Cave Exploration

I. New Discoveries

Leitrim, Carrickeemy, Teampol (on 600 contour, ½ N.N.W. of Rocktown, 5 miles W.N.W. of Manorhamilton Fair lanes). — June 1952, H. L. Stembridge, Rusher, Hilton, F. S. Booth.  Internal waterfall pitch, 60 ft. followed by 150 yards stream passage, 20 ft. wide, to a 20 ft. climb, then a 20 ft. pitch and a sump.

There is a curious local story that many years ago Teampol was done by a Frenchman with a boat.  The modern legend is clearly a version of Martel in 1895 at Marble Arch.

Leitrim, Gorteenaguinnell and Largy Pots (N. of Gurteen, alt., 800-900 ft.). — Teampol party with Godley and E. E. Roberts.  June 1952.  Four pots laddered, 60 to 80 ft., three near the Hat Pot W. of the peat road end, one to the E. Weather too bad to continue.

Identification of pot-holes on this vast moor is almost hopeless until it is surveyed.  N.E. of the track end two can be spotted on the 6 inch map to serve as bases, one each side of the intake dyke.  To the N. are two patches of clints; in between, the Forest Pot has so many trees one will know it again.

Feb. 1953.  A Sandhurst Exploration Club party, Robinson, Churchill, Tulloch, Cartwright, did most of the pots listed and found them generally 60 ft. and choked with mud.  Poll na Leprechaun? (wire fence round) however had climbable pitches 20 ft., 18 ft., 12 ft., separated by scree, to a fairly large chamber, then a passage to a shaft of 25 ft. diameter needing a 30 ft. ladder, the end 30 yards to a mud choke.

Fermanagh, Knockmore, Pollaraftra.  A survey and narrative appears in the Craven Pot-holers’ Journal No. 3.  The total length of this grand passage is over 2,000 yards.  It reaches to within 200 yards of the Gortgor Rising, altitude 480 ft.  Swallet altitude, 700 ft., the pot-hole about 720.

Fermanagh, Pollnagollum (of the Boats) (alt. 620 ft., 6 inch map 5 of Marble Arch, near Legg Farm). — The 1953 Craven P.H.C. survey agrees with that of the Y.R.C. except that the end has disappeared.  It was not visited in 1947 owing to shipwreck.  It is clear that a big fall has occured at the far end of the Great Hall beyond the Third Pool.

On the way to Pollnasmera, 400 yards short, D. Brindle in 1950 somewhere dug under three overhangs of a shake-hole cliff and got down into a chamber, 100 ft. high, 60 ft. wide [Pollna brindle].

Fermanagh, Polliniska area.  1953.  Tyas and other Craven men opened out 2 new pots near Peter Bryant’s Hole alongside a natural causeway, one 200 ft. total depth in 3 pitches, two of 50 ft. labelled Pollnagawley.  The other is 55 ft., and Peter Bryant’s Hole is given as 155 ft., but it has no 75 ft. pitch as planned. ;

Clare, Lisdoonvarna, Pollnagollum (Bakers). — The 1936 penetra­tion beyond Baker’s Furthest Pool into the final river tunnel has not been repeated.  The two crawls are unmistakable.  Whitsun 1952, Tyas and Brindle (C.P.H.C.) crawled all round the pool and got into a short stand-up passage.  We conclude there has been silting up, but no one seems able to describe the place clearly and its connection with the dry East Tunnel.

Clare, Sheve Elva, Pollnaelva.  1952.  In the short cave below the 70 ft. pitch, Hartley and Dickenson (C.P.H.C.) forced a way on and went due S. for 700 yards to a water-filled bedding-plane.  Killeany Rising half mile.

Hampton and Holgate after excavating a possible return went east 450 yards to where the passage broke up into small channels.

Clare, Lisdoonvarna, Pollan Ionain (in the dry valley below Ballynalaekan Castle).  1952.  Dickenson and Varley (C.P.C.).  Difficult entrance.  Low, wet uncomfortable passage for nearly 300 yards to a great chamber containing an enormous 30 ft. stalactite.

Clare, Lisdoonvarna, Pollcullaun (E. slightly N. of Cullaun Farm).  1 August 1951, Bristol University Spel. Soc. 1,100 yards long.

Ingleborough, Gaping Gill.  In autumn 1953, some of the innumerable visitors via Bar Pot found a deep pool between T Junction and Pool Chamber where no water has been reported before.j

It appears from Craven Pot-hole Club Journal No. 3, p. 118 that in 1950 a sensational traverse was done by Edgar Smith and  perhaps others from the West Chamber over the Pool into Pool Chamber, not before recorded.

Ingleborough, Newby Moss, Rosebay Pot.  December, 1950.  Bradford Technical College Club.  The boulder choke at the bottom was opened out.  Ten ft. pitch to high belfry.  Tight water-worn passage, through thin crack to lower level.  40 ft. pitch into large chamber with boulder floor.

