UBSS Monthly Newsletter

Stone troughs in Monkton Farley Quarry, otherwise known as Brown's Folly Mine. Photo by Linda Wilson.

Welcome to the May newsletter! This is now our third May newsletter since this venture started in 2019. Doesn't time fly! It's been an eventful three years, starting with our centenary year, then progressing to the Plague Year and now Return of the Plague Year. There is light at the end of the tunnel and if we're lucky, it won't be a train coming the other way!

Caving has resumed, with trips within Bristol, to Mendip and even South Wales, and some people actually writing up what they've been doing! Paddington Bear Hard Stares will be dispensed to those who haven't yet favoured us with their literary efforts. Thanks again to Chris Howes and Mark Burkey for permission to use their photos.

In-person pub meets have been happening again, with various pubs being tried out, with preference given to those with outside tables, including the Hope and Anchor and Steam. Keep an eye on the Facebook page for pub details, and if you haven't given away your soul and personal data to Mr Zuckerberg, drop us a line if you'd like to be notified of any pubs, in-person and online, and quizzes etc. Tonight's pub meet is in the Hope and Anchor. Two tables have been booked, so if you'd like to go, contact Social Sec Sam Bowers asap!

Despite the easing of restrictions, we're still living in difficult times and if any member - new or old - is struggling with anything and wants a listening ear, remember that UBSS is a supportive community that is always here to help. So drop us a line if you'd ever like to chat!

Back issues of the newsletter can be found here.

Zac and Linda

PARTY AT THE HUT - 3rd/4th JULY 2021

In the interests of full disclosure, some of the above photos weren't taken anywhere near the Hut.
Following the stress of the exams and the relaxation of Plague Year rules, Student Prezz Henry Morgan is organising a party at the hut with other outdoor orientated student societies.

There will be caving, climbing, walking, beer, barbecue and a bonfire.

If you're on Facebook and would like to register an interest, there's an event set up with more details or contact Henry direct.

WARNING - UNSAFE BOLTS IN RHINO RIFT

Second pitch, Rhino Rift. Photo copyright Mark Burkey and used with his kind permission.
Please read the following message below from the Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd re Rhino Rift as due to the actions of a complete fuckwit, the right hand SRT route is now out of action until it can be properly re-bolted.

"At some point during the past six months, persons unknown have made an unauthorised attempt to rebolt the Rhino Rift Right-Hand Route.

This became known at the recent CSCC AGM and the route was inspected on Tuesday 18th May. Unfortunately, the work has been poorly executed using various types of expansion bolts. Some of these have not set properly and rotate within their holes. Some have been placed too close to the pre-existing spits, compromising the strength and safety of both the new and the original anchors. Where possible, all the nuts and hangers have been removed, although some could not be removed from some very poorly set bolts. Nothing could be done immediately about the dangerously placed ones and so this route should not be used until it can be fully rebolted by an approved installer using resin anchors.

This will be done as a matter of priority but be aware that this will take some time as a suitable proposal needs to be devised and this will be technically difficult in view of the challenges presented by this unauthorised work. We will keep you informed of progress.

Warning signs have been placed on this route. If these go missing, please notify CCC Ltd immediately so they can be replaced.

Please note that the installation of fixed aids of any type in the caves managed by CCC Ltd requires prior approval. Unauthorised works compromise both safety and conservation. CCC Ltd."

AQUANAUT - A LIFE BENEATH THE SURFACE

Our AGM speaker this year was Rick Stanton, one of the lead divers on the Thai Cave rescue. Despite almost being upstaged by a goat, Rick enthralled a packed zoom call with stories from cave diving career, including details of the rescue that had the world on the edge of its seat. Now, you can read the full story of Rick's diving exploits as well as the inside story of the rescue told in full. Rick's autobiography, Aquanaut, is published on 10th June, and with kind permission from Rick and his publishers, Michael Joseph, you can read an advance extract from the book...

"Much like Ariadne’s thread, given to Theseus before he entered the labyrinth of the Minotaur, cave divers use a line to mark their way to the exit as they proceed through a cave. John indicated that his reel was very nearly empty, with about 20 metres left before he’d reach the end of the line. It was
time to turn around.

As we were several hours into this journey, I’d started to feel a bit hungry. After a moment of rest, I remembered that I still had to lift my mask as I had done before, so I could smell for signs of life. Thinking about the Snickers bar I had tucked in my wetsuit pocket, I reached for my mask, lifting it away from my face and breaking the seal to expose my nose to the surrounding atmosphere.

In that moment, everything changed.

I was immediately struck by the pungent air, so thick it was suffocating as it entered my nostrils and mouth. The stench of decay was overpowering, unmistakable, and not unfamiliar. I’d smelled this before – in other caves and at other times – and my stomach churned as I recognized what it meant. They must be dead. We’ve found their bodies. This thought was followed almost immediately with a consolation. At least we’ve finally found something.

