Let's play spot the cave entrance ...
Longwood blockhouse surrounded by ash trees felled over the past 12
months to safeguard access to the cave.
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Welcome
to a double issue of the newsletter, with February and March together.
The unexpected hospitalisation of part of the editorial team (Linda) at
the end of January put rather a crimp in our usual impeccable timing,
with the January issue arriving in late February. After that little
hiccup, it seemed sensible just to run February and March together to
give you all a bumper issue to procrastinate with after Easter if you
haven't got any caves to venture down instead.
We will get back to a regular schedule soon, we promise!
The AGM in March heralded the usual changes to the committee and new
committee appointments, with Alex Blencowe taking over the editorial pen
from Zac Woodford. Many thanks to Zac for all his hard work over the
past year, but he'll no doubt be disappointed to know that he hasn't
been let off any writing duties!
Articles or trip write ups can be sent to either of us so please soremember, we're only a click away! Could we make it any easier? Nope, we don't think so. Go on, we don't bite ... We even hand out prizes if we're in a good mood!
You can find all the back issues of the monthly newsletter online. So if you're sitting in a dull lecture, take a look at what the club has been up in past months and years.
Worm wishes, Alex and Linda
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AGM AND DINNER
We all forgot to take photos at the AGM, so
have this one from the dinner instead. Left to right: the Most Low and
Worshipful Worm herself, Mia Jacobs, Megan Malpas, Katy Fisher and
Gabriel Littler, all proving that glamour and caving can crawl hand in
hand.
The UBSS AGM and Annual Dinner held
on 12th March in the Geography Dept (thanks to David Richards for
organising the room and providing tea, coffee and biscuits!) started
with a few words from Student Prezz Mia Jacobs, reproduced here for
those who never read AGM minutes, even though (with unaccustomed
efficiency) these have already been circulated ...
Good morning, everyone! Thank you all for taking the time to come into
uni on a Saturday morning – I know, it might be painful, it might feel
wrong, but it will be worth it, I promise. It’s lovely to be here in
person, as you may remember last year I was elected as Student President
via a video campaign filmed by Elaine and Imogen who visited me while I
was on placement in Tenerife. This year, Elaine is the one who is
unable to attend and she will give her Honorary President’s address via
video, as she and I remain star-crossed lovers in cyberspace.
This has been another great year for UBSS. We seem to be facing a new
challenge, which is, we are now too popular. The committee took the
welcome fair in September by storm at our stall next to a very committed
and slightly unhinged Brunel impersonator and we saw an unprecedented
turnout at the welcome talk chilli night. By unprecedented, I mean
people were spilling out of Sam and Megan’s living room into their
hallway and garden. As a result, both our Mendip and South Wales fresher
weekends had full signups and impressive waiting lists.
Tuesday pub meets have been running as usual at the Eldon House though
occasionally interrupted by their new live music schedule. However, we
have taken this in our stride, performing caving songs at their open mic
night with the full setup including a guitar and a tambourine. Thanks
to our social secs, Michael and Ben, we’ve also enjoyed a variety of
socials including bowling, sober laser tag and, (a common favourite) a
live funk night with a 9-piece brass band.
As Zac will report in more detail, UBSS has hosted many trips near and
far in the last year, all with great turnout. I’d like to offer a
special thank you on behalf of the whole Society to those who helped
make these trips possible, including but not limited to Haydon Saunders,
Ashley Gregg, Zac Woodford and Merryn Matthews. Leading caving weekends
takes an admirable amount of patience and commitment, and can make you
want to tear your hair out at times.
We even tried running caving tasters at the joint Yorkshire weekend with
the Mountaineering Club and Expeditions Society last month. These were
more popular than anticipated, so we turned the dictation of the
All-Powerful Whiteboard. While this was successful in the end, whether
we will choose to do this again is undecided.
In other news, work has just Started on the stables, so we’re one step
closer to returning to our headquarters. Archaeological work,
publications and other research have also been ongoing alongside
well-attended caving weekends, SRT training, and the occasional midweek
trip, so it’s safe to say that both the sporting and academic sides of
speleology have been thriving here at UBSS.
Thank you for listening and let’s get started!
Mia Jacobs, Student President
The AGM proceeded with brisk efficiency with Mia at the helm. This year's committee now consists of:
- Hon. President: Elaine Oliver.
- Student President: Mia Jacobs.
- Hon. Vice Presidents: Andrew Atkinson, Cat Henry, Clive Owen, Linda Wilson.
- Secretary: Stanley Lewis.
- Student Treasurer: Ryan White.
- Hon. Treasurer: Graham Mullan.
- Equalities Officer: Jake Reich.
- Ordinary Committee Members: Jessica Brock, Ben Alterman, Felix Arnautovic. Michael Farmer, Alex Blencowe.
