly.
The Exploration Club Song
Owing to the lack of people at
the hut, after the annual dinner, who knew the words to the clubs anthem, here
they are. Read, practice and prepare
yourself for next time – no member of the club has any excuse!!!
(Sung to the tune of the Red Flag)
We are the Exploration Club
We roam around from pub to pub
To die of thirst we have no fear
As long as we have lots of beer
So raise your foaming tankards high
And drink them down ’til they are dry
We are the Exploration Club
We roam around from pub to pub
If you hear a tally ho
In the middle of the night
Don’t take afright
Dear Belfryites
For it’s only a drunken mountaineer
A bar room mountaineer
We are very seldom sober
We are always half-seas over
And when we’ve had enough for four
You’ll never find us on the floor
It’s up to the bar and shout for more
We’re the bar room mountaineers
A Potted History of H. E. Balch 1869 -1958
For the younger members of the BEC-
by Mike Wilson
Herbert Balch lived in or around Wells for the most of his
life. He started work as a post office
messenger boy and finished up as Head Postmaster in Wells!
He was mainly an archaeologist and became Honorary Curator
of Wells Museum for 62 years! His main interest underground was Wookey Hole,
the secondary one Lamb Leer. Balch was
the first person to float upstream, with his friends, to the Fifth Chamber in
Wookey. A 60 feet fall in Lamb Leer Main
Chamber rendered him unconscious and nearly ended his career in caving.
In 1901 Balch and some friends had a look at St Swithin’s Stream
on Mendip (Swildon’s) unfortunately he did not join the group on 16th August
1901 who were the first to enter the cave. Three cavers; Roger Troup plus Harry and Frank Hiley from Wells had the
honour.
Balch made contact with a Dr Baker after reading an article
in the climbers’ journal by Baker. They subsequently did some Mendip exploration including Eastwater
Swallet. In 1907 Balch and Baker
published ‘The Netherworld of Mendip’, the majority being written by Baker the
padding by Balch.
Balch subsequently made a few trips in Swildon’s to the
Forty Foot Pot. But in a dry spell in
1921, while his friend Baker was in the Alps, Balch and 14 others managed to
reach Sump 1. This became the natural
barrier for the next 15 years.
On a personal note, Balch was lucky in having a base on
Mendip near Rookham. His friend Mr
Powell, the headmaster of the Blue School in Wells, had some railway carriages
moved by teams of horses to a field near Rookham – a pretty spot. The carriages were 26 feet long and had been
moved from the Somerset and Dorset line at Binegar. Balch bought one of these carriages from Mr
Powell, called it his Summer Palace, and used it as a base for digging and
caving on Mendip.
The coach formed a section of a bunga low with a corrugated
iron roof and porch. The family carried on using the coach every summer, even
after his death in 1958. It was eventually bought by a local vet who used it as
his home.
He has now offered the carriage to the Somerset and Avon
Railway Company because he is building a new bungalow on the original
site. The Balch carriage is now at The
Forge Exhibition Centre, Marcroft Wagon Works, Radstock. SARC transported the carriage from Rookham. Their intention is to restore it and keep it
as a historic piece.
Unfortunately I cannot find any relevant information
regarding the second carriage which was rented out to cavers and. walkers. I believe it will be possible to view the
Balch coach in the future by applying to SARC in writing. Anyone who wishes to take a stroll and
discover the original site, now a bungalow at Rookham, the map reference is
550448 sheet ST44/55 Wells and Wedmore.
The only other coach of this type in the South West is
somewhere in Cornwall. Let’s hope that
this piece of caving history remains in good safe hands, it is in amazingly
good condition for its age.
St Cuthbert’s Swallet – young or old?
As you may be aware from the article I wrote in the BB last
year, myself and Pete Smart have been working on a project, one of whose aims
was to estimate how old the Mendip landscape is. Studying cave deposits provides one of the
best methods of obtaining a handle on the age of the surface topography, as
caves are protected from the effects of erosion and weathering, can be related
to surface topography and water-tables, and contain datable material in the
form of stalagmite. Dating stalagmites
from caves in the Wookey Hole catchment allowed us to estimate the age of these
caves, and to determine whether caves such as Swildons Hole and St Cuthbert’s
originally drained to Cheddar or Wookey. This project hoped to resolve a long running debate which Derek Ford
initiated back in the 1960’s after his ground-breaking studies in the major
swallet caves. He originally suggested
that Swildons Hole drained to Cheddar. However, dye tracing of Swildon’s to Wookey by the MKHP, seemed to rule
this hypothesis out. However, as I
explained in the previous B.B. article, some of the high level passages in
Swildons Hole may have originally drained to Cheddar, with the stream
subsequently being captured to Wookey. In St Cuthbert’s, the lack of distinct groupings of high level abandoned
passages at certain elevations suggested that there was no former drainage to
Cheddar, and that the cave has always drained to Wookey. The only way to potentially resolve this
debate was to actually try estimate the age of both Swildons Hole & St
Cuthbert’s by dating the stalagmites within it, as they provide a minimum age
for the cave.
In order to do this, a careful sampling program was undertaken
with the help of
and Chris Castle. Most of the samples
were obtained in Pillar Chamber and the Rabbit Warren area, from suitable
un-anaesthetic flowstone. These were
dated using Uranium series dating methods at Bristol. The sample locations and ages obtained are
shown in Fig. 1.
Implications
As is shown in Fig.1, most of the ages are relatively young
(geologically speaking!) nearly all are less than 120,000 years old, which is
the time of the last interglacial. By
comparison, the oldest stalagmites in G.B. are over 780,000 years old. The bulk of the dates occupy (within 2 sigma
error) the Middle Devensian interstadial, a warmer interlude during the last
glaciation, between 25 and 60 ka (ka = 1000 years). No particularly old stalagmites were found,
even though a concerted effort was made to only sample those stalagmites which
appeared from their location or relation to gravels deposits to be the
oldest. This suggests that St Cuthbert’s
is relatively young when compared to other swallet caves such as G.B. Cave.
