County Clare — A Brief Diary

By P. N. Bartlett.

These are just a few notes of a short week’s visit, Easter, 1935, to Lisdoonvarna in Clare. The Upper Carboniferous Limestone stretches away for miles to the north and north-east of the place. A glance at a geological map will shew its extent and I should imagine that there are numerous discoveries to be made. We only explored a small portion of this interesting country. A car is very useful, the roads are good and frequent, these limestone hills being more thickly populated than would be the case in a similar stretch of country in England. Lisdoonvarna is a convenient centre with comfortable hotels. All references are to the one-inch Ordnance Survey maps and the book referred to is E. A. Baker’s Caving.

By ” swallet ” is meant a hollow in the ground into which a stream is flowing or has flowed, indicating a cave or the probability of one. Besides ladders and the usual tackle, an entrenching tool and a crowbar would be most useful, but these can be borrowed, apparently, from any Irishman.

Map references—Ordnance Survey of Ireland, 1 inch to 1 mile, sheets 114 and 123.

Sunday afternoon. — (1) Sheet 122-23, square B3, point 214,. south side of road a cave which is blocked in a few yards, but 400 yards further W. beyond the cottage in field there is a promising sink with a stream going in ; it wants a crowbar to shift about two boulders.

300 yards W. of point 214, there is a valley running north to St. Catherine’s Well; halfway up this valley there is a cave, running up about 200 yards, containing good stalactite formations. It runs near the surface and eventually blocks.

At the head of the valley just below the ruined house, a considerable stream disappears ; it has a narrow and rather wet entrance but it can be explored further.

Monday. — Sheet 123, square A5, 880 yards N. of point 660 and 100 yards E. of the road there is a large pothole, probably Poulnaelva, one pitch of 75 feet from a grass slope on the

south side. At the bottom the stream flows and the general tendency is towards the east. We found it blocked downstream and could not get through, though I still think it would be possible either by crawling underneath or by moving a few boulders. A small pick and crowbar would be very useful. It would be worth while trying to get through as we heard a big stream beyond. It probably connects up with the Poulnagollum system (according to E. A. Baker). It is possible, however, to get into the stream passage here above the pothole and waterfall, that is in the north-west corner. This leads into a stream passage and cave, which comes out in a swallet about 600 yards to the north of Poulnaelva and on the west of the road. It is a fine passsge, rather wet with good stalactite formations. The stream, which flows through this cave, comes in off the Yoredale beds of Slieve Elva.

Tuesday. — Sheet 122-23, square A4, 800 yards W. of point 722 and N. of the road is the Coolagh River Cave. A considerable stream runs in here. The locals said that some Austrians had been there about five years ago and they remembered pre-war visitors as well. The cave was followed about 800 yards ; about 400 yards down it leads into a larger passage bearing a considerable volume of water. We got as far as a large round pool in the stream-bed, about 6-12 yards across to shallow water. This pot-hole could be crossed by swimming. This is a fine but very wet cave ; care is necessary as the stream seems to rise very quickly. In the passage followed there were several side passages unexplored.

Wednesday. — We examined various swallets in the valley below the Coolagh River Cave. The most promising was in Sheet 123, square A4, 800 yards W. of point 598 and 100 yards N. of the road, in a small valley below a school. The Coolagh River level had risen 4-6 inches after about 12 hours of moderate rain. In the afternoon we went E. towards Kilcorney and in sheet 123, square B6 (one and a half miles W. of Kilcorney), 500 yards. W. of point 565 and just S. of the road are several interesting swallets which would repay a little spade work. There is one cave here, Poulliam or Poulwillin, mentioned by Baker, which we followed some way. It is worth while persevering in spite of the red mud. It is a stream cave ending in a low passage with a thin stalagmite floor over red mud. Just before this low passage the stream disappears left, rather narrow, into a 10 ft. pot, followed by a 30 ft. pot and then into a passage, still rather narrow, which was followed for some distance. This passage showed recent signs of flooding.

Thursday. — Went down Poulnagollum and followed the stream down. Sheet 114, square F4, 150 yards north of road-junction, east of A in Slieve Elva. A rope and a 20 ft. ladder are needed to get down the pot, though there is an alternative entrance in the north-east corner. This is a long, high cavern with magnificent rock formations. We followed it to a point where are the initials E.A.B. on the left wall. After that there is a possible crawl in water. This must be one of the finest caves in the British Isles, certainly the finest stream-passage.

Friday. — We found an interesting pot-hole. Sheet 123, square C2, cross-roads, 500 yards S.W. of point 66 and S. of the road Roadford-Fisherstreet. We heard the sound of a powerful stream flowing towards the sea, about 30-40 ft. down, but unfortunately we did not have time to explore it. North of the estuary of the Lisdoonvarna River there were several streams flowing into the sea and welling up through cracks in the limestone.