This was followed by a showing of UBSS films from the 1930s that proved new to most people there.
Screenshot from the Lamb Leer Film showing members getting ready to go caving.
One thing suggested under Any Other
Business was trialing a club Zoom pub night once a month (not as a
replacement for the usual Tuesday pub nights) but something to allow
members from outside Bristol to connect with each other, based on the
successful Grampian Speleological Group monthly pub nights that several
UBSS/GSG Members often join. For those who still haven't seen them, we
could maybe reshow the films.
Everyone scattered after the AGM to reform in the evening at
Brown and Bye down on the waterfront where all present gorged themselves
on the cheese and cold meet platters followed by pizza.
This wasn't the usual sit down dinner, but more of a large party where
everyone present could circulate and chat with more people than just
those on either side of a table. Lavish awards were dished out by Mia to
raucous acclaim.
Felix (centre) proudly displaying his award
for Sock Wrestling, flankhed by Dan Hill (left, who should win an award
for #VeryNiceHair) and Dan Runcan (right, looking on indulgently).
The party spilled outside, despite the
rain, and in a lull in the showers we even managed a mass shot of
#WomenWhoCave for International Women's Day.
Left to right, front row: Helen
Rossington, Wanda Owen, Megan Malpas, Ananya Mehta, Sarah Ha; middle
row, Kat Osei-Mensah, Jan Walker, Katy Fisher, Imogen Clement, Kirsten
Hopkins, Linda Wilson, back row, Charmaine Sew Mia Jacobs, Jess Brock,
Merryn Matthews.
The tradional After Party was held at Chez
Megan, who is apparently still on speaking terms with her flatmates, so
all's well there.
Many thanks to Mia for all her hard work!
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OLD DOUK
Tolkien fans will possibly remember
that not all who wander are lost, but cavers don't necessarily come
into the same category. They don't carry pretty swords, either.
25th February 2023: Jess, Ash, Alex, Stanley + a fresher (whose name Jess can't remember).
We were supposed to go to Sunset Hole but no one had any idea where it was so after an hour and a half of walking and me saying “It could be just over there” and finding nothing we went to Great Douk as it was on the way back.
The
five of us climbed up the muddy bank and crawled along a shelf to avoid
getting soaked in the waterfall in the entrance. After that it was a
classic bimble (as per the guide) along the streamway looking at the many straws and splashing in the pools.
We turned around before the wet and rocky crawl and took a group picture.
Jess Brock
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A VENT ABOUT RIGGING STRUGGLES
The walk to Juniper Gulf. Photo by Ash Gregg.
Courtesy of Merryn Matthews, get ready for a tale of rigging woes from the epic Yorkshire Weekend of three societies.
We stayed at Yorkshire Dales Guides centre with UBES and UBMC, with the
intention of introducing caving to some climbers, and vice versa. In
practice, this usually means taking lots of novice horizontal trips, so
Ash Gregg, Sam Kelly and I drove up on Thursday evening to get some SRT
in before the weekend.
After lots of cave browsing, we decided on Juniper Gulf, possibly
influenced by its mention in the last newsletter. We started off
with an hour-long walk-in from Horton, careful to use GPS and not make
the mistake of getting lost like those before us. With around 260 m of
rope, it was already quite a tiring start but thankfully we had some
lovely walking weather.
I wanted to rig the cave as I was in need of some
practice, which was clear from the struggle I had crafting the initial
large y-hang. This first pitch reaches the cascades, which can be
impassable in high water, but we were pleased to find them easygoing and
much shorter than expected. From here, the 'knee-wrecking' traverses
begin, and so did my struggle of carrying a heavy tackle sack whilst
crawling over a shear drop, whilst trying to horizontally abseil on
fat dry rope. I haven't got much practice at spaced-out bolts on
traverses, so was apologetically slow and a bit scared in places.
Between these sexy traverses are some fun pitches, until eventually we
reached the final and impressive 50 m pitch. The sound of cascading
water echoed up the bevelled walls, beckoning for a descent.
I set off down in awe, keeping an eye on the large loop of rope hanging
out my tackle sack to make sure it wasn't tangled. Until I hit a knot.
And the end of the rope. Poop. Must have forgotten to change onto the
final rope and it had been deceivingly hanging out of the bag, making me
think that I was already on it. I prussiked back up to explain to ash
and re-rigged - won't be making that mistake again.
Descent number two was quite fun, until after around thirty meters; I
recognized a crack in the wall from descent one, marveled that I had
managed to get so far down before, and then noticed a knot. And the end
of a rope. Double poop.
I decided shouting an angry 'FUCK' would
best communicate that I would, again, need to prussik thirty meters
up the pitch. It turns out I had managed to pull the final rope from
the bottom of the tackle sack on the previous traverse and this 'final
rope' I was on was only 35m. At this point, I was quite hangry, and
aware that the others were getting cold with my slow rigging, so I
grumpily ate a flapjack whilst Ash rerigged the entire section (no we
shall not knot pass). Eventually, on descent three we reached the
bottom, and low water levels allowed us to run down to the sump and
contemplate how quickly we would drown if it rained.
