These Latter Days. (Washfold Cave, Mere Gill, Gaping Gill)

By The Editor

Forty years ago Martel’s daring descent of 340 ft. of rope ladder into Gaping Gill Main Chamber, and his exploration of the Marble Arch Cave in Ireland, marked the opening of cave exploration in the British Isles. To-day the supply of places waiting exploration has been long exhausted, and it is only by careful search, by desperate squirming into narrow fissures, by sheer novices’ luck, or by more drastic methods that new ground can be entered. Of sheer luck Foley’s great discovery in Lost Johns’, and the Pudsey club’s re-discovery of Gaskell’s Passage in Goyden Pot, are examples.

The Northern Cavern and Fell Club has a fair sprinkling of ” tigers ” and in 1934 and 1935 hope long deferred was rewarded by remarkable success in squirming through the worst of fissures. First they put another 200 ft. depth on to the Gritstones Club’s Washfold Pot, then they got past the gravel bank at the end of Mere Gill and put on another 200 yds. of passage, then a way was forced into an extension of Lost Johns’, and later a particularly risky descending slit on the Lost Johns’ stream let them reach the foot of Pinnacle Pot.

Of the drastic methods, Balcombe, one of their men, is the leading exponent. Attempts at blasting in Swildon’s Hole (Somerset) led on to diving in the terminal pool with homemade apparatus such as garden hose—we believe drowning finally became preferable to the poisonous air supplied— then to real diving-dress work with unexpected difficulties in Wookey Hole in the depths of the Axe. As a result to be in the swim in Somerset you must be an expert with ” jelly,” and spend your week-ends at the bottom of a sink-hole hopefully endeavouring to blow a way in somewhere.

The most serious development is that no longer is the exploration of caverns quietly carried on by two or three groups of men. Motor-cars and motor-cycles have made the limestone districts easily accessible and any number of parties can now try their hands. Alum Pot, for instance, is swamped with visitors. One result is that there are far too many bits of clothing discarded by comparative novices, lying about inside. The most inconvenient result is that the sport is in danger of becoming a nuisance to proprietors and shooters.

The greatest care should be exercised to put ourselves in the right, and even the oldest hands will have to remember that they have no privileges, and must be far more particular than in the past in wilds where no one seems interested.

Selside Washfold Cave. — The story of the Washfold is told in a spirit entirely novel, each hero is violently abused, what should be good news is received with execration ! Like Swinsto, but more, it is beyond the something limit! The Washfold Cave, 1,000 yds. North of Alum Pot, is a well known and troublesome narrow passage, 70 yds. long. Some over-zealous Gritstone Club man climbed up at the end like many others, but must needs force his way into and through a bedding-plane on the left, soaking up the contents of a natural wash-bowl on the way, to a definite shaft about 20 ft. deep, and climbable to a chamber a yard wide and four yards long. The stream now takes to an extremely narrow passage and arrives at the head of a serious waterfall pitch in a fearfully narrow fissure.

After many attempts the drenched Gritstoners got down this no ft. vertical, ” imitating a tram-ticket sideways.” From another larger chamber a roomy, level passage led 70 or 80 yds., then dwindled. ” We struggled down several small pitches, about ten feet deep and fewer inches wide, to be confronted by an impossible slit where the stream bade us a mocking adieu (to my secret relief).”

Next year came a Northern C. & F. C. man. ” I am afraid I was rather foolish and it would have saved us much time and anxiety if I hadn’t got through.” Favoured by the weather his party came again the next two Sundays, each time more unwillingly, faced the waterfall, found a deep rift and squirmed a hundred yards along the top of it, then back eighty yards to the widest part. Here they climbed down 40 ft. to chock-stones, and another 60 in and out among them to the stream. Scrambling along a dangerously loose and narrow passage, under and over huge blocks, they reached another pitch. The awful news that more ladders would have to be dragged in next Sunday almost led to murder.

Though frightfully wet this pitch of 40 ft. could almost be climbed, and after laddering another 20 ft. a thankful but triumphant party, Clarkson, Dawson, Downham, and Douglas reached the end 380 ft. down, a very high chamber, 25 yds. by 10 ft., with a sump running the length of the cave. The lower ladders were abandoned, and the party were ” all in ” when they had struggled up the bad no ft. pitch. The whole system bears dead north.