Also of note is the evidence of an almost total sediment
fill in St. Cuthbert’s. A broken
stalagmite within the gravel fill gave a date of 41 ka, thus implying the
gravel is younger. It appears that much
of the cave was infilled with gravel during the last (Late Devensian)
glaciation. Thus, much of the early
phreatic network was modified following gravel influx, under paragenetic
conditions. Paragenetic development
occurs when sediment deposition within a phreatic passage smothers the passage
floor, preventing dissolution by the stream. Instead, dissolution only occurs on the passage roof, thus the passage
enlarges upwards, forming a phreatic rift or half-tube. Alternatively, if other routes are available
for the water, perhaps along suitable bedding planes, an interconnected maze of
passages with phreatic halftubes in the roof will result. This is exactly the case in the Rabbit
Warren, where there is still evidence of a total sediment fill, such as in the
Railway Tunnel.
From this, I would suggest that St Cuthbert’s is a
relatively recent cave system, which has always drained to Wookey Hole. Its large size and big chambers result from
several factors. The first is the large
catchment, which may have been substantially larger in the past. Secondly, the cave is developed on a plunging
anticline which has open joints suitable for cave development along its
axis. Thirdly, this anticline has been
fractured by at least three thrust faults (one can be clearly seen in the Rocky
Boulder Series – ask Chris Castle or Dave Irwin!) as well as the major Gour
Hall Fault, allowing rapid penetration of water and cave development. In addition, the stream has sunk in several
places around the depression, thus forming a complex of vadose shafts (which
can develop very rapidly, c.f. Thrupe Lane) and phreatic tubes at depth. These routes were then subsequently modified,
enlarged and choked during the Late Devensian under paragenetic conditions. Finally, enlargement of this passage network
has caused extensive collapse, aided by the numerous fractures and bedding
planes.
All these factors helped create a large cave system in a
relatively short space of time. Swildons
on the other hand appears to have some old stalagmites (>350 ka), although a
much larger sample collection is needed before we can reliably demonstrate that
Swildons is indeed older. The lack of
suitable datable material in the upper levels such as S.E. Inlets doesn’t help.
It is at Wookey Hole where the most interesting results were
obtained. Here, a comprehensive suite of
samples was collected from all the dry parts of the cave, plus some from Wookey
21, thanks to Keith Savory. Uranium series dating has revealed that the upper
parts of the high level passages above Chamber Nine are older than 350 ka. By calculating the average rate of base-level
lowering at the resurgence (12 cm per 1000 years) from U-series dates of
stalagmites, the age of each passage can be crudely estimated. The earliest passages (above Ch. 9) had developed
at ‘around 350-400 ka, but these passages are relatively small and cannot have
drained a large area. It is possible
this was the resurgence for the early St Cuthbert’s system. It wasn’t until much later (c. 175-200 ka)
that the main show cave passages developed, possibly following the capture of
the Swildons Hole water. The modern
river passages have developed subsequently, and are in the process of being
captured to Glencot Spring today.
The data suggests that St Cuthbert’s is probably too young
to have drained to Cheddar, and the water has always resurged at Wookey. The upper levels in Swildons may yet prove
older than Wookey, but the lack of datable material in this key region prevents
us being able to draw any definite conclusions. I hope I have shed a little light on the age and origins of the St.
Cuthbert’s and Wookey systems. Some of
this may be a little contentious, but hopefully it’ll stimulate a bit of
debate! Although this dating project
suggests some ideas, it by no means proves that Swildons Hole originally
drained to Cheddar. To prove it right or
wrong, we’ve got to find the passage – get digging!
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Chris Castle and
Sandford
and tedious sampling trips; the BEC committee, Wookey Hole Show Caves and
English Nature for permission to sample, and to Keith Savory for obtaining the
Wookey 21 samples.
|
Cave |
Sample |
Location |
Age & Error |
Elev. |
Comments |
|
|
Wookey Hole |
WH-01-96 |
New |
12.7 |
0.4/-.04 |
76m |
Detritally |
|
|
WH-02-96 |
New |
93.5 |
3/-3 |
76 |
Unreliable, |
|
|
WH-03-96 |
New |
71.1 |
2.2/-2.2 |
74 |
|
|
|
WH-04-96 |
New |
105.6 |
4.6/-4.6 |
77 |
|
|
|
WH-05-96 |
Ent. Series. East |
176.0 |
11/-11 |
83 |
|
|
|
WH-06-96 |
Chamber 21 |
93.5 |
5.5/5.5 |
|
U |
|
|
WH-07-96 |
Resample of |
|
|
83 |
To be dated |
|
|
WH-08-96 |
Ent. Series. |
|
|
|
To be dated |
|
|
WH-09-96A |
Passage dir |
65.7 |
3.1/3.1 |
77 |
|
|
|
WH-10-96 |
Passage dir |
|
|
|
Unsuitable for |
|
|
WH-11-96A |
Ch.9 taped |
>350 |
|
94 |
|
|
|
WH-12-96 |
Ch.9 top level |
>350 |
|
103 |
|
|
|
WH-13-96 |
Ch.9 Alcove |
33.5 |
|
103 |
Det cont, |
|
|
WH-14-96 |
Ch.9 base top |
183.7 |
11/-11 |
96 |
|
|
|
WH-15-96 |
Ch.9 lower |
107.3 |
4.7/-4.7 |
94 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rhino Hole |
M41.9-59 |
Flowstone, |
101.0 |
86-118 |
c. 68 |
Det. Corr, |
|
(Proctor et |
M41.9-BA-a |
Flowstone, |
71.0 |
61-76 |
c. 68 |
Det. Corr, |
|
1997, UBSS |
M41.9-29D |
Top of layer 6 |
105.0 |
97-115 |
c. 68 |
Det. Corr, |
|
Proceedings) |
M41.9-26D |
Flowstone, |
54.0 |
50-59 |
c. 68 |
Det. Corr, |
|
|
M41.9-26C |
Flowstone, |
104.0 |
91-120 |
c. 68 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Swildons |
SH-02-96 |
Long Dry Way |
127.1 |
7.9/7.9 |
225 |
Low U Yields |
|
(Significant |
SH-04-96 |
SE Inlets, |
190.9 |