Exiting: Ash instructed me and Sam to head out and wait at the end of a
70 m rope we used in a traverse. We waited at the wrong end -
sorry Ash. After about half an hour of my questionable singing in the
darkness, he caught up and passed one of his monster tackle sacks to
crawl out of the cave with and emerge at the surface to a beautiful,
freezing cold, clear night sky. We had been 8 hours underground with all
the faff, and now the walk back was a lot more gruelling. RIP
Sam's feet that got blisters the day before he ran the three peaks.
All in all, a good adventure, and lessons learnt.
Merryn Matthews
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TYPE TWO FUN IN BURRINGTON
This is what happens when you ask
Midjourney AI to produce an image based on the prompt: two cartoon
cavers, one male, one female, in a very muddy cave.
Mud, mud, glorious mud! Well, maybe
not all mud is glorious as Zac and Merryn found on a visit to one of
Burrington’s lesser known attractions.
Having already done a trip to the Hanging Gardens in Pierre’s Pot
earlier in the day, my masochism streak wasn’t quite satisfied. To be
fair, the description for Bos Swallet also didn’t quite highlight how
grim it is; I was expecting something bigger and cleaner. I dragged
Merryn along for good measure.
The entrance was horrifically muddy. Not nice cave mud but disgusting,
gritty, stick laden and insect infested mud. The narrow and steep
profile of the entrance tube made it a mud flume. We made it to the
first chamber quick enough.
Without ladders we were only expecting to get this far, but after
further exploration, we found that someone had left a ladder on the
first pitch. Taking this down into the next chamber, we continued on to
the small natural bridge passage where we found a bat that had made
itself at home on a bit of digging wire. An awkward negotiation over
some boulders brought us to the second ladder pitch, which was also
rigged.
The ladder dropped into a small chamber that led into a small passage
which connected through to the terminal rift. We explored the dig at the
bottom of this which continues into a parallel rift which is far too
tight to enter. However, going up the rift we entered a chamber which
had some brilliant fossils. The rock around them has been eroded away
leaving the shells sticking out of the wall. I asked Merryn if this had
been worth the muddy entrance to reach this, to which the definitive
answer was NO.
Leaving the cave was even worse than entering. Not only did we have to
cave around some very poorly positioned bats but the entrance, which was
a slide on the way in, became a grease slope on the way out. It was a
sweet relief then to finally see daylight, albeit one tempered by the
fact that my helmet got caught on some barbed wire stuck in the
entrance.
On the surface it became apparent that no part of us had been spared the
onslaught of mud. We considered going to wash in West Twin Brook but
ultimately resolved to just wash in the hut shower, that’s what it’s
there for right? Cue a scene from a hazardous materials clean-up site
where I stood in the shower, fully kitted, while Merryn scrubbed me down
with a broom. She took the minorly more sensible approach of taking her
oversuit off before washing it, although I reckon my own suit hasn’t
been cleaner in a long while.
Looking back on it I would definitely classify Bos Swallet as type two fun, but don’t let that put you off.
Quote of the trip: “I’m glad I’m half-drunk for this!”
Zac Woodford
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URBAN CAVING
Feeling the itch to cave but not having access to a car may actually be a
blessing in disguise. Rather than travelling to the Mendips for another
Swildon’s trip, Ben Alterman has been forced to feed his underground
obsession with local Bristol caves. If he’s been feeling particularly
adventurous after uni, he’s been popping down to the Avon gorge in an
effort to locate another new and elusive urban cave.
OBSERVATORY HILL CAVE, CLIFTON
Located at the back of the playground
downhill from the Clifton Observatory, this cave was sealed up but
broken open by an infamous urban exploration duo in the early 2000s. I
only know them as “duo.irrational”, as is the name of their website.
These urban explorers embarked on a quest to enter every underground
space in Bristol, even going so far as to break into the children’s
hospital to access their underground tunnels, and taking sledgehammers
to the gates of Redcliffe caves (yikes!). Their website
http://duo.irational.org/tunneling/ documents their explorations for
anyone curious, although I specifically discourage anyone from breaking
and entering.
Observatory Hill Cave begins with a squeeze between large bricks,
immediately opening into a small chamber just large enough to stand. I
was fortunate enough to see a bat during my journey here! If you visit,
please be careful not to disturb any resident bats.
Rating: 3/10. Too small!!
Left: the squeeze to enter Observatory Hill Cave. Right: the chamber.