Mere Gill. — Twenty-five years after, recollections of Payne’s determination to get to the end of the fearsome Mere Gill Hole call up pictures of a wild and joyous adventure. Joyous enough in the end, but wet, very,—often a jumpy affair, and full of grievous disappointments. The victors of 1912 found a long stream passage, 450 ft. down, and Stobart, Hazard and E. E. Roberts followed it to where it ended in gravel filling a bedding-plane. In 1914 Payne’s second party of eight worked the cave in two shifts, the only really safe course, for no one should be below more than eight hours. Did not the severe storm of Coronation Week, 1911, swamp the trench and fill the Mere in twelve hours to above the cave entrance ? Stobart and Barstow, if not Payne and others, reached the end, the gravel: Roy Sanderson and Roberts took the dry passage, which proved to reach the Torrent (a tributary) at its highest possible point, and followed it down to the main passage.

It was not till 1928 that a third descent was made, by the Gritstone Club, a strenuous night attack. Mere Gill Hole kept up its end. ” Never wish to see the place again. I may think I enjoyed it, when I have recovered from present fatigue,” wrote one stout fellow.

In 1934, the Northern Cavern and Fell Club came along in a period of drought, lucky fellows, and apparently only struck running water inside beyond the pitches and the Bridge Pool. Dawson followed the dry passage to the difficult bit ; Proctor, Buckley and Butterworth followed the main stream past the fall of the Torrent, and through much water another 600 yds. to the gravel bank. Here to the left they found they could just scrape through into a passage 4 to 5 ft. high, carrying a mere trickle of water for 150-200 yds. to a hopeless small pool, 6 ft. wide, and practically touching the roof. On the way back Butterworth was pushed up the waterfall into the easy Torrent passage, along which he went and came back again. Dawson, Thornber and Gregson meanwhile went to the new finish. Mr. Simpson surveyed down to the Torrent, and the ladders were left in, but were recovered in time before the Mere rose again.

It would be a very remarkable cave memory indeed which could place all the singularities of Mere Gill in the right order at the first attempt. Hence when the account of these doings placed the gravel bank 100 yds. beyond the Torrent, it was very doubtful what had happened.

Davis Burrow, who as a boy was in at one of the descents of the first pitch by Messrs. Howarth, Stringer, Simpson, C. E. Burrow and Cook in 1905 and 1906, thought it was about time the Y.R.C. did the hole again, and that the Jubilee holiday of 1936 was a grand opportunity. A reconnaissance before Easter gave very little hope that an attack would be possible, but the dry weather which set in after Easter wrought a wonderful change, and Gowing with ten volunteers from the Billingham Works dug a trench round the sink-holes to avoid the troublesome bridging with corrugated iron, which the Northern C & F.C. had undertaken, where the ridge between has been washed away.

Of that miraculous Jubilee time one can hardly speak in moderate language. Never before have we had a pot-hole expedition in brilliant weather without thought of rain, before, during and after—the conditions of a dream. The nights were warm, far warmer than ever later in May, the sunshine glorious. Everything went right. Camping on the spot, we rigged the first pitch on Saturday night. On Sunday F. S. Booth, H. L. Stembridge, Byrne, E. E. Roberts and Eddison were in from 10 till after 5. They rigged the second and third pitches, and cut the dams in the Canyon between, almost drying up the first pool but leaving the third still quite deep. The first three had a run down the third pitch. At the head of the Canyon on the way back they met Davis Burrow, Hilton, and Nelstrop whose orders were, having a clear road, to reach the far end at all costs.

Outside it was perfect, and after dinner quite exciting, volunteers going down to listen for news. Before ten the party

were out; the gravel bank was far beyond the Torrent and was the 1912 finish ; the scrape through was obvious now and the new bit 150-220 yds. !

On Monday Booth, Stembridge and I seemed to be through to the pools beyond the pitches in no time. Byrne was off on business and Eddison had damaged his foot, hard luck ! The stream was nothing to worry about on the ladders, but it was there, and the Bridge Pool where you get quite wet struck us as cold. I wanted to take the dry passage, descend the Torrent and so do everything, but it was decided to go for the new stuff. My memories of twenty-three years before were quite clear, but the great number and closeness of the corners before the Torrent came still as a surprise. Beyond that I seemed to remember a longer stretch of easy wide passage than there really was, but the long and horrible canal in which you wade ever so far, bent double, was there all right, and the crawl beyond. By this time my feet were most unpleasantly cold ; evidently the water is much colder in early May than in June and later.

At the gravel bank the stream disappears, but it does not appear in the new passage beyond, which seemed to me at a higher level. Perhaps in time a second will open out at this point.