‘John, they’re here,’ I said to him. ‘Smell for yourself.’

I watched him as he lifted his mask, then he looked at me and nodded in agreement. We’d certainly found something. John and I were still looking at each other, our thoughts racing, when we received our next shock: voices. One teenaged male voice, and then another. Thoughts and questions raced etween us silently. The boys! They’re alive!? How many?

I knew that we were considering the same possibilities, and my mind quickly settled on the option that seemed like the worst but most likely. We’d be finding some boys alive, with the others dead or dying. I realized with horror that we had been so focused on the search that the reality of finding them had never been fully thought through. Nobody had prepared for this. From this moment on, I knew that we would be flying blind."

Extracted from Aquanaut: A Life Beneath the Surface by Rick Stanton published on 10^th June by Michael Joseph, £20.

See below for review and purchasing details.

AQUANAUT - REVIEW

Aquanaut back cover. The last quote is entirely true!
Graham Mullan pounced on the book as soon as a review copy became available and promptly declared it one of the best caving books he's ever read.

The 2018 rescue of 12 schoolboys and their coach from Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand was without doubt the most high-profile caving event this century. It dominated the news media for weeks and has subsequently given rise to innumerable articles, a couple of films and several books. And at last, after much prompting, Rick Stanton agreed to write his autobiography and to tell the inside story of the rescue.

Rick’s life story is essentially a story about caving and cave diving, a passion that has dominated his life. It would not be far from the truth to say that the events of 2018 were something he had spent his whole life preparing for. Cave diving is very much a niche activity and so there is little or no commercial market for equipment that is exactly suited to it As a result, Rick has designed, developed and built much of the complex cave diving equipment he uses, and this allowed him, along with a very small group of others, to push underwater cave exploration further than many would have believed possible. Over the years this has meant that he has also been called upon to search for and rescue others, as well having been involved in several body recoveries after cave diving fatalities.

So it came as no surprise, as I watched the story unfold from my study in France, that Rick and John Volanthen were quickly called to Thailand to help in the search for the missing boys and their football coach. It was one of the only things that gave any hope that they might be found, though few people had much hope that they might be found alive and even less that they might be brought out of the flooded cave alive.

The book takes the form of alternating chapters, telling the story of Rick’s caving and diving career in parallel with the tale of the rescue as it unfolded. Aquanaut is written in a clear, flowing style and to anyone who knows Rick, or has heard him talk, it has his unmistakable voice. This approach enables the reader to follow the progress of Rick’s own career alongside the story of the search and rescue in Thailand, culminating in the boys’ safe return.

This is one of the most exciting and compelling caving books that I have ever read. Rick himself says that he became a cave diver after watching the television programme about Geoff Yeadon and Oliver Statham’s diving exploits in Yorkshire, The Underground Eiger. I would not be surprised to find Rick’s book becoming the inspiration for the next generation of cavers and cave divers.

Graham Mullan

Publisher : Michael Joseph (10 Jun. 2021)
Hardcover : 448 pages
Price: £20
ISBN-10 : 0241421268
ISBN-13 : 978-0241421260

Aquanaut is available from Wildplaces Publishing, run by UBSS member Chris Howes, who also publishes Descent. Please support Chris by buying the book from him rather than from certain large corporations who don't pay UK taxes!

WOT, NO UNICORNS?

Cloud Chamber. Photo copyright Chris Howes and used with his kind permission. The unicorns are shy and very small. Can you spot them?
Zac, Henry and Clive recently took advantage of the fact that Wales is now open to incomers from this side of the Great Divide and arranged a trip to Dan yr Ogof. Zac gives his first impressions of a cave with something for everyone, despite the sad lack of inflatable unicorns.

Those of you who were on ‘that trip’ in Ireland (picture below) will know the joys of combining pool floats and cave water systems. If you aren’t aware of such joys (and even if you are) may I present Dan yr Ogof! It is one of the best caves I have ever been in. It has something for everyone, traversing, climbing, SRT, swimming, lazy river like floating, crawling, squeezing and more all with the backdrop of some of the most incredible formations I have seen!

Nope, definitely not Dan yr Ogof.
So I’d heard about Dan yr Ogof because of the aforementioned Ireland float incident. When talking about that trip I was pointed to the Green Canal in Dan yr Ogof and was instantly enamored; even more so when I learnt there was more swimming in the cave! But of course COVID and lockdowns got in the way.

However, with lockdown ending and exams wrapping up I asked Clive Owen to take me and three others down DYO (Henry and his friends Tom and Harry from Cambridge). We arranged to go as soon as possible after the rains passed, wet weather makes the cave untraversable, and after much anticipation, many emails and a hour and half journey to the Brecon Beacons we met at the car park for the National Show Cave Centre for Wales.