23/-23 |
158 |
Low U Yields |
|
Dates only) |
|
St Pauls |
100.6 |
|
150 |
Unpublished |
|
|
|
Streamway |
>350 |
|
167 |
Det Corr. DC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
St Cuthberts |
STC-01-96 |
Wire rift, |
|
|
|
Unsuitable for |
|
|
STC-02-96 |
Wire rift, |
71.3 |
6.5 |
|
|
|
|
STC-03-96 |
Mud Hall climb |
59.3 |
4.6 |
|
|
|
|
STC-04-96 |
Mud Hall climb |
|
|
|
Unsuitable for |
|
|
STC-05-96 |
Fallen Slab |
47.5 |
4.2/-4.2 |
|
|
|
|
STC-06-96 |
Entrance to |
41.0 |
c. 5 |
|
|
|
(Odd ratios) |
STC-07-96 |
Climb into |
306.0 |
180/-60 |
|
Anomalous age? |
|
|
STC-07-96b |
Climb into |
50.5 |
3.2/-3.2 |
|
Poor Yields |
|
|
STC-08096 |
Upper Long |
|
|
|
No date |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Smart et al* |
2STC6 |
Continuation |
81.4 |
5/-4.8 |
155 |
*230/23, Det |
|
unpub. data |
2STC7-1 |
Continuation |
90.6 |
10.7/10.1 |
155 |
*230/23, Det |
|
1979 |
2STC7-2 |
Continuation |
29.6 |
1.2/-1.2 |
155 |
*230/23, Det |
|
|
2STCC8 |
Continuation |
11.5 |
1.4/-1.4 |
155 |
*230/23, Det |
|
|
2STC3T |
Dining Room |
56.8 |
6/-5.9 |
129 |
*230/23, Det |
|
|
2STC3B |
Dining Room |
71.5 |
3.3/-12 |
129 |
*230/23, Det |
|
|
2STC4T |
Dining Rm |
63.5 |
8.8/-8.4 |
129 |
*230/23, Det |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Det. Corr |
|
|
|
|
||
|
U breakthrough |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Age is given |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIG.1 Uranium series ages for selected |
||||||
FIG.1 Uranium series ages for selected samples from the
Priddy and Wookey caves
Meghalaya 1995 – Or the ‘Not another Puncture Trip
By
The state of Meghalaya lies in Northeast India, south of
Assam and north of BangJadesh. Anglo-German teams had undertaken two previous
trips. These were very restricted, as
Meghalaya had a Restricted Area Permit applied to it, which involved a lot of
paperwork to get in. A total of 23 km of
cave had been surveyed on the previous trips.
We were advised that this permit had been lifted and we
should have no problems this time. Simon
had also had contact from a group called the Meghalayan Adventurers, who wished
to join our expedition this time.
Team
British: Tony Boycott,
Sandford
German: Daniel Gebauer.
Meghalayan Adventurers: Brian Kharpran Daly, Lindsay,
Kaiman C. Hiwol Passah and George Lyngdoh.
Locals: Santu Bhattachmjee, Charles Slong, Spindro
Dhkar, Roy, Oda.
Tuesdav 14th November
Estelle, Simon, Blitz and Tony met at Tony’s house for the
final re-packing. Tony drove us to
Heathrow during the night.
Wednesday 15th November
We arrived at Heathrow at 5 am, everything went very
smoothly and we were soon on our Royal Jordanian Flight.
Thursday 16th November
After stops in Berlin and Amman, we finally arrived at
Calcutta Airport at 7 am, only to find there was a taxi strike on. This meant that we had to pay 4 x the usual
amount in order to get into the city and to our hotel, the Astoria. Jenni arrived from Sri Lanka and Daniel from
Germany and met us at the hotel. We went
into the city and booked our flights to Guwahati, Assam and visited Mr
Pattanailc at the tourist office; he confirmed that the restricted Area Permit
(RAP) for Meghalaya had been lifted and we should have no problems.
Friday 17th November
Caught early flight to Guwabati. and then got 2 taxis to
Shillong. We arrived at the Orchid
Hotel, then went to register at the Foreigners Office. Brian and Lindsay met us at back at the hotel
and we discussed the plans for the trip.
Saturday 18th November
Brian turned up with our tour bus; we were expecting a minibus
not a big bus! We loaded up and started
the journey to Chenapunjee, which is in the East Khasi Hills; this was made
more interesting by a landslide on part of the road. It was fun watching the overloaded trucks
attempting to slide across the collapse, and we had no problem with our very
underloaded bus! Although we didn’t
need the RAP, it seemed that the local officials didn’t actually realise this
and we had to sign in with the S.P. at Cherrapunjee before going to the Circuit
House, which was to be our home for the next few days. (There are Circuit Houses in most large
villages for visiting officials to stay in and they have what’s known as a
Choki Da to look after you and the house. These Circuit Houses cost a few pence to stay in plus the cost of food.)
Sunday 19th November
The Choki Da brought us ‘bed tea’ at 7 am, and baked beans
and sausages appeared for breakfast at 9 am. (The first and last time we had an
English style breakfast!!)
We loaded the kit up, and went down some very scary roads,
with big cliffs on one side, to a village called Laitkynsen. After walking for about an hour, with
beautiful views over Bangladesh, we were shown three entrances by our guide
before descending the fourth. This was
called Krem Japund (cave of the rice pond) it has two entrances, a stream sink
and a big daylight shaft. We went in the
stream sink, thankfully, as when we got in the cave, we found that there was a
krait: (a small black, very venomous snake) at the bottom of the shaft.
There was also a large quantity of fat frogs (where there’s
frogs there’s snakes!!), and we surveyed and photographed and came out. The next cave was Krem Wah Sbnong (cave of
the village stream) this turned out to be a riverbed with a roof of boulders,
which reappeared about 10m away. Next we
went into Krem Wah Sang (cave of the forbidden water), this was a sloping cave
which ended in a l0-15m pitch, which was very slimy with no decent places to
hang a rope from, as the rock was very crumbly so we couldn’t put a bolt in
either. We couldn’t descend this pitch
so we went and checked another entrance, which turned out to have a voice
connection with Krem Wah Sang, but was about 25m deep shaft. Went back to the circuit house for the Choki
Da special- curry!
Monday 20th November .
