Geophysical surveys at two undated oval mounds, one near the Longwood Valley, Cheddar and the other near Hunter’s Lodge Inn, Priddy, revealed both to be the remains of pairs of Bronze Age round barrows. The oval mounds were presumably created by ploughing, with the two separate round mounds transformed into a single elongated mound. These results indicate that caution should be exercised when classifying earthworks by their external form alone.

In a reassessment of the site published a decade ago, the suggestion was made that King Arthur’s Cave had been visited by hunters during the Middle Palaeolithic (ApSimon, et al. 1992). The purpose of this note is to withdraw that suggestion; the sealing of artifacts below stalagmite on which it relied is shown to be doubtful and the faunal and archaeological evidence is against it. It is alternatively suggested that the putative Middle Palaeolithic artifacts are Late Upper Palaeolithic. A firm suggestion for the location of the critical context is made, with the implication that doubts about the original excavator’s account were unwarranted, and that potential exists for further investigation and recovery of speleothem samples for dating.

A survey of the entrance pitch of Poulnagollum Pot found several distinctive vegetation sub-communities occupying different biophysical zones. These communities were found to be in stark contrast to the vegetation on the nearby surface, being defined by a rich variety of mosses, liverworts and woodland field-layer plants, and resembling the field and ground layers of semi-natural Ash climax woodland. After analysis of data collected in 2002, it was suggested that variation in the vegetation sub-communities was attributable to local but significant differences in soil reaction and water availability.

Although limestones are widespread in County Roscommon the number of karst features known were few until recent field investigation revealed that diagnostic karstic landforms such as sinks, springs and dolines are abundant. A number of caves have been explored and surveyed including the 750 m long Pollnagran; the only stream cave known in the county.

This study investigates the karst drainage network of Ogof Agen Allwedd, an extensive cave system underlying the plateau of Mynydd Llangattwg, South Wales. Water samples were collected between July and October 2002 from the peat moorland above the cave, drips within the cave, the Entrance Series, Main Streamway and its tributaries, and the resurgences in Clydach Gorge. Conductivity, temperature, pH, alkalinity, Ca, Mg, Mn and Fe were measured to characterize components of the hydrological system. Hydrochemical data for some of the inlets, such as Cascade Passage and Meander Passage, suggested rapid response times to recharge events, which may have important implications for flooding and pollution events in the cave. The response of the cave system to rainfall was further investigated by measuring relative changes in water-level and temperature at a major confluence in the Cascade Passage area on an hourly basis between September and November 2002. Response to rainfall was more complex than suggested by the hydrochemical data. The vadose drainage system can be described as a three-component system with (1) rapid conduit flow, (2) soil/fissure (epikarst) network flow, moderated by surface air temperatures and (3) a diffuse, percolation flow that is in equilibrium with the rock matrix temperatures at depth.