Belfry Bulletin Number 130

No. 130

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Editorial As announced in last month’s B.B., the postal department has been reorganised, and is now in the care of 'Prew' and Tony O'Flaherty. Owing to the fact that they both live in Bath, there has been a little delay in organising the sending off of the October B.B., but we hope that all is now under control. A further improvement will soon come into operation as we now have an addressograph machine!! Members living in odd places will soon receive their B.B. with their address tastefully printed, and, we trust, earlier in the month!

Alan Sandall and 'Spike' have both volunteered to help out with the production of the B.B. as and when required. It is a pleasure to welcome them back to the Board. This means that we now have a goodly collection of people who are familiar with the slightly cockeyed system by which the B.B. is printed, bound and distributed so that we are not so likely to be held up through a vital member of the team being unable to help.

Our usual Bumper Fun Book for Christmas is well under way and we hope that it, will be ready nice and early in December.

“Alfie.” _______________________________________________________________________________________

COMMITTEE MEETING The November meeting of the committee discussed progress made on the present Belfry - improvements to the kitchen are continuing - and also progress on the new hut. This is proceeding satisfactorily and the foundations are now in. Provision of a tent for the climbing section, to be hired from the club by the weekend was agreed to and a suitable tent is being purchased details of its use will be announced in the B.B. when it becomes available. A lock has been put on the M.R.O. box. It was agreed to send Norman and Chris to the Balch Memorial Meeting to represent the club. Roy agreed to inspect the club stretcher. It was agreed to publish a vote of thanks to Sid Hobbs for his work in looking after the Belfry Detailer. _______________________________________________________________________________________

NOTICES CAVING TRIPS. Following a resolution approved at the recent A.G.M., a list of future caving trips will be printed at intervals. Members are asked to submit details of trips to the Caving Secretary. At least one trip will be arranged every other month suitable for novices and any preferences as to time and place should be communicated to the Caving Secretary.

Caving Trips for November.

Sunday 16th November. Agen Allwedd (Aggy Aggy) S. Wales. Details from Norman Petty.

Sunday 30th November. Tyro’s trip at 11 am of Top of Swildon's. Meet at the Belfry. Leader 'Prew' .

New Hut. We still need willing hands to build this hut! When you next use the Belfry, think of those past club members who put it up so that YOU could be comfortable on Mendip. Now's your chance to do YOUR bit!

Remember, there are FREE bed-nights for all who WORK at this job.

For those who prefer to sing their notices, we have:"Cavers sitting in a daze By the stove's heat-giving rays Foreman from the building bawls “Stop flipping rays and raise flipping walls!”

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No. 130

CAVING LOG Swildon's. To the bottom of the forty under very exhilarating conditions. The duck on the way to the forty was a sump and was sumped by myself owing to the difficulty I would have had with the squeeze above it. When we entered the cave, the water was one inch above the grating. Leader, Ian Dear.

11th October ????????? Digging was started in this cave by Prew, Mike Wheadon, Alan Sandall, Bill Benyon and Chris. The shaft goes down three feet and a bedding plane was entered extending for 15 feet.

12th October Eastwater. Trip to sand chamber and back via the Dolphin route. Leader Mike Palmer.

Alfie's Hole. Shoring continued and collapse is unfortunately now prevented. Some very unorthodox shoring installed in what must be the only spiral shaft on Mendip!

18th October Swildon's. Weegee trip to sump I. Leader Ian Dear.

Swildon's. Trip to first sump. The party would not believe the leader when he told them that the water in the double pots was only eighteen inches deep. Leader Ron Bater.

Alfie’s Hole. A seven hour shoring trip.

Ease Gill and Lancaster Hole. A two and a half mile trip by Mike Wheadon, Prew and Len Dawes in conjunction with W.S.G. 19th October Swildon's Tackle collecting trip by Mike Wheadon and Tony O’Flaherty.

25th October Lamb Leer. A party of five including Mikes Palmer and Wheadon. Prew and two others descended complete with four pints of screech for two people who were camping for the weekend. Goods were delivered safely.

25th October Vee Swallet. Boards placed near entrance to prevent further muck washing into tunnel, which can now be excavated with ease and earth stuffed behind aforesaid boards. C. Lewis, M. Collins, A. Burt and P. Miller Eastwater. Leader Tony O’Flaherty. Encountered 17 tourists which caused much delay! _______________________________________________________________________________________ 5th October

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR S.S."Alan Macbeth!!

Zanzibar.

To the Editor, B.B. Dear Sir, I believe I remember reading some months ago in the B.B. that members would be interested to hear from their fellows in "furren parts", so here goes.

For the last ten days or so, we have been working down the East African coast, discharging cargo at Mombasa and Tanga. From there we go on to Dar-es-Salaam and then a long pull across the Indian ocean to a one horse town near Cochin, in South India, where we start loading for home.