‘Bed tea’ at 5:30 am. We had an early start to Mawsahew to look at a cave reported to have 9
entrances and also several other caves nearby. The Cave of the Nine Entrances had seven low entrances which all joined
inside. Simon Jenni and Daniel surveyed
that one while Estelle, Tony, Blitz, Brian and Lindsay went to Krem Hidrum,
which was a large resurgence entrance. The size soon diminished to a rift and then a crawling rift, so we
surveyed from that point to the entrance. The total was 250m, and the cave had a good selection of hand-sized
spiders, several bugs for Blitz to collect, and 2 bats, which the locals took
back for dinner. We went an interesting
cross-country route back, where we had to cross a dry riverbed because they
hadn’t finished building the bridge!
Tuesday 21st November
We went to a village called Mawlong today, where we had been
told there were several caves. The first
one, called Krem Lyngar, was next to coalmines. We went inside the entrance and decided we would come back later. We were next shown a second cave, Krem
Soyshympi, which had a wide, 15m deep shaft. We rigged the entrance for SRT, although it was mostly free climbable. The cave opens up into a big chamber with
three ways off. We followed the main
passage, which was 30m wide in places; unfortunately it choked after 250m. There was a stream level below the boulders,
which could be followed for 50m either way but sumped at both ends. We split into 2 teams so one team could check
out the other two passages at the bottom entrance. Estelle, Tony, Brian and Lindsay went down
the first of the routes, which had another entrance just round the comer (or
rather a big hole in the roof). This
appeared to be an inlet passage and it continued for 400m until it got too
tight to follow; the passage had lots of nice formations and also big
spiders. We went back to the main
chamber and checked the other one out. This one went for 100 in a mainly boulder floored passage and ended in a
big boulder choke. We went back to where
the others were just finishing surveying the big passage, and again split up,
so one team could do some photography and the other could attempt to catch Cray
fish using a tea strainer! (The Cray
fish are blind and transparent, so you can see what they had for
breakfast!) We finally caught one, using
the lunch-box Chris had used to bring all his sampling kit into the cave. Back out the way we had come in and back to
the bus for the rough ride back to the circuit house.
Wednesday 22nd November
We had arranged to meet a guide at Wahlong today to visit
several caves near to the village. We
descended a lot of concrete steps, which passed a grave-stone of a chief of the
village, who rather than get captured by the British when they invaded, tried
to commit suicide by throwing himself into the cave near to the
grave-stone. He got caught up on a tree
and was captured by the British; his skull was smashed on the spot where the
gravestone is. Our guide obviously
didn’t want us to go down that particular cave, but we threw rocks down it,
which took 6 seconds to land, so it must be quite deep.
After some serious jungle bashing we were taken to Krem
Sohshiat, which started off as an arch in a big doline. We hunted around the doline for leads and
Tony managed to find the only going lead. It started small, but before too long opened up into walking passage,
with a lot of very beautiful formations and cave pearls. The end was a stal-blocked wall, with no way
past; we surveyed 100m and photographed some of the formations. We also found a bear skull by the entrance
and some relatively fresh faeces in the cave.
At the bottom of another doline, we found an entrance 15m
wide and 3m high; this was called Krem Mawrandah. The cave sloped down to a big chamber with a
stream in the bottom and over a slope to another big chamber ending in another
stal wall, after about 100m total. Back
up the steps to the road (the village’s main orange plantation is at the bottom
of the steps!) and after some ‘cockroach crunchies’ and tea, went back to
Cherrnpunjee.
Thursday 23rd November
We went back to Wahlong to pick up our guide, then on
towards SheIla (border post) and stopped at Icchamati, where we took the bus up
a really interesting track, where we continued until the bus driver found a spot
where he could turn round. It didn’t
look as though many buses use that track! This area proved to have some very small caves, we surveyed Krem
Mawjapuh 1 to 27m and Krem Mawjapuh 2 to 50m. Back to the bus and back up the road to Wahlong, where 10 minutes walk
down the steps, from the road, we were shown Krem Shlemkhla. After the mornings caving, we were a little
disillusioned, so we only put helmets and lights on and kept our walking
clothes on. That was a big mistake as
this cave proved to be quite long with a streamway and some low passages to get
past the formations. Most of the cave
was big meandering walking passages with lots of formations which couldn’t make
up their mind which way to grow, after earthquake damage, and it also had a
higher level which we didn’t have time to survey but was estimated to be
200m+. (it’s a shame the guide didn’t
show us this one yesterday, but we generally found that the locals showed us
small caves first and kept the best for last. I guess we needed to find the Khasi translation for ‘take us to the big
cave first please!)
Friday 24th November
We split up into 2 teams today, so Krem Shlemkhla could be
explored further and a cave an ‘hours’ walk from Laitkynsen could also be
explored. Estelle, Simon, Chris and
Brian went to Laitkynsen and after 1¾ hours walk, down 25,000 worth of steps,
we arrived at Krem Synrnng U Jriem (bedding cave of ‘Jriem’ male’s name). Reasonable sized, well decorated, walking
passage, led to a big chamber, where a river could be heard; we located the
stream and while Chris and Simon surveyed the chamber and looked for ways on,
Estelle and Brian investigated the stream. Downstream was choked with boulder, so we followed the upstream end. The first part was knee deep in sand and
waist deep in water so it was named Kalahari streamway (ask Simon if you want
to know the other reason for the name!!) it continued in varying sized
passageway, through very well decorated sections, with many inlet passages
joining it. Stalactites blocked the main
way on, so we checked out what appeared to be an outlet passage, which got
quite deep, then ended in a swamp. Collected Simon and Chris and we surveyed and photographed the streamway
and the rest of the cave to 400m. Walked
all the way back up the steps; it was a long way, particularly once dusk and
finally darkness set in. The other team
had surveyed and photographed the rest of the cave, but not actually found any
more passage than yesterday.
Saturday 25th November
Simon and Tony did a quick tourist trip down Krem
Mawmluh. We finished packing up the bus
and drove to Pynursla to the circuit house. A letter had not arrived, so we weren’t expected, but after some discussion
they let us have one room between the eight of us. The weather was really miserable; rainy,
windy and very cold, so our newly purchased tamocoles really came into their
own.