Lancashire Bank, Easegill Kirk Upper Gunbarrel Hole.  March, 1950.  Lovett and R. L. Holmes.  Low, dry crawl for five yards, left bank leads to a gunbarrel tube, 18 inches diameter, 20 ft. long to a rock fall.  Keep left to a 30 ft. pitch down a fissure, climbed but better to ladder.

Second pitch similar, into a small dry “stream” passage, tributary to a high one.  Upwards 20 yards to a block, down 50 yards to a deep pool.  Round the right wall to a block at 20 yards.  Four feet up is a continuation of the tributary passage for 15 yards to a sump.  Total depth 92 ft.

Westmorland, Kirby Lonsdale, Easegill Caverns and Lancaster Pot. — Easegill water reaches limestone 360 yards above the feared Boundary Pot, left bank, and after the great pool of Ease­gill force (Cow Dub) the bed is dry past the kirks to the rising at Leek Beck Head.

Lancaster Pot, 150 yards below Cow Pot, 100 ft. ladder, dis­covered by the B.S.A. in 1946, proved to lead down through Fall Pot to a great master cave carrying Easegill water to a sump at 250 ft. depth, and upstream impassable after Oxbow Corner.  But this point was also reached by following a high level system from Fall Pot to Stake Pot, etc., skirting round Pots Scylla and Charybdis above the chokes 80 ft. below.

A sandy crawl near Oxbow Corner led through a complex to Monster Cavern, one acre of unsupported roof.  A route can be found to Stop Pot and by 25 ft. ladder to the water of the Main Drain.  B.S.A. men went on up to the strange Gypsum Cavern and Thackray’s Passage, and 100 yards below Stop Pot penetrated up Pierces Passage to waterfalls near Upper Easegill.

Oxford Pot, above the Force, was opened in 1947, and led to the Main Drain between two sumps.  Not until 1950, 29th October, did the Red Rose Club climb into the roof below its Spout chamber, dropping into a parallel passage whence a 15 ft. pitch led to Pierces Passage and the Main Drain.

Joint parties of the Red Rose and Northern Perrnine Clubs were busy in the winter of 1950-1951 as described in the N.P.C.’s Caverns of Upper Easegill, colour testing, excavating and even attacking solid rock.  The Slit Sink system, entered July 1951, yielded only 200 yards thin passage and two 50 ft. pots but the Slaughterhouse Sink, opened September, 1951, just below Oxford Pot gave a comparatively easy but unstable route on.  Via a 15 ft. pitch it joined Broadway in Oxford Pot (beyond the Snake) and so to the climb, Pierces Passage and Lancaster Pot.  Long and arduous trips extended the network to 6 or 7 miles, a waterfall 100 yards from Top Sink was reached and the descent forced in 1953 down to the Main Drain complex.

Finally Oxford Hole being blocked and Slaughterhouse Sink unsafe, an all-weather entrance just above Oxford Hole has been sunk through 12 ft. of solid rock to the 15 ft. pitch above Broadway.

(We are grateful to the Northern Pennine Club for information of which this is a summary).

Dent, Tub Hole (S. bank of the Dee, one mile E. of Dent).  A cave at the head of a dry wooded tributary watercourse.  Inside a long deep pool with good headroom was waded in 1924 to the far wall up to the chest.  In 1933 J. A. Holmes and others waded knee deep only, then a fairly open bedding plane led through two more chambers into a high passage with deep water too wide to bridge.  Unfinished.

Malham Cove Dive.  May, 1953.  Sufficient boulders were moved by the Craven Pot-holers to enable two unnamed Cave Diving Group men to crawl below a cave six feet under water and walk.  A cave stretched left and right but at 70 ft. ahead the roof came too low for crawling.

Malham Tarn Sinks. The C.P.C. mine has been given up at 85 ft.

Wharfedale, Kettlewell, Douk (or Don) Cave Extension  (E. up the back at the foot of Park Rash).  June, 1953.  John Hobson (C.P.C.) and an unknown dug through the final block upwards into a very beautiful area, once visited by lead-miners, since explored by the C.P.C. to a distance of 250 yards.  Survey in Craven P.H.Journ. No. 5.

Wharfedale, Starbottom, Knucklebone Pot.  (Keep to the left of Starbottom Beck, in shakehole 200 yards short of old mine workings, near the head of the valley.  Line of sinks runs between shakehole and workings).  July, 1951.  Sanderson, Crunden, Birkett, Lake (C.P.C.).  Small stream, good sized entrance under cliff. 40 ft. ladder to small chamber, then down into a rift which becomes low, wet tunnel of 17 yards.

Littondale, Arncliffe, Falcon Cave (up the hillside above Boreham).  October, 1948.  Tyas and A. Mitchell.  Into a stream at right angles, downwards a low, wet, difficult 15 ft. ladder pitch, then choked by stones.  Upstream, crawl a long way, then walk.  Left round a roof fall into a long narrow aven with 25 ft. waterfall. October, 1949.  D. Brindle climbed the fall, also one of 5 ft. stopped by tight crawl.