LOWER CAVE, AVON GORGE
Located in a fenced-off area of the gorge
almost directly under the suspension bridge, this cave provides about 10
m of stooping passage before opening up to a small chamber decorated
with flowstone. When I visited, there was a recently extinguished fire
and blanket in the flowstone chamber, suggesting some night time
inhabitants of the human variety.
Rating: 6/10 for the cool flowstone.
Some of the cool flowstone.
MOUSEHOLE CAVE, AVON GORGE
An elusive cave to find, located at the
bottom of the main climbing wall in the gorge. We stumbled across this
one on the way to Mercavity Cave, which turned out to be completely
sealed! Mousehole Cave consists of a tight squeeze entering a downward
sloping passage at crawling height that continues for about 10 m. At the
bottom of this passage was another sleeping bag, alongside some instant
noodles and a kettle. I’m starting to feel like I’m intruding on
people’s homes at this point!
Rating: 6/10 for the noodles.
Topless Fin squeezing into the entrance of Mousehole Cave
ST VINCENT’S SPRING, AVON GORGE
This is the cave that started my urban
caving journey, as I helped Professor David Richards with his research
project in this cave. More of a tunnel than an actual cave, St.
Vincent’s Spring consists of a 3 m drop leading to a man made tunnel,
ending at a well. At the bottom of this well is St. Vincent’s Spring,
one of the few natural hot springs in the UK! It’s speculated that this
geothermal water is connected to that in Bath. David is currently
recording temperature and water level fluctuations, and how these relate
to rainfall and tides.
Rating: 9/10 for the hot springs!
David lowering a temperature probe into the well, St. Vincent’s Spring.
POOL CAVE, AVON GORGE
Pool Cave consists of two entrances, one
small and one big. The larger entrance would require a very brave soul
to free-climb up half the gorge to access it, so we used the smaller,
lower entrance. Aptly named, there is a small pool at the back of the
cave filled with pigeon droppings. After a 2 m drop, the cave opens up
into a large chamber about 8 m high, with the ceiling quickly dropping
down towards the back of the cave. A too-tight rift leads further on and
seems to open up again, but only a very slender person could access
this (not me!). This cave was absolutely filled with pigeons who were
nesting high on the walls. As soon as I entered the cave, every pigeon
took flight towards me, causing me a real panic on the 2 m climb. I fell
and dropped my torch right into pigeon dung.
Rating: 5/10. I have a love-hate relationship with pigeons.
Nick tries to squeeze through the too-tight rift- to no avail.
JACK’S HOLE, AVON GORGE
Jack’s Hole was one of the most elusive
caves to find. From the observatory, you have to walk north to the
viewpoint looking down the gorge, then cut off into the woods and go off
trail, trying to avoid any hidden cliffs and drops! An extremely steep
path leads to the impressive entrance. Three very dirty mattresses,
numerous beer bottles, and a fire pit again indicates some night-time
shenanigans here. The large entrance quickly drops down to a flat-out
craw, full of broken glass and rusted metal. I didn’t particularly fancy
getting tetanus, so we went no further than the entrance. According to
Somerset Underground Vol. 1, the crawl continues for a few metres,
leading to a tight squeeze that opens out to a moderately sized chamber
decorated with stalagmites. This one could be worth returning to if
someone wanted to clear the glass out of the crawl!
Rating: 3/10. Too much glass!
Jamie at the well-decorated (with burnt mattresses) entrance to Jack’s Hole
DUNDRY DOWN CAVE, DUNDRY
This one is located to the south of Bristol
in the small village of Dundry, only about 50 m away from the highest
point in the county of Bristol! It seems as if a limestone quarry on top
of Dundry hill opened this small cave which extends for about 15 m of
narrow walking passage. When we arrived, we were horrified to find
multiple rabbit carcases in the entrance with their guts spewed out on
the floor. Our first thought was a satanic ritual taking place in the
cave, although it makes much more sense that a fox was using the cave as
its den. Past the entrance, the cave quickly hits a T junction, with
both paths becoming too tight after about 8 m. Right down the hill, I
found about five ammonites in 10 minutes of searching!! Come here for a
fossil hunt, just not to cave.
Rating: 4/10. Actual walking passage but the rabbit guts put me off a bit.
Toby and the entrance to Dundry Down Cave.
KINGS WESTON QUARRY CAVES, KINGSWESTON
An interesting cluster of three caves is
located in King’s Weston Estate, next to Blaise Castle. These are
accessed by crawling under a fence surrounding a quarry and very
carefully (emphasis on carefully) descending into the bottom of the
quarry. The quarry consists of two sections, one upper and one lower,
separated by a two metre wall of limestone and dirt. In the upper
section, there is King’s Weston Quarry Cave, which consists of a 4 m
pitch, with a short scramble at the bottom leading to a small chamber.