We were immediately asked to straighten the cars and told that we could only enter the cave on the hour, which wouldn’t be for another 40 minutes. Then Henry discovered he’d forgotten his wellies so had to wear trainers while his friend Harry didn’t have an oversuit.

We tromped up to the gate and made it through after presenting our piece of paper (despite it not being on the hour, funny that) and then jogged through the showcave, zipping past the tourists as we went. Leaving the showcave we de-masked and swung through a gate and were immediately wading and swimming through several lakes and climbing waterfalls in between. We then had a good romp through passageways and chambers speckled with many spectacular formations and even an entire chamber laced with straws. Then we reached the long crawl… it lives up to its name. If I were to describe it in a way that wouldn’t put people off, I’d say it’s sporting, very sporting. From then on, the passageways are nice and large requiring only some minor stooping.

Bakerloo Straight. Photo copyright Chris Howes and used with his kind permission. On this occasion, the unicorn was too quick for him.
We then stomped through more open passageway arriving at the Crystal Lake which we traversed around being careful not to disturb the water. A short trip through Flabbergasm Oxbow and back lived up to its name, (I’ve never seen straw columns over two metres long before). We then reached the fabled Green Canal, a stretch of static flooded passageway traversed by swimming with the aid of inflated car inner tubes and life jackets, however there weren’t enough to go around so Henry had to inflate a punctured one. The Green Canal is one of the best passageways I have ever been through, it was exhilarating swimming through icy water with a car inner tube for buoyancy. We then found out why there were so few floats, they were all at the other end.

We continued on through broad passageways, almost desensitized at this point to the miraculous formations, crossing some canyon traverses before reaching the Rising, a chain ladder that gives access to the Great North Road, albeit with some SRT. It was here we stopped for snacks before heading back. We didn’t do a round trip, instead taking an inflatable and life jacket each as we went back along the Green Canal. Crossing familiar passage, we quickly made our way back out to the showcave where we gave several tourists something interesting to talk about later.

I must give a huge thank you to Clive for taking us! It was an incredible trip and one I recommend people do as soon as possible! As I said before its got something for everyone plus some. I for one can’t wait to get back and do the Green Canal again!

Zac Woodford

A (NON) WET WEEKEND IN WALES

The Trident, OFD Top. Photo by Linda Wilson.
As a trip to DYO wasn't enough, Henry and friends decided to go caving again! Clive will have to try harder to tire the youngsters out next time.

After emerging from the beautiful and inspiring trip to the rising in Dan Yr Ogof at 14:30, Tom Crossley, Harry Kettle and myself decided that there was space for more caving in the day (especially given the length drive from Cambridge!). We jumped into the car, oversuits and wetsuits still on, and set off at once for Penwyllt.

Upon arriving Harry immediately went and purchased some gloves from Tony at Starless River who was at the SWCC for their working week, I located a key, and then we set off with scary efficiency for OFD Top Entrance. We got underground barely an hour after emerging from the other side of the valley and had a little bit of fun route finding past the Brickyard towards Gnome Passage. This was eventually located and we speedily set off to find maypole inlet down the Salubrious streamway, with a quick detour to show Harry the Trident and Judge, and then an impressive act of ‘not knowing the way’ when trying to find the correct inlet to climb down! We stumbled upon this by accident and had an interesting slither down the very well polished rift.

We found the main streamway shortly afterwards and set about running down (me in my trainers, having foolishly left me wellies in Cambridge!). We had a lot of fun jumping into all the pots, including one point where I thought it would be nice to let Harry go in front for a bit, only for him to step off the edge of a pot and totally disappear with his very first step!

After the seemingly endless pots we eventually reached the confluence where the Cwm Dwr streamway enters and climbed up to find the Divers' Pitch, followed by the interesting letterbox (fun on the way out!). After a little more route finding we emerged at the choke above the OFD 1 streamway. We negotiated this and popped back out into the streamway, stomachs rumbling at this point and very much looking forward to our dinner!

Henry, Tom and Harry after OFD.
We negotiated the last four pots and found the Step totally dry when we emerged from the streamway (Wales appeared to have ‘broken’ itself and stopped raining for a day!). We emerged from bottom entrance tired but accomplished and headed back for an early tea at the SWCC hut in the garden where we pitched our tents and set about the beer! All in all an excellent days caving, we decided that Sunday was for cycling above ground given the forecast!

Henry Morgan

GOING STRAIGHT ON IN EASTWATER

The club motto Go Straight On stood our intrepid explorers in good stead during a recent trip to Mendip, as Sam Bowers recounts.

On Thursday 6^th May, Haydon, Jakob and myself took a pleasant and fairly uneventful trip to the Twin Verticals in Eastwater. The trip began with the not-all-that-pleasant Upper Traverse made only more difficult with the addition of tackle sacks full of rope and ladder.