Derbyshire, Peak Cavern, New Area Diving.  March 9th, 1952.  Davies and Balcombe, C.D.G.  It is a very strenuous journey with diving tackle to the two sumps in the new area, and several expeditions were made.  Finally in the Lake Passage, “the most exciting find since the Eleventh Chamber in Wookey Hole.”  200 yards of wire were run out into very deep water approaching the 30 ft. limit in a wide, high, passage with no mud so the return was not in a black-out.

Somerset, Priddy Swildon’s Hole.  January 1953.  A way was blasted into a large passage leading to low, muddy, tunnels and containing one exquisite crystal pool.  St. Paul’s Passage. 270 yards.

Devon, Plymstock, Radford Cave.  1951-52.  A small but interesting cave, close to a housing estate, which has been surveyed and provided with an archway and gate by the Devon S.S.  In the meantime a man got stuck and had to be rescued.

Breconshire, Glyn Tawa, Ffynnon Ddu Cave.  The Black Springs are an obvious rising on the left back of the Tawa, impenetrable by the C.D.G.  The cave was discovered above them by sinking a shaft in 1946 where water was said to have appeared.  A dry labyrinth led to a surprising torrent, with four deep pools in ¼ mile of fine passage.  It strikes one as a case of river capture.  Great lengths of tributary network have been surveyed by the South Wales Cave Club and their allies.

In this obviously risky trap, Roilton and Little were caught from Saturday to Monday in August, 1951, but with a store of food against mischance.  They had an unpleasant time, and it is understood an escape route has since been dug out.

II. — Fluorescein.  Cave Research Group

Gungling Pot, Fountains Fell. October 5th, 1950, four pounds.  October 8th-9th, Brants Gill, Thornton in Ribblesdale, a three mile crossing under a dale and a high ridge.

Longkin West. October 8th, two pounds.  Green flow Moses Well, 9th.

III. — Other Notes

Wharfedale, Sleets Gill.  Mr. Huff of Grassington has watched flood water for two hours behaving in the most extraordinary way, well up the 100 ft. slope of descent.  There is no truth in the legend that one can get through from the cave to the risings.

Mail has seen flood water pouring from the cave down the old channel.

Somerset, Priddy, Swildons Hole.  Mr. O. C. Lloyd is arranging cleansing parties to remove carbide, clean out gours and remove rubbish.  It is a good sign that several clubs are establishing discipline, there is much room for education by the Cave Preservation Society.

Somerset, Charterhouse, Great Tynings (G.B.) Cave.  Archbridge R.D.C., the owners, leased exploration rights to the Bristol University Speleological Society who realised too late the position into which caving was drifting.  At Easter, 1951, a lost party had to be rescued.  The R.D.C. was annoyed and frightened as they have the idea of commercialising this fine cavern.

The conditions are now so strict it is doubtful if a Yorkshire Rambler can get admission.

Sutherland, Inchnadamjf, Caves of Roaring Water.  Both Gowing and Mail have entered the cave of Roaring and been through the Fairbank crack into the river chamber.  It has not yet the width given it in the Sheffield University plan.

IV. — The Caving Code (Revised 1951)

  1. 1.   Always leave word as to destination and approximate time of return.
  2. 2.   See that all tackle is in good order.
  3. 3.   A large party should be split into small groups of six or eight, each under an appointed leader.  Keep to your party and obey the leader.
  4. 4.   Every man should use a miner’s helmet with light attached and should wear plenty of clothes.  Remember also that rubber soles can be dangerous.
  5. 5.   Equipment should invariably include spare carbide, acetylene burners and cleaners or alternatively spare batteries and spare bulbs; match-box or lighter and candles in waterproof container; short length of line and carabiner.
  6. 6.   Every man should carry a whistle and should learn to use the standard signals: one blast — “Stop”; two blasts — ” haul in “; three blasts — ” pay out.”
  7. 7.   Remember that the upward journey is always more arduous then the descent so physical strength must be conserved.
  8. 8.   Do not let yourself be over-persuaded and use discretion as to where and how far you take the inexperienced.
  9. 9.   In the case of an open shaft leave a look-out man or obvious signs that people are below.
  10. 10.  Keep an eye on the weather.
  11. 11.  Use a life-line on all pitches.  A knotted life-line is dangerous.  Where a pulley-block is used for the life-line the block should be independently belayed and should never be tied to the ladder or belay ropes.  Be sure also that the life-line will run clear.
  12. 12.  Stand clear of the pitch when any one is coming up or down or when tackle is being moved.
  13. 13.  Remember that a pitch of 150 ft. is proportionately far more arduous than one of 100 ft., therefore divide long pitches into smaller sections when possible.
  14. 14.  Adequate food for the period underground should be taken and in addition an emergency ration (hard) for about six hours.
  15. 15.  It is very desirable that every pot-holer should have a know­ledge of First Aid.
  16. 16.  In case of an accident telephone SETTLE Police Station and remain at the telephone until instructed to leave.