From the far end we beat a very rapid retreat to the Bridge Pool and lunched, 4 hours from coming in. Never before have I suffered from cold water as then ; I was compelled to take off socks and putties and wring them, for the first time in a long experience. We were very cold on starting off, but were gloriously warm by the time the ladders were up in the Canyon, quite proud of ourselves when we got to the foot of the second pitch, and highly virtuous when we had all the ladders up as the other party arrived, 6 p.m. It was grand to leave them to it and depart into the sunshine.

On Sunday the Mere had been reduced to a tiny little pool, but deeper than we thought, for when lower still on Monday, Slingsby found it had covered an opening through the ridge across the Rift and waded through into the far portion. The excitement about going up Ingleborough to the bonfire caused this news to be forgotten and no one else had a look at it.

Later in the year something unusual must have happened, as Eddison sat on the Pinnacle with his feet in the water, i.e. there was a head of at least 20 ft. over the cave entrance, which must therefore have been blocked.

Gaping Gill. — There has been no article on ” G.G. ” since 1927, though the Y.R.C. has been there each year — on one unfortunate occasion in August — but information will be found under Club Meets. For several years past the Craven Pot-Hole Club has had a fortnight’s camp there in August, and the Northern Cavern and Fell Club has made several descents, on the Sunday after Jubilee Day sending down a most extraordinary number of the Fell and Rock Club. Hundreds of people must now have made the excursion, and we regret to say that the accumulation of rubbish at Telephone Corner became very serious, till Ruston in 1932 commenced the cleaning up by sending several bucketsful to the surface.

In 1928 a raft was built in Canal Chamber with materials painfully dragged in, and a voyage undertaken to the Lost Passage. Here Seaman and J. Buckley in turn were assisted up, but it was impossible for men to get down on to the raft. Davis Burrow tells me the Y.S.A. tried a raft in 1912, but it sank or came to bits.

The Flood Entrance has been done repeatedly of late years. It was by the Flood Entrance that the Stockton men in 1931 secretly introduced Sale and Crowe to wait in a tent till the first man came down into the Main Chamber. He thought the lighted tent must be a phosphorescent corpse. The descent from the Flood Entrance Passage to the landing place is 122 ft. and the further descent to the water in the pot below it, now called—however absurdly—Flood Pot, is 132 ft. A passage was recently reported down there which turned out to be a trick of vision, but at the head of the final crack in Flood Pot is a curious upward climb, involving a sensational roof traverse.

Discovery has ceased with the two small passages penetrated in 1931, one from each of the avens beyond Flood Pot. The stiffness of the clay in the one reached by a sensational climb defeated attempts at digging it out. The intricate area between the Sand Cavern and Mud Pot has been thoroughly explored in vain. Last year, entrance to the chamber under the East Slope was cleared, all but one large stone, and a determined attack was made on the swallet at the end of the East Passage, but the tunnels are far too small to follow.

A very interesting event is the descent by ladder into the Main Chamber from the end of the Rat-hole by Messrs. Smith and Waterfall (Craven Pot-Hole Club). They found a good ledge, 170 ft. down, to which they pulled up ladders from below. Getting the upper ladders in must have been a laborious job.

No light has yet been thrown on the way in which the water gets away. Some consider that in flood times most of the water disappears on the south side. A big hole was dug in 1933 mostly by Davidson, in the hope that floods would open it out, or that other clubs would enlarge it, with no effect.

Three of the last four Whitsuntides have suffered poor weather, but 1933 was the finest I remember. The heat was tremendous and costumes were of the lightest. Ladders were put down, but in a fashion which abolished struggling and turning over. The famous Ledge, though mainly a pool, is quite roomy. The first ladders came down at the back, and the second lot were supported by ropes from above.

Martel’s great feat of August, 1895, was duly commemorated on the last night of the 1935 camp by a great bonfire, complete even with an appropriate guy.

Gaping Gill Plan. — For the British Association visit of 1927, the existing plan was put together from the books of the accurate survey of the East Passage and Stream Chamber Branch made before the War, and from other material. The first test of the parts criticised showed that Main Chamber to Canal Chamber had been a sketch, and the 1934 work, that the piece to T Junction had been paced. A painful survey proved the Flood Entrance Branch fairly correct. A critical study has been made of this and other well known surveys, and certain lessons learnt.

So great is the possibility of error under the conditions that certainty only results from agreement of two separate surveys. Magnetic variation is a deadly trap. Finding the exact figures for each year has been an amusing research.

The great temptation for the underground surveyor on closing a circuit is to make it fit, when unsatisfactory.

A revised plan is being plotted and prepared for issue.