Interestingly, the entrance pitch was aided by a rusty iron fence turned
on its side and chucked into the cave, which could be used almost as a
ladder. From here, the way on was choked with rubbish and rusty mining
equipment. It seems as if the old quarrymen were using this cave as
their tip for broken equipment. Although we decided not to remove the
rubbish and continue, Somerset Underground Vol. 1 suggests a crawl to
another 4 m drop into a large chamber, Spar Chamber. From the chamber,
another two passages lead off, becoming too tight. The total length of
this cave is 30 m! Definitely worth exploring and trying to access Spar
Chamber if anyone is in the area and fancies removing rubbish from a
squeeze.
Rating 3/10, Interesting entrance pitch but too choked with rubbish to reach the chamber!
The lower section of King’s Weston Quarry
holds two caves, Greater Ochre and Lesser Ochre. While Lesser Ochre is
more of a rock shelter than a cave, Greater Ochre Cave consists of a
small chamber leading to an extremely tight flat-out crawl, supposedly
extending 40 metres to a small terminal chamber. Although my enthusiasm
was high, once I looked upon the extreme tightness of the crawl and
roughness of the fist-sized rocks littering the ground, I immediately
turned around. I didn’t fancy ripping my skin open on the sharp rocks,
or getting to a point where I was stuck and couldn’t turn around.
Surprisingly, one of my friends is even more obsessed with urban caves
than me (and a lot skinnier), so he decided to take on the crawl.
Wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt, he ventured about 15 m until
the passage became too tight even for him. I watched him struggle to
turn himself around and back out of the crawl, taking a solid 15 minutes
of heaving and panicking. While I pulled on his head, he pushed with
his feet and eventually got out unscathed.
Rating: 2/10. It would be 1/10 for the horrible long crawl, except for the amazing face paint that the cave gave Fin.
Left: Fin navigating the horrible crawl. Right: Fin’s new cave face mask!
BURWALLS CAVE, AVON GORGE
Located on the western side of the Avon, this is certainly the most
impressive cave in the gorge. Accessed by climbing over the wall at the
end of the western edge of the suspension bridge, Burwalls Cave consists
of a large, walk-in passage leading to a roomy chamber with an open
roof 7 m high. Two passages lead off, both (in my experience) populated
with bats and spiders. Both passages close down and become too tight
after about 10 m. Interestingly enough, someone has set up a permanent
residence in the main chamber of this cave. They’ve built a shelter
almost neolithic in appearance, consisting of mud and stick walls, tarps
covering the ceiling, and a separate kitchen area complete with a
window! The whole cave house looks rather cosy! Sadly, I only took a
very blurry photo of the setup. According to Somerset Underground, this
cave used to be a show cave, as handrails are present near the entrance.
Rating: 8/10. Impressive main chamber and even more impressive shelter!
A somewhat blurry image of the main chamber, complete with the windowed kitchen.
RAVEN'S WELL, TOTTERDOWN
Certainly saving the best for last. There’s
loads of history surrounding this cave (or conduit if we’re being
technical), but I’ll keep it brief. Raven’s Well is located opposite the
River Avon from Temple Meads, under Totterdown. The passage was dug
around the 14th century by friars belonging to the Temple Gate Friary
(after which Temple Meads was named) to bring fresh water to the Knights
Templar in Bristol. Interestingly enough, a study in the 1980s found
the water in Raven’s Well to be purer than Bristol tapwater!
There are two entrances, but the most accessible one is on the banks of
the River Avon. Follow a pedestrian footpath (located on the left just
past the bridge near Temple Meads) and pick a tree to climb down to
access the banks. Head upstream, and after a few minutes of walking
you’ll come across stonework, with a flat-out crawl under it leading to
Raven’s Well.
The passage quickly opens up to walking height, with numerous branches
off to the left extending the cave for over 400 m. There could be
anywhere from ankle-deep to waist-deep water, so go prepared with a
change of clothes. Some passages are decorated with small amounts of
flowstone, stalactites, and calcite pools with crystals in them. This
really surprised me, as I assumed calcite formations took thousands of
years to form, not a few hundred. The straightforward passage eventually
makes a hard right turn and ends in a sump. Taking one of the side
passages leads to hand-carved steps, with water cascading down them, and
another walking-sized tunnel extending for a few hundred meters. There
seem to have been numerous roof collapses in this section, so do
exercise caution. The passage ends at the actual spring, with a geocache
hidden behind the rocks next to the spring, bring a pen to sign it!
Pickaxe marks and shelves to hold candles can be seen in the walls of
the tunnel from the original builders over 600 years ago, absolutely
amazing to see.
Rating: 10/10, A beautiful piece of local history and an exciting exploration. My favourite underground space in Bristol!
Merlin coming out of the tight entrance crawl
Calcite formations
A mushroom growing from the walls of the passage
Pickaxe Marks from the original carving of the passage!