The weather here in E. Africa is pleasantly cool for an area so near the equator and we often have rain at night, especially in Mombasa. The engine room is still uncomfortably hot and we are not looking forward to India where it will be a lot worse – anything up to 125O. Last week, four of us were able to get away to a game reserve in Kenya. We had two whole days off - a rare event in the Merchant Navy - and we made the most of it by hiring a car and having a good look at the African bush. Even the main roads are un-metalled for the most part and in the reserve itself they were so bad that I managed to put a 2½" gash in the petrol tank driving over a large boulder. There was plenty of game about, and we were lucky enough to catch sight of three cheetahs sunning themselves on a large anthill. As we had neither telescopic lenses nor much time, we were unable to get any decent photos of the wild life. Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, arrived back at the ship very tired and dusty after our expedition to the interior.

Tony Dunn.

No. 130

Page 3 Flax Bourton.

5th November (of course!)

To the Editor of the B.B. Dear Sir, Seeing the footnote in last month's B.B. about Sid Hobbs' exploits in the Hunters makes me cast my mind back to other notable occasions; back to the days when the room across the passage was exclusively the B.E.C.'s week in and week out, and which other people entered strictly at their own risk! In those days, every weekend gave us something to remember it by.

Who can remember the fantastic singsongs that took place every Saturday; the time when a limerick session lasted for 23 minutes non-stop without repetition, and it was found that one limerick plus chorus took 20 seconds; the “anti-social” games of bridge that used to precede the singing; indeed, “Hunter's Bridge” in general. Can anyone remember the rules?

Can anyone remember the only time that the sergeant from Wells came into our room on a Saturday night? Small wonder that Casey was worried for by all the rules the table should have been covered with bridge cards and pennies. By some fluke, someone had brought up a pack of 'Lexicon' that night and we were trying it out. The law retired perplexed and defeated.

Thinking of the Hunter's means thinking of people too, both cavers and locals, for I think at that at that time we were much closer to, and more a part of the local folk. I can think of Hal Perry, of the magnificent voice and beard, with his pint pot of orange juice; of Pongo doing the Can-Can; of Sett and George Lucy having some involved scientific argument; of half-pint, Roger Cantle and Sago; of Johnny Ifold’s uncanny knack with cards. And the girls too, especially one, who shall be nameless, who amazed an outsider by knitting, reading, singing, drinking, smoking and holding two conversations all at once!

Then above all, there was Ben ands Mrs Dors. If it hadn’t been for them, the Hunter’s evenings would never have been. The B.E.C. owes a lot to them. And the other locals too, Gilbert, Art Dors, Pop Harvey, Bert Russell and that huge man from Cheddar who could persuade Ben to do a jig. If they had acted differently we should not have had the fun we did. Always too, to bridge the gap between us and the locals, there were people like Dev and Les and Mary Browne.

The drinks too were as diverse as the drinkers. Scrumpy, Orange, Bamboo, etc. Remember the stout shandy craze one hot summer when you had to find a drinking partner as it took three bottles of Liffey Water to make two good drinks?

There are just as many memories from outside the Hunter’s. Who can remember Tim Hendrick flying around with the Harvard and “shooting up” the Belfry from zero feet on occasion? I wonder where the photo of him flying past the old Belfry has got to? And what about the day Angus, in full dirty caving kit, pedalled a push bike of the diving board into a mineries full of swimmers. Above all, what of the ‘Menace’ whose exploits could fill a book? Surely some of the old gang with better powers of description than myself could amuse the current Belfryites and it could certainly bring back memories to some of the earlier fraternity.

Perhaps even His Grace the Duke of Mendip, Baron Priddy could, through his secretary, utter some reminiscent words of wisdom on the subject.

Yours etc, Tony Johnson P.S. Please, for an iggerunt one, what is screech?

Editor’s Note: Screech, Tony, is the current name for rough or scrumpy on which Sid is the present virtuoso.

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No. 130

THE B.E.C. GOES WEST

by Jack and Dorothy Waddon For some weeks early in this year, proposals for spending the Easter weekend had been the subject of much controversy in the Waddon household. To camp or not to camp, that was the question. To the argument that “We always camped before at Easter” came the reply that this year Easter was earlier than usual and it was also much colder than normal. Eventually, the female side won by craftily pointing out that if we used ‘B and B’s instead of camping, we would be able to bring back far more geological specimens than we otherwise would if we were loaded up with the tent, sleeping bags, primus etc. As a result, it was decided to spend the weekend geologising in North Devon and leaving camping until warmer weather.

On Good Friday morning, as we were about to set off from Taunton, where we had stopped overnight to break the journey, a large black contraption with burnished copper tank agleam thundered up the street; Keith Murray astride “Louise”, the mostly 1922 Brough Superior 1000cc twin. He was on his way to study the mineralogy of Cornwall! After a cup of tea, we were off on our respective journeys westwards.

On our way through Lynmouth, we looked in at the Sunny Lyn camp site, where Norman Petty had said that he would be camping for the weekend. In company with Norman were Alan and Carol Sandall and Roger and Daphne Stenner.