Sunday 26th November
Packed up kit and started on the road to Nongri, where Brian
and Lindsay had previously visited 2 caves, one of which was estimated to be
over a km. Unfortunately the bridge at
Rana was out. After this years monsoon
and hadn’t been rebuilt yet. We went
back to Pynursla for tonight as it was too late to get anywhere useful.
Monday 27th November
Early start and we were soon on the road to Dawki. We had to stop at Muktapur to get a tyre
mended, as we had had another puncture earlier. We got permission to travel along the Bangladeshi border road, and
carried on to Pdengshakap, in the Jaintia Hills, where we stopped to ask about
caves; we were told of several nearby. Eventually we got to Tarangblang, which was our main spot. We were shown two caves; Krang Manik, which
had a big boulder slope entrance and Krang Jawbaw which was a wide shaft,
estimated to be 30m+ deep.
On the way back towards Pdengshakap, we tried to find a cave
that had a signpost at the side of the road, Krem ‘Pubon’ Lashing, (pubon means
limestone). We couldn’t find it, but
when we asked in Pdengshakap we were told it was a big one, and Charles Slong
(the headman) would guide us the day after tomorrow. We continued to Jowai, to the circuit house
there, via visiting George Lyngdoh who had arranged it for us. We were fed copious amounts of whisky and
beer, which after a mostly dry trip to date, succeeded in getting us drunk very
quickly.
Tuesday 28th November
Late start this morning, partly due to hangovers and partly
due to a broken bus, which needed repairing. Eventually we got away and went back to Tarangblang to explore the 2
caves we were shown yesterday. Estelle
and Tony took SRT kits to descend Krem Jawbaw, while everyone else, including
most of the school children and their teacher went to Krem Manik.
Tony rigged off two trees, but the rope only went ½ way, if
that so he rigged off the strongest looking one of the two, but the rope was
still 15-20m off the floor. Tony went
down as far as he could, to try and get an idea of what the cave had to offer;
it looks good, with two big passages going off in opposite directions.
Estelle and Tony joined the others in Krem Manik, which was
surveyed to 280m and ended in a loose boulder pile, which was impassable. We were shown to another cave, Krang Bheh
which Tony descended on the rope; he descended about 5m, touched the wall and
it fell down, so he decided not to proceed. As it was too loose. We stayed at
the S.D.O.’s house at Amlaran for tonight. An interesting night, the S.D.O. refused to let the boys sleep in the
same room as Estelle and Jenni, but as he got more and more drunk, he didn’t
notice the boys creeping in one by one!
Wednesday 29th November
Went to Pdengshakap and picked up Charles Slong, who was to
be our guide for Krem Pubon Lashing. We
climbed down a path in a depression and arrived at the cave entrance, which was
big. Charles had arranged for a water
pipe to be put in at the entrance, so we filled up our carbide and went
in. We split into two teams: Estelle,
Tony, Jenni, Kaiman, Lindsay and a local boy took the stream route which we
were told was about 100m in. while Daniel, Blitz and Simon surveyed from the
entrance.
The entrance opened up into a massive sloping passage, where
you couldn’t see the walls, or the floor at the bottom of the slope. We went back up what seemed like a mountain,
and back down the other side, where we came to a stream. The ‘mountain’ was rumoured to have been
caused by dynamite fishing in the streamway! We started surveying at the point where we met the streamway, and
followed it to its bitter end, a total of 600m. The streamway passed through very friable sandstone, with many oxbows
and inlet passages; there were also several dodgy climbs down and also a lot of
false floors. Eventually the stream
disappeared into boulders. We got back
to the start point and assuming the others would have got to that point we
followed where we thought they should have gone, until we started to run low on
carbide. It turned out they’d surveyed
over a kilometre to our first survey station and not got this far. The route we followed was a big breakdown
chamber into a canal, which went into sharp limestone, and into a boulder
choke, which is probably passable. When
we arrived at the entrance we were met by most of the village, who had brought
us a feast; the food was much appreciated and also excellent. Simon and co. were too late getting out so
they had their feast back at the village, as the villagers had taken it back as
it was going cold. Simon and co. found a
major passage on the left hand side of the entrance passage, which they
eventually had to leave as a going lead as it was getting late and they were
running out of carbide.
Thursday 30th November
We had a new bus driver today who had a major attitude
problem and was reluctant to do anything we asked him, including actually drive
us! We had been told of a potential site
at a village called Lumshnong, so after a long bumpy ride on the bus, we
arrived in the village. We were shown to
a washing hole, known as Krem Kot Sati, which obviously had passage going off
it. There were two ways off the
entrance, both involving swimming, but we were told that the downstream end has
another entrance in Spindro’s backyard. Tony, Simon and Chris went for the big swim upstream, while Estelle,
Jenni, Lindsay Kaiman and Daniel went to the entrance at Spindro’ s
backyard. Daniel and Jenni started surveying
while the rest of us went downstream to photograph and explore. Kaiman couldn’t swim at all so wouldn’t go
out of his depth; Lindsay was an excellent swimmer, so he went off in front to
investigate when we reached a point where we were getting well out of our
depth. Lindsay reported back, a small
waterfall followed by what looked like a sump. We completed the survey by swimming the last bit and tying it in to
where the other team had started. Simon
and co. had found over a kilometre of classic limestone passage, with two more
entrances and many leads still going ‘bigtime’. We have a mission for tomorrow!
Friday 1st December
Off to Lumshnong again, where the first place we went was an
impressive looking sink called Synrang Taloo. The GPS told us that one of the entrances they had found yesterday, was
400m South of the sink. We walked up the
road toward the village and spotted a large steaming hole, 50m away from the
road, known as Krem LaIut. We entered
this one, and it was confirmed as being the top entrance they’d found
yesterday. Just inside the entrance was
a canal going north; our swimmers, Tony and Chris, swam about 300m using a
robber ring and a blow up Dolphin, until the Dolphin went down on them! They found an area with more inlets and
outlets, but with the equipment we had with us, this passage was unsurveyable;
boats or life jackets would be nice! Estelle, Daniel, Kaiman, Lindsay and Tony went downstream to survey the
side passages; we surveyed 400m in two interesting shaped side passages known
as the Western Inlets. We didn’t even
explore passages we had to bend down in, as there was more than enough big
passages to keep us going for today. We
abandoned one area where the water got too deep to survey in, particularly when
there are non-swimmers around. The water
was very cold so after nearly 6 hours caving we came out. Simon, Brian, Chris and Daniel had found
another entrance, surveyed a big oxbow and taken lots of photographs.