Navigating through the maze of passages
Left: Shoeless Fin photographing calcite. Middle and right:small gour pools
Ben Alterman
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Ben's mention in his Urban Caves
article of water testing in Raven's Well sparked off a trip down memory
lane (or should that be memory mine?) for Graham, Linda and Tony. All
three consulted their log books for the period and Linda takes up the
story as part of our 100 Memories Project.
1986, otherwise known as 36 years ago.
Longer than most of our new members have been alive. How many of us have
accurate memories of what we did on any given day that long ago?
Frankly, I can barely remember what I did yesterday! However, for most
of my time caving, I've kept a log book. This now runs to two volumes.
Looking back, I think it was Tony Boycott who introduced me to the idea
of writing a brief note on each of my trips. Although I started
caving properly when I came to Bristol in 1979 (before that consisted of
some Famous Five-style exploits in various northern caves and mines), I
seem to have started log-keeping properly some time in 1982. Early
records came from from a combination of club log books, my memory and
Tony's logs and by early 1982, I was entering all my trips. The details
rarely go beyond date, place, who and where, but at least I can look
back and mutter, "Bloody hell, did I really do that with them?!"
Why this digression on log keeping? It's all Ben's fault, as mentioned
above, because it was his mention of the water sampling in Raven's Well
that made Graham chime up with, "Tony did that work!" and set us
wondering exactly when the samples were taken. A quick scrabble around
in my first log book produced the following entry:
Out of interest, I asked Tony to look out his log for the period, which
he quickly did. This revealed that there were two trips that spring, the
first one, mentioned above, which was Tony's second trip (the first was
several years earlier):
A few weeks later, Tony and Graham went back to take the samples, and
the same day, Tony also made a trip out to the hut to take some water
samples there, as well as having a wander down Aveline's Hole.
However, although Tony clearly remembers the results being, as Somerset
Underground mentions, cleaner than Bristol tap water, he doesn't seem to
have recorded this in his log, although he's still checking through his
extensive filing system! Probably fortunately, neither history nor Tony
recorded the results for quality of the water at the hut.
One thing I did notice, though, was that Tony and I have different dates
for the first trip in our logs, in that I have it down as 9.2.86 and
his says 10.2.86. So I checked Graham's log:
This has the same date as mine, which doesn't actually prove anything,
as his might well have been copied from mine (or vice versa), but as
9.2.86 was a Sunday, I'm inclined to that as the correct date, as I
think we accessed the mine via a small amount of railway trespass, and
would have chosen Sunday as the day we were least likely to have been
squashed by a train or arrested for rule breaking.
For the sake of completeness, I looked up Graham's log for the sampling
trip and found that his must have been either written up or added to
after the event, as he briefly notes the result of the tests:
In the absence of the test results, it seems that Graham's log entry is
the closest thing we have to a near contemporaneous record of what the
analysis by the Public Health labs revealed!
So this is what happens when you fill an old exercise book, or something
more substantial, with details of your caving trips. It also gives you
something to attach your UBSS stickers to. Or you could keep a note on
your computer but somehow that seems to lack the whole Samuel Peyps vibe
of pulling a book off a shelf while muttering: "Let me just check when I did that ..."
Linda Wilson
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HELLFIRE BUT NO DAMNATION
Chalk carvings in the Hellfire Caves.
West Wycombe Hill in
Buckinghamshire is the home of the massive Dashwood Mausoleum, St
Lawrence's Church and the infamous Hellfire Caves - an underground den
of iniquity where in the late 1700s the Hellfire Club met to have
liaisons and parties far from prying eyes. So in some respects an
ancestor of the Stables but probably with even more structural
engineering work going on. Nathan Cubitt visited recently.
The website for the caves
directs visitors to a car park about a five minute walk away. There,
helpful signs along the way let you know that the hilltop is in an
upward direction and the caves are to the right. The approach to the
caves is an impressive flint building, designed to look like a
Gothic Church when viewed from the large West Wycombe House, home to Sir
Francis Dashwood who founded the Hellfire Club. There's a little gift
shop and tea room where you pay to enter, and get given a token to use
for the turnstile. It certainly felt unique entering a cave through one
of those!
Entrance building.
Immediately you are in a white-washed brick
corridor leads into the hill, with an audio production introducing the
history of the site. The caves are actually the remains of a chalk mine
constructed to provide raw materials for a local road, and then later
turned into a then fashionable type of underground folly.
As you continue downwards, the passageway turns to chalk, bestrewn with
graffiti and a significant number of carved faces that may be a
relatively modern feature. Throughout the 260 m long and 90 m deep mine
system there are a lot of modern structural elements and what looks like
rendering. In a couple of places, expanding foam on the side of the
walls has been painted white, yet is damaged enough to be clearly see
for what it is. That kind of damage probably emphasises why it is there
in the first place. However, there is a lot of natural rock to be seen,
with a fair amount displaying vermiculation - most likely caused 'by
algae/muck … probably caught in the crevices of the rock (new pit chalk)
making it look like it's etched' (thanks Graham Mullan & Andrew
Farrant for that).