We continued on, making sure to go straight ahead at the Crossroads, avoiding Dolphin Pot, and arrived at the top of Dolphin Pitch where, using a long belay round a stalagmited boulder, we descended. But alas only halfway as then we ventured on through a zig zag passage and down to the Second Vertical where we once again descended before reaching the Bold Step and realising our call out loomed.

Returning from whence we came we exited Eastwater via the Woggle Press and enjoyed beer and crisps in Haydon’s car to round off a successful evening of caving.

Sam Bowers

CUCKOO, PINTS AND PASTA

A recent discussion on where to go for an evening trip brought several recommendations for Cuckoo Cleeves, a cave that used to be a staple of club freshers' trips, so Zac and Haydon decided to investigate further, as Zac reports.

On Wednesday the 19^th some of us went out for a couple of midweek trips on Mendip. With Haydon leading and me seconding we took a couple of freshers, Klaudia Kaluza and Kiren Singh, down Cuckoo Cleeves, a cave new to all of us. Making a couple of detours on the way (the Hut and the Hunters') we eventually arrived at the layby near the cave where we quickly changed and forged our own path to the cave. We hadn’t realized there was a perfectly adequate path through grass fields, instead taking the most direct route through the weeds at the edge of a crop field.

We found the entrance to the cave already rigged and so after fitting our own belay made our way down. The entrance shaft and following passage is a little cramped but after a couple of climbs we made it down into a large chamber where we came across another group leaving the cave. Passing them, we traversed down a steep streamway to a hole at the bottom of the chamber that continued through a tight but semi-level stream passage. Traversing around a boulder we quickly reached the Frome dig. Here we went up the bedding plane to the boulder choke at the top before coming back down and exploring a little deeper. We passed through a squeeze to find a small chamber which I continued to follow for a bit before turning around and following the others back. It was at this point I think I must have hit a large pocket of CO2 because I was absolutely shattered coming back out.

We made it out in good time and returned to the car via the more orthodox footpath. We quickly changed and made our way over to the Hunters’ with plenty of time to spare before closing time forced us out. We made our way to the back room where we were expecting to be joined later by Imogen and Jakob’s group. Haydon was also caught off guard by the table service, expecting to order at the bar. We were also very surprised to find ourselves being asked to scan their QR code with the NHS track and trace app, I mean imagine that? Phones allowed in the Hunters’! We then settled in for a few pints. I also had a lava pasta (a reference to the temperature, not the ingredients!) with mine. I can honestly say that they were two of the best pints I have ever had in my life! We were joined a while later by the other group with whom we shared stories before leaving.

A confession, that was only my second time at the Hunters’... and I can’t wait to get back. Cuckoo Cleeves is also a very nice cave. Short and close to the Hunters’, it provides both the perfect excuse to go to the pub and a good fresher trip. It has a good variety of cave passage (bedding plane, streamway, ladder, squeeze) making it a great introduction for new cavers. The one drawback is the higher than average CO2 levels. I would definitely recommend visiting if you’re introducing people to caving or notching up collector’s pieces.

Zac Woodford

PHOTOS AND PHREATIC PENDANTS IN PEN PARK HOLE

Jan on the entrance ladders in Pen Park Hole. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Jan Walker gives an account of her second trip down Pen Park Hole on , Bristol's only major cave. UBSS has leaders for the cave, so if you would like a trip, contact Graham Mullan, who will put you in contact with the relevant people, or just ask Elaine Oliver and Clive Owen direct.

This was my second trip down Pen Park Hole. My first had been my actual first caving trip (which hooked me on caving), on the day that PPH was designated an SSSI – which is a whole other story, as a trip down a muddy cave wearing leggings, trainers and a windbreaker jacket is a story in and of itself!

This time, we were going so Linda Wilson could take some photographs for Graham Mullan's talk on PPH for the 2021 International Year of Caves and Karst: BCRA Online Seminars.

This trip started off pretty well, with Dr Tony Boycott and myself getting kitted up on the side of the road, and Linda and Graham joining us as quickly as they could, considering that their newish greyhound was going on strike about putting out the effort of actually having to jump into the car.

Once we got together, we walked to the entrance, where Tony, testing his arm, managed to open the cover by himself, to his great pleasure. Once we had it open, he walked around the open side, but slipped on the muddy steel of the edge and landed hard on the back of his leg – but that wasn't the worst thing, as the cover slammed down on the front of his thigh and his other elbow! Once we got the cover off him, the air was turning a bit blue from the creative profanity. He did manage to sit up and gingerly move around, finally pronouncing himself – marginally – fit to proceed.