Saturday 2nd December
We went to the village of Lakadong, where there was reputed
to be several eaves. Our bus driver with
the major attitude problem was doing everything he could to avoid driving to
Lakadong, including swapping a good tyre for a bad tyre so that we didn’t
damage the new one! The road to the
village was abysmal and we had to walk the last mile or so to the village. We were just starting to think that Lakadong
was a waste of time, because the headman told us there were no caves there but
there were some at Umlat, which was the next village, but he’d show us an
insignificant shaft anyway! The shaft
was 50-60m deep in limestone, and there was another one nearby. After the walk back to the bus we found our
driver drunk, we tried to sober him up a bit with tea, but he drove anyway, and
it was actually better than when he was sober! It was definitely one of those bad days; we ran out of diesel on the way
back and had to go and find some and then the bus broke down and we had to wait
2 hours while we got it repaired. We
eventually arrived back at Shillong at 3:30 am after spending 18 hours on the
bus today!
Sunday 3rd December
We couldn’t get our return tickets confirmed, as it was
Sunday, so we had a lazy day in Shillong, followed by a nice meal at the
Unicorn Hotel with several members of the Meghalayan Adventurers Association.
Monday 4th December
We still couldn’t sort out our air tickets, so we left for
Tura anyway. The trip to Tura involved
travelling along the border between Megbalaya and Assam, which bas a lot of
problems with bandits, so we drove very fast without stopping until we reached
a safe village for lunch. We finally
arrived at the circuit house in Tura at 3 am, woke up the Choki Da and he found
us some rooms.
Tuesday 5th December
There was a bandh (strike) on in Turn today, so no vehicles
could move and the whole of Turn came to a standstill. We went and saw the Deputy Tourist Officer
and his wife kindly sorted out letters to local officials and police for us. We next visited a friend from the last
expedition, Santu, where we had tea and chatted. He arranged to get our tickets sorted
out. We had a bit of a party at the
circuit house, with Santu and some of his mates.
Wednesday 6th December
We finally got out of Tura and off to Baghmara, and then
onto Siju. We arrived at the new I.B.
(Inspection Bungalow) and made ourselves at home. The I.B. was so new they had to unpack
crockery and furniture for us to use.
Thursday 7th December
After breakfast, we ordered a bamboo ladder for Siju eave
and went to look at some other sites at Middle Siju, until the ladder was
built, we investigated several sites but there was nothing significant. Back to the I.B. and then the 5-minute walk
to Siju eave taking our newly made ladder with us. Siju eave is an impressive resurgence eave
with a lot of bats in the chamber just inside; you definitely don’t want to
look up with your mouth open, the ceiling moves and it rains bat guano. We tried lowering the terminal sump by moving
boulders, but eventually admitted defeat and went to the place we’d brought the
ladder in for. Tony and Simon surveyed
the 200m of really sharp rift passage, while the rest of us did some
photography.
We had a visit from a reporter, land surveyor and
environmentalist; there is a conservation issue over the area around here. As a company wants to build cement works,
which will destroy the area for fishing and damage the cave life. Many locals are trying to do what they can to
stop it.
Friday 8th December
We walked up the track to the Chibenala river valley, where
we already had caves known to the group. Simon Daniel and Brian went to Chibenala Dobhakol to finish off the
survey and photograph. While Tony,
Chris, Roy and the two policemen (who had appeared to have taken the day off)
went into one cave and Estelle, Lenni, Kaiman. Lindsay and Oda went cave
hunting upstream. We found four small
caves, of which we surveyed three, two of which were very insignificant; the
third was the longest at 150m long. Simon, Daniel and Brian had had Topofil problems but managed to survey
150m and take a lot of photos.
Saturday 9th December
Went to Nengkong to continue work on Tetengkol and
Matchekol. Daniel, lenni, Brian and Roy
went to continue the survey in Matchekol. while Estelle, Simon, Chris, Tony,
Lindsay, Kaiman, Oda and a policeman went into Tetengkol. Tony didn’t get very far; he was feeling
really ill, so he went back out. The
rest of us continued up into the Planetarium, which should have been an easy
climb but there had apparently been movement since last time and the ‘Henries’
looked a bit dodgy. We managed to get up
and continued to look at a pitch, which had been left last time. Estelle abseiled down the 15m pitch, to a
crawling sized, rift passage, which soon got too tight to follow. Estelle rejoined the rest and we continued on
into Paula’s Parallel Universe where there were 2 unfinished leads. Chris, Kaiman. and Lindsay surveyed one,
while Estelle and Simon surveyed the other. The second was really gloopy mud with gravy like substance floating on
the top; we surveyed 80m to a junction, but we’d run out of time and had to go
back. The villagers at Nengkong are
insistent that we are back by dark. So
the elephants and tigers don’t attack us! We found the others sat outside their ‘frog’. Matchekol was definitely no ‘princess’; it
ended in a boulder pile at 200m. (Chris and Simon have a saying with the caves,
that ‘if you kiss enough frogs you’ll find a princess!’) We had a sample of the local rice beer, which
tasted quite nice really.
Sunday 10th December
The bus driver had a nasty dose of gastro enteritis and was
very ill (probably due to too much rice beer) so we had no choice but to cancel
our Tetengkol trip for today. At least
we have Siju cave close at hand, so we spent most of the day in there, taking
lots of photographs and had another attempt at lowering the sump, which still
failed. Chris and Simon went into a
previously unsurveyed inlet in Siju and found 200m, which took our total cave
for this trip to 9.003km. As this was
our last days caving, we sorted out our carbide sets that we were leaving and
gave Brian a lesson on how to use them.
Monday 11th December
The driver was still sick, but just about OK to drive, so we
packed up the bus and started back to Tura. The bus had a puncture, and also the fuel filter gasket blew so it had
to be replaced! We were supposed to be
on local TV but due to the bus problems we were too late. Tony was being ill again so he missed out on
an excellent meal at Santu’s.