Vermiculations.
The whole system has lighting and the
occasional waxwork with audio recordings playing, but there are still
places that are darker and quieter. There is a noticeable temperature
drop as you go deeper, and the walls and signs become almost soaking
wet. There are several chambers, but of particular note are the
Banqueting Hall, River Styx and the Inner Chamber.
The Banqueting Hall is about 40 m in diameter, and could be the largest
man made chalk chamber. It has statues in recesses at the cardinal
points and a quote from Benjamin Franklin who visited the caves in the
Hellfire Club days. The structural work here is impressive, but as with
most of the work done here, not that sympathetic. In the 1950s another
Sir Francis Dashwood worked to reopen the mines to the public. It was a
significant undertaking, with many rock falls. New passageways had to be
dug, and eventually the Banqueting Hall was stabilised by drilling from
the top of the hill and using wire ropes to raise a steel canopy to
hold the ceiling in place.
Impressive fakery.
Going further down, the River Styx is a
partially flooded chamber that was once crossed by boat, then by
stepping stones, and now has a permanent crossing over it. Here there
are amazing stalactites and stalagmites under dramatic lighting. It is
very beautiful but like a lot of this site, it is all smoke and mirrors.
They are artificial, added by the recent Sir Francis to imitate those
he had seen at Campanella and Hams in Majorca.
Entrance to the Inner Temple.
Crossing the river, you arrive at the final
chamber, the Inner Temple, the cave where it is believed most of the
Hellfire Club’s naughtiest activity took place. The chamber still has a
hook in the ceiling from which a chandelier or lantern could be hung,
first recorded in a 1796 diary. Currently the chamber has an appropriate
statue in place for the kinds of activities that are imagined to have
taken place there.
Waxworks.
It is a strange site to visit. In many
respects it is a re-imagining of what the Hellfire Caves may have been
like. All the statues have been placed since the 1950s, and feel
somewhat fitting. The waxworks and sound recordings feel more like
you're in some museum from the past, and whilst the structural work may
be pretty unsympathetic to the original mines, without the work of the
recent Sir Francis none of this would be here. In many ways you are
entering his world, which is quite fitting. His ancestor, the original
Sir Francis, caused these mines to exist and created the Hellfire Club
which creates the site’s legacy. It's now how his descendent imagines it
could have been, and in the dark, quiet passages, I believe he
succeeded.
Nathan Cubitt
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THE STABLES - WORK HAS STARTED!
Upstairs floor. Left shows the wet rot in
the joists under the old chimney breast. Right shouws the joists after
the rotten sections have been cut out and replaced. Photos by Gary
Spillane, Uni Estates.
The UBSS Museum and Library in the
building known as The Stables has been closed for nearly 18 months due
to structural problems with the ceiling beams in the library stack room.
Finally, the night before the AGM, museum curator Linda Wilson received
the good news that remedial works were finally underway.
After a year and a half navigating the laqbyrinthine ways of university
finance and procurement, we've finally got to the stage of works being
underway. The rotten section of the ceiling joists have been cut out and
new sections bolted into place, with the veing now jacked back up into
place. The problem appears to have been caused by damp coming in from a
badly blocked up chimney in the library starck room. This probably dates
back at least 50 years. The good news is that this is now being sorted
and that wall will be tanked and redecorated as part of teh works.
The two windows at the back of the building have been replaced and one
of the front doors (the one into the library room) has also been
replaced.
There's a lot of making good still to be done, and we'll have some
redecoration to do that isn't covered by the building contract, but I
hope that by the end of April or early May, we'll be able to start
moving everything back to where it should be. That'll take a lot of
willing volunteers, so if you can help, please let me know.
I'm also delighted to announce that Charmaine Sew has agreed to take on the role of student museum curator.
Linda Wilson
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VOLUNTEER NEEDED
GB blockhouse, March 2023.
As many of you will know, GB
Cavern, Charterhouse Cave, Longwood Swallet and Rhino Rift are on land
owned by the Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT), but with access administered
by the Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd (CCC Ltd) under agreements set
up when SWT bought the land from Bristol Water Plc back in the 1990s.
CCC Ltd is owned by a group of Mendip caving clubs, which includes UBSS.
The Society has been closely involved with the discovery and
exploration of all the major caves on this land and has always played
its part in the work of the company, maintaining fixed aids and gates,
administering keys, etc.
I have been Company Secretary since the company was started, but will be
standing down down at the next AGM, this April. The Company will
therefore need a new secretary, so will volunteers please form an
orderly queue outside my door …
More seriously, this is not an onerous role, but it is an important one.