At that point, Graham headed off to walk the dogs, and Linda led the way down into the cave. Strangely, it seemed even muddier and tighter than I'd remembered it! The entrance to PPH is fascinating to me, as you climb down a ladder, then back your way through a hole on the side of the entrance well so you can then climb down three ladders that are set into the side of the pitch. It involves going down the first one, stepping to the side for the second, then stepping to the side again for the third. I must say it's easier with wellies to grip than it was with trainers! I had to do the climb down a couple of times, because Linda wanted to take some photos and then a short video.

After that, there's the mud-walk, where at some point in the past a very smart person sank some plastic crates into the splodge, so we weren't wellie-top deep in mud.

The rest of the cave is a nice scramble, not too difficult; just enough to be fun. The little saddle was amusing to get through, as Linda's knee was acting up and she had to do some very creative twisting to get across. I'm not sure profanity wasn't involved somewhere in there, as well.

Unusually large (horizontal) phreatic pendant, one of the aims of the trip. Photo by Linda Wilson.
We took the first half of the required photos, with Linda again being creative, this time with lighting! Two helmet lights and one hand-held along with the GoPro made an interesting session. After that, we headed down to the big pitch, but stopped there to take the other half of the required photographs.

There were a few places where we had felt a bit breathless on the way in, so on the way back Dr Boycott took some CO2 readings at one of the lowest levels with his fascinating machine. The consensus was that the readings were about 3.2 on the scale – not dangerous, but not comfortable and definitely not to be hanging about in.

After he put his gear away, we headed back again, stopping for a few more photos and a video on Linda's camera this time, since she wasn't trusting the GoPro after having had a very short course of instruction and a distinct lack of cooperation from the little machine on her first video attempt.

And there's one place where I always seem to go wrong coming out of PPH, as there's a sharp dog-leg to reach the correct passage, which actually looks much less like a passage than the wrong one does. For some reason, even looking back at that point on the way in doesn't do me any good. Tony had already gone ahead whilst Linda and I were taking the last photos, so I had no one in front of me. Luckily, a) Linda was right behind me and was able to point me correctly, and b) even if she hadn't been there, the wrong passage is only a few metres long and a dead end, so I couldn't have got lost if I'd tried!

After the scramble and the muddy slog to get back to the ladders, the climb up was a bit more difficult. Wellies with about a kilo of mud on each one don't make it easy to climb a ladder! Nevertheless, I made it up, crawled through the short passage (head first this time!) and up and out the ladder to the open air.

All in all, a fun trip!

Jan Walker

UBSS PROCEEDINGS

The 2021 issue of the Society’s Proceedings, Volume 28 (3), has been printed and is about to be distributed. These are the contents, enjoy!

Graham Mullan (Editor)

OFFICERS, 2021-2022
SECRETARIES’ REPORT, MARCH 2020 – MARCH 2021
A NEW EARLY MESOLITHIC BURIAL SITE: PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE RADIOCARBON DATES FROM THE HUMAN BONE FROM CANNINGTON PARK QUARRY CAVE   Sharon Clough    MESOLITHIC CAVE USE IN SOUTH WESTERN BRITAIN: FROM DYNAMIC COSMOLOGIES TO FOLK TAXONOMIES   Caroline Rosen and Jodie Lewis
CAVE NOTES: CO. CLARE, IRELAND Ashley Gregg and Zac Woodford
ANCHOR CHURCH DERBYSHIRE: CAVE HERMITAGE OR SUMMERHOUSE? A CASE STUDY IN UNDERSTANDING A ROCK-CUT BUILDING Edmund Simons
CIST CAVE, HAM WOODS, CROSCOMBE, SOMERSET: A BRIEF NOTE ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION    Vince Simmonds
REVIEW: KINDRED, NEANDERTHAL LIFE, LOVE, DEATH AND ART by Rebecca Wragg Sykes.
INDEX TO VOLUME 28

CAVES - DARK, NASTY HOLES OR A HEROIC JOURNEY? DISCUSS.

The entrance to Porth yr Ogof, a cave that has featured several times in the BBC TV series Merlin. Photo from Wikipedia and used under creative commons licence CC-BY 2.5 & GDFL.
Zac Woodford has taken a break from computer science to take a look at the main portrayal of caves in literature and cinematic media and examine our collective relationship with underground spaces and how they are viewed by cavers and non-cavers.

Caves, the main reason you are now reading this. Humankind has had an intimate relationship with caves ever since we realized we could use them to keep out of the rain, which for the early settlers of Britain was probably as soon as they arrived. But all clichés aside, what do we think of caves? Take a moment now, what comes to mind at the word cave? I’m sure for most of our readers it’ll be emotions of joy and excitement, memories of adventure, and an eagerness to find a nice dark hole to jump in. It’s fair to assume that our readers have very positive thoughts about caves. I’d assume so given that you are at the moment reading a newsletter about caves. I mean you wouldn’t be here if you had speluncaphobia (word of the day for you, and yes it begins with spelunc: petition to make it speleophobia comes next month). But does this positive view spread to the population at large? What is the zeitgeist’s view of caves?