Tuesday 12th December
Off to Guwahati to catch the flight home. As a farewell gift to us, the bus had one
more puncture! Said farewell to Brian,
Lindsay and Kaiman and caught our flight to Calcutta. When Chris phoned home, he was told that
Heathrow had been closed for the last couple of days due to snow and freezing
fog.
Wednesday 13th December
Had a nice meal and chat with Mr Pattanaik from the tourism
office, and then visited the Hogg market.
Thursday 14th December
Estelle, Chris, Tony and Simon left for Amman, while Lenni
left for Sri Lanka and Daniel left for Thailand. We get a night in the airport hotel, which is
only 2 hours time difference to us, so it gave us a chance to get our body
clocks back to normal.
Friday 15th December
Left Amman, and onto Berlin, where we were delayed for over
an hour while they repaired a puncture on the plane! Eventually we left Berlin and arrived at
Heathrow, and once we’d finally got Tony’s car going, and driven back to
Mendip, we arrived in the Hunters for an evening session!
B.E.C. Membership List as at 26/10/97
1212 Julian Aburrow Southampton, Hampshire.
20 (L) Bobby Bagshaw Knowle,
Bristol, Avon
392 (L) Mike Baker Henton,
Wells, Somerset
1150 (J) David Ball ConeyHurst,
Billinhurst, West Sussex.
1145 Roz Bateman Wookey
Hole, Wells, Somerset.
1151 (J) Ruth Baxter Coneyhurst,
Billingshurst, West Sussex
1227 (P) Anette Becher St
Andrews, Fife, Scotland.
390 (L) Joan Bennett Draycott,
Somerset
1122 Clive Betts Clapham,
Bedfordshire
731 Bob Bidmead East
Harptree, Nr. Bristol, Avon
1125 Rich Blake Priddy,
Somerset
364 (L) Pete Blogg Chaldon,
Caterham, Surrey
1114
145 (L) Sybil Bowden-Lyle Calne,
Wiltshire
1104 Tony Boycott Westbury
on Trim, Bristol, Avon
868 Dany Bradshaw Haybridge,
Wells, Somerset
751 (L) T.A. Bookes London
1196 Dave Bryant Salford,
Bristol, Avon
201 John Buxton Flitwick,
Beds.
956 Ian Caldwell Redland,
Bristol, Avon
1214 Rebecca Campbell Wells,
Somerset
1014 Chris Castle Axbridge,
Somerset
1062 (J) Andy Cave Dordogne,
France
1142 (J) Ange Cave Dordogne,
France
1197 John Christie Brompton,
North Allerton, North Yorks
211 (L) Clare Coase Berkeley-Vale,
New South Wales, 2259, Australia
89 (L) Alfie Collins Draycott,
Somerset
1204 Julian Collinson Pemboa,
Helston, Cornwall
1175 Ali Cooper Ainsworth,
Nottinghamshire
862 Bob Cork Pen
Hill, Wells, Somerset
1123 (P) Paulr Craggs Cullompton,
Devon
870 Gary Cullen Southwater,
Nr Horsham, West Sussex.
405 (L) Frank Darbon British
Columbia, Canada.
423 (L) Len Dawes Minster
Matlock, Derbyshire
1229 (P) Jeremy Dixon-Wright West
Pennard, Glastonbury, Somerset
164 (L) Ken Dobbs Beacon
Heath, Exeter, Devon
829 (L) Angie Dooley Harborne,
Birmingham
710 (J) Colin Dooley Harborne,
Birmingham
1000 (L) Roger Dors Priddy,
Somerset
830 John Dukes Street,
Somerset
322 (L) Bryan Ellis Westonzoyland,
Bridgwater, Somerset
269 (L) Tom Fletcher Bramcote,
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
1218 Stephen Flinders Burrington,
Somerset
404 (L) Albert Francis Wells,
Somerset
569 (J) Joyce Franklin Staffordshire
469 (J) Peter Franklin Staffordshire
1159 John Freeman Upper
Radford, Paulton, Bristol, Avon
1182 Alex Gee Wookey
Hole, Wells, Somerset
835 Len Gee St.
Edgeley, Stockport, Cheshire
1069 (J) Angie Glanvill Chard,
Somerset
1017 (J) Peter Glanvill Chard,
Somerset
647 Dave Glover Basingstoke,
Hampshire
1006 Edward Gosden Twyford,
Winchester, Hampshire
790 (J) Martin Grass Draycott,
Somerset
1155 Rachael Gregory Pentir,
Nr., Bangor, Gwynedd
1089 Kevin Gurner Theydon
Bois, Epping, Essex
1088 Nick Gymer Theydon
Bois, Epping, Essex
104 (L) Mervyn Hannam Semington,
Trowbrdge, Wiltshire
1186 (J) Helen Harper Wells,
Somerset
999 (J) Rob Harper Wells,
Somerset
1117 Pete Hellier Nempnett
Thrubwell, Chew Stoke, Bristol, Avon
974 Jeremy Henley Shepton
Mallet
952 Bob Hill Port
Gentil, Republic de Gabon
373 (J) Sid Hobbs Priddy,
Wells, Somerset.