Good landowner relations, efficient provision of keys and permits, and
maintaining the information flow to both member clubs and other cavers
is important.
The job does require someone who is based reasonably close to Mendip and
who is prepared to commit to it in the medium term – not the length of
time that I’ve been doing it, but certainly more than just one year.
Anyone who’s been involved in these kind of roles will know that it can
take that long just to change the bank mandate! Have I ever told you how
much I hate banks? If you aren't keen on meetings, don't worry, there
is only one a year and that is now held by Zoom.
If anyone from the Society thinks that they may be interested in this
and are in a position to take it on, please drop me a line, or give me a
bell on 07887 637064 and we can have a chat about it. All member clubs
have been asked to advertise this vacancy.
Graham Mullan
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HERCULE HOUND FOLLOWED HIS NOSE TO THE END, DID YOU?
Art generated by Midjourney AI from the
prompt cartoon greyhound wearing glasses in a cave. Why yes, dear
reader, we do easily get lost down the rabbit hole of procrastination!
You did read to the end, didn't you
darlings? After all, who could resist the charms of Hercule Hound? If
you got this far, drop us a line, and if Alex is feeling kind, he'll
award someone a prize for the most inventive piece of feedback we
receive! Alternatively, you can just say the first thing that comes into
your head when you press the feedback button and Hercule might send you
a slightly chewed dog biscuit (if he doesn't finish it first).
And, without further ado, here's the January Hall of Fame ....
- First. 😊 [Graham Mullan] [Editors: You did press the button to
send this one out ...] [Graham: I still read it and got to the end
first] [Editors: You might have had something of an unfair
advantage as you proof read it as well] [Graham: Now you're just
splitting hairs ...]
- Shatter will always be one of my favourite caves – not the most
strenuous, but absolutely beautiful! Super newsletter, and you deserve a
BAFTA for best drama llama performance under extremely awful pressure,
Linda! So glad you’re on the mend! [Jan Walker]
- Well, congrats for another fine newsletter. And for getting better (the alternative is never good news). [Chris Howes]
- Lovely newsletter, Alphonse! I’m glad to hear both
editors are in good spirits. I thought I’d done Eastwater to death when I
was living in Bristol but I can’t remember if Primrose Pot was part of
my explorations. I certainly enjoyed caving with minimal kit, so it
sounds unlikely that I made it that far! [Paul Savage]
- Thanks for getting this done, despite circumstance conspiring against your best efforts! [Zac Woodford]
- I saw the note by Dan Hill about the lack of photos of Bat
Passage. I must have a look in my slides (remember those?) to see
if I have any pictures of the end of GB cave. [Hans Friederich]
- Glad to have the newsletter back – perfectly timed read with the
rush to complete some assignments before heading to Yorkshire tomorrow
!! [Mia Jacobs]
- Glad to hear you survived !!! [David Hardwick]
- Have just finished reading about chilly winter caving after a
chilly day walking in the Cairngorms. I’m currently sitting in
front of a nice fire but still in my duvet jacket. I do NOT have
fond memories of changing after winter caving in the Dales - no shelter
beside the car, frozen wetsuit zip, bootlaces, hair and eyelashes. The
thing that used to save me from hypothermia was a tatty but capacious
charity shop musquash fur coat which I carried on using for post-caving
attire until it finally disintegrated. Roll on summer …
[Carol Walford]
- I did, I did, even if it was 2315 after a day of herding cats
and dealing with blithering idiots (I think the wind has changed and
kept the fixed 'I'm humouring you' smile on my face!) And dearest drama
llama editor, please get well soon so that there won't be any more
WTAF phonecalls prefaced with: "It is I, LeClerc, and I'm in
Southmead with a dicky ticker!" So thoroughly spiffing work all round on
getting a very splendid newsletter out. Your loyal dynamic duo...
[Sharon Wheeler and the blessed FT Bear]
- Yup, l read to the end as per the instructions to find out what
was wrong with you only to find that your hospitalisation had clearly
affected your memory and so I also had to read the January issue not the
December issue as your email had suggested (very sneaky way of getting
me to read two newsletters in one sitting). Too much armchair
caving for me (although I did enjoy reading about Nick’s wander
around the moors above Juniper). It also confirmed my decision many
years ago not to listen to the younger Owen who kept insisting that
Primrose Pot was a good trip. Definitely need a long lie down in a dark
room now. [Steve Hobbs]
-
I think Alphonse will have to make space for Paddington Bear so you can
enjoy your marmy sarnies together. [Pat Hill]
- Primrose Pot: totally fascinating to read the account and makes
me really jealous as I always wished to descend it but have wide
shoulders. Juniper Gulf: Having wandered across the area SW of
Ingleborough last July but in bright sunshine, I can well understand the
problems that the group faced. [Tim Hill]
Hercule, I followed your nose, too, and here I am!
THE END
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