When you next get the opportunity, ask a non-caver what they think of caves, preferably someone you haven’t lectured to death about them already. Their virgin view of caves is likely to be very different to yours. They probably see them as dark, scary, claustrophobic places. In the mind of the broader population, caving trips are things that happen to other people unless it’s a show cave. So where is all this rambling leading? Well! I’m attempting to start a discussion about the literary context of caves. How they are portrayed and what that means.

First, we need to break down what a cave is in a general sense. Fundamentally they are dark and enclosed. Already we have checked off two of the most fundamental human fears. It’s these barriers that presumably keep most people away from caves, which leads to another attribute of caves, they’re alien. Many people will never enter a cave in their lifetime and so only experience them through photos or stories, they are, in a sense, like alien worlds. Traversing and navigating caves also requires new skills; how many people knew how to rig a pitch before caving? In short caves, could generally be thought of as extreme alien environments that require new skills and make already well-established ones redundant, all while preying on some of humanity’s most primordial fears.

In my view there are two main portrayals of caves in literary and cinematic media. The questing cave and the setting cave. However, they exist on a scale.

Illustration of the hero's journey.
The questing cave is a location that a protagonist must enter in a story to achieve some goal. Taking the bare archetype of the hero’s journey it may appear as the setting for the “belly of the whale” section of the archetype. A cave is used for this function in Frozen II where the character Anna experiences her “darkest hour” in a cave; so here the cave is used as a visual metaphor.

Caves are also interesting because a protagonist can go through a highly compressed hero’s journey due to caves correlating both visually and conceptually to many aspects of the monomyth. Making a detailed analysis: the protagonist will need to enter the cave (usually as part of a wider hero’s journey) thus the call to adventure, they may refuse the call due to the hostile nature of caves. There is then crossing the threshold, literally, the protagonist enters the cave. It is also at this point that the protagonist crosses from the known to the unknow, surface to underworld. There are then tests allies and enemies which in the context of the cave could simply be the challenges of the navigating and traversing the environment. There is also a section called “Approach to the inmost cave” which speaks for itself! The protagonist then goes through “the ordeal in the abyss” again an obvious idea that a cave could be used as an allegory for. This could be told visually through the protagonist falling and having to recover in the “Apotheosis”. After that are some sections that are less applicable like “the ultimate boon” or “Refusal of return”, I’m sure even the most fanatical of us have at some point been glad for the sight of sunlight. “The road back home” and “Master of two worlds” have obvious allegories to caves. The one section I could not correlate was the pint at the pub afterwards. Even writing this I’m seeing that each caving trip has its correlations and allegories for the hero’s journey, particularly if it’s a cave you’re new to.

Caves also feature heavily in the BBC TV series Merlin. Sometimes they can be correlated to elements of the hero’s journey but more often they’re just used as a setting. Setting caves use the association of alienness to essentially just feature as an exotic location. Done well they will have some unique challenges or difficulties the protagonist must master such as navigation and traversal. Done poorly, the cave setting is no different from any other setting, it essentially features as an interesting backdrop. For all its success, Merlin usually falls in the second category of setting cave where it’s just a generic hazard for the protagonists to retrieve something from or pass through. Occasionally there is something hidden in an underground space in which case the cave/underground simply serves to provide a barrier to resolving the problem.

The setting cave is also more common in stories created by people who know and understand caves and therefore do not as readily associate them with primal fears or their more negative attributes, instead portraying them as just another difficult environment to be navigated.

A popular goal in questing caves is knowledge, this is one of the more common forms of this archetype. An example is in the last episode of the BBC’s Merlin where the protagonist must go to a cave to find out how to get their magic back only to find “the magic was in them all along” (that never-ending trope). A knowledge cave also appears in “the last Jedi” where the protagonist finds (yet again) that whatever they were looking for was in them all along. I’m sensing a theme here… it’s probably to do with caves being a metaphor for the darker inner self and only by confronting it can you find the knowledge of who you truly are and therefore also inner peace or whatever...

There are many other types of underground space but most of them serve the same purposes as described above. Usually, it’ll be some ancient ruin to plunder for an artifact, or a villain’s lair that needs to be raided. An interesting archetype is an underground government storage facility prowled by some monster that was, until recently, being held prisoner there. Underground cities also crop up a lot, they’re a staple in fantasy where they’ll usually be inhabited by dwarves, because Tolkien’s shadow is impossible to escape. Bunkers are another popular artificial underground space, usually being inhabited during an apocalypse; the cramped nature of which often leads to drama between cabin fever suffering survivors.