736 (J) Sylvia Hobbs Priddy,
Wells, Somerset
1221 (P) Mark Howden Street,
Sometset
1219 (P) Sean Howe Frampton
Cotterell, Bristol, Avon
923 Trevor Hughes Holcombe,
Bath, Avon
73 Angus Innes Alveston,
Bristol, Aven
540 (L) Dave Irwin Priddy,
Somerset
922 Tony Jarratt Priddy,
Somerset
668 Mike Jeanmaire Buxton,
Derbyshire
1111 Graham Johnson Wells,
Somerset
560 (L) Frank Jones Priddy,
Somerset
567 (L) Alan Kennett Charlton
Musgrove, Wincanton, Somerset
316 (L) Kangy King Pucklechurch,
Bristol, Aven
542 (L) Phil Kingston Brisbane,
Queensland, 4122, Australia
413 (L) R. Kitchen Horrabridge,
Yelverton, Devon
667 (L) Tim Large Brislington,
Bristol
1199 Alex Livingstone Clevedon,
Avon
1180 Rich Long Paulton,
Bristol, Avon
1057 Mark Lumley Stoke
St. Michael, Somerset
1052 (J) Pete MacNab (Jnr) St
Andrews, Fife, Scotland
1071 Mike McDonald Knowle,
Brsitol, Avon
1195 Struan McDonald Devizes,
Wiltshire
550 (L) R A MacGregor Baughurst,
Basingstoke, Hants
725 Stuart McManus Priddy,
Somerset
558 (L) Tony Meaden Westbury,
Bradford Abbas, Sherborne, Dorset
704 Dave Metcalfe Whitwick,
Leicestershire
1044 Andy Middleton Hardington-Mandeville,
Somerset
1194 Nick Mitchell Priddy
Somerset
1172 Sean Morgan Clevedon,
Avon
1210 Guy Mannings Croydon,
Surrey
1183 Andy Newton Shipham,
Nr Cheddar, Somerset
1232 (P) Andy Nunn Cullomton,
Devon
553 Bob OMalley-White Wells,
Somerset
1228 (P) Ben Ogbourne Westbury-sub-Mendip,
Somerset
1226 (P) Stephen Ostler Nailsea,
North Somerset
396 (L) Mike Palmer Yarley,
Wells, Somerset
1045 Rich Payne Orpington,
Kent
1134 Martin Peters Wells,
Somerset.
499 (L) A. Philpot Bishopston,
Bristol, Avon
1193 Emma Porter Witmore,
Wolverhampton
337 Brian Prewer Priddy,
Wells, Somerset
886 Jeff Price Knowle,
Bristol, Avon
481 (L) John Ransom Patchway,
Bristol, Avon
985 Phil Romford Shepton
Mallet, Somerset
921 Pete Rose Hookway,
nr Crediton, Devon
1208 Stuart Sale Romsey,
Hampshire
359 (L) Carol Sandall Nailsea,
Avon
1170 Andy Sanders Gurney
Slade, Nr. Bath, Somerset
1173
1178 Ivan Sandford Priddy,
Somerset
237 (L) Bryan Scott Cote
DAzur, France
78 (L) R Setterington Taunton,
Somerset
213 (L) Rod Setterington Taunton,
Somerset
1036 (J) Nicola Slann Draycott,
Somerset
915 Chris Smart Nr.
Bradford on Avon, Wilts
911 Jim Smart c/o
The Belfry
1203 Bob Smith Havant,
Hampshire
823 Andy Sparrow Priddy,
Somerset
1 (L) Harry Stanbury Bude,
Cornwall
575 (L) Dermot Statham Warkworth,
Northumberland
1230 (P) Clive Stell Bathford,
Bath
365 (L) Roger Stenner Weston
super Mare, Avon
1084 Richard Stephens Wells,
Somerset
583 Derek Targett East
Horrington, Wells Somerset
772 Nigel Taylor Langford,
Avon
284 (L) Alan Thomas Priddy,
Somerset
1224 (P) Andrew Thomas Catcott,
Nr Bridgwater, Somerset
571 (L) N Thomas Oulton
Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk
74 (L) Dizzie Thompsett-Clark Great
Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex
1216 Martin Torbett Cheddar,
Somerset
381 (L) Daphne Towler Bognor
Regis, Sussex
1023 Matt Tuck Plymouth,
Devon.
678 Dave Turner Leigh
on Mendip, Bath, Avon
635 (L) S. Tuttlebury Farnham,
Surrey
1096 Brian van Luipen Wick,
Littlehampton, West sussex
887 Greg Villis Uphill,
Weston super Mare, North Somerset
175 (L) D. Whaddon
1220 (P) John Walsh Glastonbury,
Somerset
949 (J) John Watson Wells,
Somerset
1019 (J) Lavinia Watson Wells,
Somerset
1185 Chas Wethered Axbridge,
Somerset
1118 Carol White Pateley
Bridge, North Yorkshire
1068 John Whiteley Heathfiled,
Newton Abbot, Devon
1092 Babs Williams Knowle,
Bristol, Avon
1087 John Williams Gurney
Slade, Nr. Bath, Somerset
1164 (J) Hilary Wilson Keynsham,
Avon
1130 (J) Mike Wilson (snr) Keynsham,
Avon
559 (J) Barrie Wilton Haydon,
Nr. Wells, Somerset
568 (J) Brenda Wilton Haydon,
Nr. Wells, Somerset
877 Steven Woolven West
Chillington, West Sussex
914 Brian Workman Catcott,
Bridgwater, Somerset
477 Ronald Wyncoll Holycroft,
Hinkley, Leics.
683 Dave Yeandle Eastville,
Bristol, Avon
A Message From Your Membership Secretary
Please send any membership correspondence to: –
Roz Bateman, Wookey Hole, Wells, Somerset
Dear Members
A membership secretary for the 97/98 committee, I would like
to welcome you all to renew your B.E.C. membership before 31/12/97. There is an additional £4.00 payment for all
membership fees, which reach me after 1997. The 1977 AGM resulted in a £2.00 increase in membership fees for
1997/98. Please complete the form below
and return all cheques/forms in the envelope provided with this BB. Thank you.
We all hope you will enjoy your continuing membership of the
B.E.C.
Roz
Rolling Calendar
09/11/1997 Pwll D CMG Meeting, 10.30am
Gwetsy Bridge, Gwynmawr
14/11/1997 BEC Committee Meeting
15/11/1997 MRO Quiz Night, Priddy Village Hall, 7pm. Teams of 6 Cash Prizes.
£20 per team to include
supper (Alan Butcher to register teams)
05/12/1997 BEC Committee Meeting
06/12/1997 CSCC Meeting
02/01/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
03/01/1998 Cavers Stomp, Priddy Village Hall
organised by Axbridge Caving Group. Tickets from Hunters/Bat Products £5 in advance. £6 on the door (Gwen Cindy Andrea)
06/02/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
07/02/1998 CSCC Meeting
06/03/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
03/04/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
01/05/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
16/05/1998 CSCC Meeting
05/06/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
04/07/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
4-5/7/98 Cavers Fair, Mendip
07/08/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
04/09/1998 BEC Committee Meeting
03/10/1998 BEC AGM and Dinner