One of the most interesting artificial underground spaces I’ve come across are the lower levels of Ecumenopoli. For those unfamiliar an Ecumenopolis is an entire planet that has been converted into a city, they sometime crop up in sci-fi/fantasy. If the city is built across many layers, it can leave whole strata of the planet underground, one such example is Coruscant in the Star Wars universe. This city is built across thousands of levels from uninhabited monster infested sewers at the bottom, to skyscraper penthouses at the top. It makes for interesting social commentary as only the wealthiest are able to afford housing on the surface and therefor have sunlight while the lower social elements are forced to live in underground slums.

This has been a little whistle stop tour of my interpretation of the zeitgeist’s understanding of caves with some examples. I do believe that due to people’s lack of familiarity with underground spaces they tend to perceive them as alien, dark, dangerous things to be avoided. This of course makes them a good setting for fiction, but their potential is wasted on the interpretation that they are things to pass through and be avoided. They are also heavily used as metaphors, which is fair, but they are locations in their own right and do deserve at least a little more ‘depth’. Lastly people tend to interpret all caves as tunnels that you can just walk through interspersed with the occasional large chamber, I shouldn’t need to tell you, reader, why this is wrong.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my mad ramblings but if not, I hope you at least began to think about how both you and others see caves. If you disagree with anything I have said, good! Tell me! This is supposed to be the start of a conversation and I’m interested to hear your thoughts!

Zac Woodford

PS from the author: Full disclosure: this is not a research paper, a report, essay, or opinion piece. It is just the mad ramblings of a junior speleologist trying to pad out the newsletter. This piece does however heavily reference the concept of the Hero’s Journey formulated by Joseph Campbell.

BRITISH ROCK ART GROUP - 5th JUNE 2021

As part of the 2021 British Rock Art Group Symposium, Linda Wilson will be giving a short talk on the Signature Stone in Polnagollum, Co Clare. This will include a short fly-through of the photogrammatry work undertaken by UBSS members in 2019.

The symposium, hosted on Zoom by Bristol City Museum, is talking place on the afternoon of Saturday 5th June. Places are still available, but bookings close on 4th June.

The timetable, full programme and sign up link can be found HERE.

HOW A PHYSICIST HELPED ESTABLISH THE UBSS

Leo Palmer at the UBSS New Year's Eve party at Burrington, 1956/57. Photograph from the UBSS collection.
The university is celebrating 100 years of postgraduate research and as part of this Lena Ferriday, one of the team who worked on our oral history project. A postgraduate research student in the Department of History, explores the links between her own work and of caver and UBSS member Leo Palmer. This article is reproduced with kind permission from the Bristol Doctoral College Blog.

The University of Bristol Speleological Society (UBSS) celebrated its centenary in 2019, making it both the oldest society at the University, and the oldest University caving club in the world. The Society was founded by members of the Bristol Speleological Research Society. In 1919, these members undertook a dig at Aveline’s Hole, a cave in the Mendips, under the leadership of physics student Lionel Palmer, affectionately known as Leo by his peers. The excavations at Aveline’s were significant, leading to the formation of UBSS and continuing to form an important part of the Society’s current museum collections.

Two years later, Palmer became the first student to be awarded a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Bristol. Taking up a lectureship in Electrical Engineering at the University of Manchester in 1923, and later a professorship in Physics at the University of Hull, Palmer continued to publish research in these fields throughout his life. Yet his love of caving kept his academic interests broad, and he contributed important research to the fields of geology and archaeology.

As an environmental historian, it is at this point that my own research intersects most closely with that of Palmer. My work resides at the intersection of material and cultural environmental histories, considering the relationship between the cultural perception of landscapes with the bodily experience of existing within them, while Palmer’s focus was on the physicality of the environment.

However, Palmer’s close in-person engagement with the sites he studied, in the tradition of speleological research, is interestingly positioned in close-proximity with my own academic aims to employ practice-based research methodologies, to engage more closely with the embodied experiences provided by landscapes both in the past and present.

Palmer’s quest to engage with research across these fields was innovative and inspiring, and led to the publication of a great deal of valuable research. He promoted active scientific research amongst the student members of the UBSS, and established a journal for this work to be published in. The UBSS Proceedings continues to run as a well-regarded peer-viewed journal, within which I have had the pleasure of publishing a co-authored piece of historical research. The paper explores oral testimonies from members of the Society, considering particularly participants sensual and embodied engagements with subterranean environments.

Interestingly, I think the publication of this piece, the first of its kind in the Proceedings, has continued the legacy of Palmer’s interdisciplinary inclinations even further beyond the boundaries of scientific and caving based research. Whilst not a historian by profession, Palmer’s interdisciplinary inclinations and drive for producing and saving academic knowledge have led to a great number of overlaps with my own historical work, both through the researching of his life for this project, and my research into the history of the UBSS and the embodied memories of cavers.

Leo Palmer undertaking resistivity testing above Lamb Leer. Image from the Wells & Mendip Museum collection and used with their kind permission. Accession no: 1990.27/11.
Palmer’s interdisciplinary interests were united in 1938, when he oversaw a pioneering geoelectrical survey at the Mendip cave Lamb Leer Cavern, which revealed the existence of a second large chamber close to the already discovered Great Chamber in the cave.

In 1956, Palmer returned to Lamb Leer with the improved equipment of a ‘Megger Earth Tester’, to test ground resistance, which he obtained through a £230 grant from the Royal Society. As a result, he confidently estimated the position of the chamber. Yet despite attempts to find the now named ‘Palmer’s Chamber’, it has still not been found, and research by Butcher, et al in 2007 has highlighted errors in Palmer’s original interpretation.

In 1957, Palmer’s interdisciplinary interests fully converged, climaxing in the publication of Man’s Journey Through Time: A First Step in Physical and Cultural Anthropochronology, and he began to conduct research along similar lines to my consideration of both the physical and cultural attributes of the environment.

Palmer also sought to obtain the first of a number of rooms for the Society to house its museum and library collections in 1919, on the site of the former Officers’ Training Corps ammunition storeroom between Woodland and University Roads, before the exponential growth of the collection incited its move to first the Lewis Fry Tower and then the ground floor of what is now the University of Bristol’s Geography Department in 1927.

Again, his love of active research ensured that the collections held by UBSS remain large. Palmer’s efforts with the UBSS have helped the preservation of important archival material which continues to be accessed by geologists, archaeologists and the occasional historian. His desires for preserving material for posterity led him to his later career as Curator of the Wells and Mendip Museum, a position to which he was appointed in 1954.

The research project from which my Proceedings paper emerged, led by the Department of History’s Dr Andy Flack in 2019, sought to indirectly continue the conscious preservation of UBSS material that Palmer initiated. Here, however, instead of protecting physical traces of cave landscapes, we protected the memories of these spaces. Across twenty oral history interviews, our participants shared memories of the society, the social life of caving, and their experiences of travelling underground.

The UBSS archive has thus been extended into the digital realm, with these interviews recorded and transcribed into an accessible database, and with the hope that other societies might undertake similar work to preserve their human histories, and the human histories of the subterranean, alongside their physical ephemera.

For more information on our research into the history of UBSS see this article in Epigram.

Lena Ferriday

You can find out more about Lena’s work by reading her research profile, or by following her on Twitter.

LETTER TO THE EDITORS

Andy Farrant has passed on a fascinating piece of UoB history that might interest the geology students and historians amongst us. Andy's mother has now donated this to the University's Special Collections, who did not previously know of its existence.

My mother has been clearing out her loft of >60 years accumulated detritus and came across the attached, which may be of interest to University historians. Her first husband’s father was a dental student at Bristol and was presumably there at the opening of the Wills Memorial Buildings in 1925. Not heard of the ‘cries’ before, and not sure of the meaning of the lyrics – Agorai means gathering place. The final 3 lines are a classic! Typical geology students….Have to say I can’t imagine Mike Benton joining in!

Clearly the UBSS tradition of caving songs has precedence!
Cheers

Andy

A video of the visit is on Youtube.

FOXY READ TO THE END, DID YOU?

The winner last month was - again - the very quick off the mark Jan Walker, who is in early contention to be this year's overall winner if the rest of you don't pull your socks up. And remember, the penalty for not letting us know that you read to the end is that Zac will fill the newsletter with computer science stories!

- Great newsletter. Dickon's article on the welsh caves was fascinating, and The Reluctant Caver had me in stitches! (Jan Walker)

- And of course another to the end ... keep them coming! And coming ... {Chris Howes)

- Yes, I'm procrastinating again, but it was worth it! Excellent newsletter. There were some fascinating features (I liked the aerial walkway at the hut caption as well!) And Chris H's pix are as amazing as ever. I'm also sitting here faithfully practising my Welsh pronunciation. (Sharon Wheeler and FT ApBear)

- Since you published my trip report can I now put ‘journalist’ on my CV? [Megan Malpas) [Answer: Yeah, go for it!]

- Loved to read about Gunung Mulu - it has changed a lot since I was there in 1978 and 1980/81. (Hans Friederich)

- I read to the end! What a wonderful way to procrastinate uni work. (Mia Jacobs}

- Most upset by the implication that I didn’t attract many new members by taking my kit off…. (Kirsten Hopkins)

- I’ve reached the end. The delay was due to poor connectivity in The HIghlands but I’m home now. And yes, 50 years after being introduced to caving, I have finally been underground in Assynt, although not very far. Any further and I would have had to bend over. (Dick Willis)

Now, who read to the end this time? Late entries accepted! For those new to the game, there will be a splendid prize for the first person to read to the end and tell us that you did!

THE END