An aroma of fried onions hung about in the Lyn Valley during the time these stalwarts were in camp, from the hot dogs which Norma dispersed to all and sundry from time to time. The evening was getting rather late and very cold, and after remarking on the rapid growth of the ice crystals in the water bucket, and making the observation that it looked like snow, we went on to the farmhouse where we were to spend the night, but not before Roger Stenner had announced that in the absence of a sleeping bag, he was making do with a flying suit “inner” and a layer of clothing.

Next morning, we looked out on a white landscape and the snow was still falling fast! On top of Exmoor, the snow was two or three inches deep and the road conditions were a little dicey in places. As we dropped down to Comb Martin, on the coast and a lot lower, the snow gave way to a steady rain. Parking the Ariel, we set out on foot to geologise in the area. At Combe Martin are some famous silver mines, which were extensively worked at various periods from as early as the 13th century to the latter end of last century. The silver obtained from these, and other mines at Beer Alston in Devon is said to have financed various several of the wars with France which English monarchs at one time indulged in. The ore is a highly argentiferous galena, containing about 80 to 120 ounces of silver to a ton of lead. In fact, the silver content was so high that the lead was a relatively unimportant by-product.

The mines at Coombe martin are mostly in the hills to the North East of the village. One of the very early mines is situated high above the village, in the south slope of the valley. It is approached up a long steep lane, rightly called ‘Watery Lane’, and it was while visiting this spot one Boxing day a few years ago that I managed to get four bike load of Belfryites successfully bogged down! This time, however, we were interested in the newer mine on the North East side of the valley. Most of the many adits and shafts which formerly existed are now blocked, but within almost a hundred yards of Comb Martin Main Street is a very small preserved adit, which has a shallow dam across the entrance and is used as a reservoir for supply to a nearby market garden. It is possible to enter this adit wading through the water and penetrate the old workings for a considerable distance. The water gradually gets shallower, until at about 75 feet in, the adit floor is reasonably dry.

The Combe Martin Mines are located for the most part, in the Ilfracombe beds, a series of grey shaly slates attributed to the mid Devonian. The high calcareous content of the rock was clearly demonstrated by the presence of dripstone and stalactites in a small hollow from which a spring rose.

A quick search at the spoil heaps at the entrance to the adit and in the nearby sunken lanes, proved profitable, and produced various pieces of veinstuff; quartz, shot with flakes of muscovite (white mica) some very small pieces of the ore which was worked (gelena) and unexpectedly enough, some large lumps of siderite or “white iron ore” (iron carbonate).

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An inspection of the beach at Combe Martin produced very little. There were several boulders composed mainly of quartz and interspersed with chlorite, a complex silicate frequently found as “gangue” mineral.

Some of the boulders contained pieces of dolomite (magnesium carbonate) and a small amount of umber.

Umber is a dark brown variety of ochre which has at one time worked in from a neighbourhood for use as a pigment. The river which flows down the valley and enters the sea at Combe Martin is, in fact, called the River Umber.

A rather dicey scramble round the rocks, above the outgoing tide brought us to “Wild Pear Beach”, a secluded spot in which were patches of an edible variety of seaweed, used to make 'laver bread' locally.

There are several small sea caves in the cliffs all around this area but all the ones which we examined were very short, about ten to fifteen yards long. Most of them seemed to be formed by erosion by the sea along vertical mineral veins. Overlooking the beach at this point are the “Little Hangman” and the “Great Hangman”, two hills which rise steeply above the surrounding land, and which give their name to the “Hangman’s Grits”, a series of shales and clay slates which extend across much of Exmoor and the Quantocks.

Before turning in that night, we paid a visit to Lynmouth to see how the campers were faring. The news that Roger Stenner had that day ridden in to Barnstable and bought a sleeping bag, having found a flying suit inadequate caused little surprise. Sid Hobbs and two more Belfryites had also passed through that day heading west, and as far as is known have not been since. We paid our respects to the campers and set out to spend the rest of the weekend geologising further inland, where we actually saw the sun for a short time!

Somehow, I don’t regret the fact that we weren’t under canvas last Easter. _______________________________________________________________________________________

MINERY PHOTOGRAPH The photograph of the St. Cuthbert's Minery in production was copied from a print belonging to Gil Weeks - a local septuagenarian well known to club members who visit the Hunters. Gilbert worked at the minery and can remember such things as when the bowl shaped depression south east of the Belfry was an ore washing reservoir. Nowadays it tends to be used as a reservoir for the Belfry’s organic matter!

The date of the minery photograph is between 1890 and 1910 and the presence of new sheds and the twin stacks are probably the blast furnace stack, indicate that it was taken during the last revival of the works between 1902 - 1908.

In 1890, only the St. Cuthbert's lead works was in operation, dealing entirely with tailings and old slag debris. Although new equipment was installed about this time, a fall in the price of lead caused the works to close on 1897.

During 1902, a company, the New Chaffers Extended Mining Co., recommenced operations and a new blast furnace was installed. The buddling troughs were replaced by modern equipment and a light railway was built to transport material to the furnace. This company kept in operation until 1902, when a further fall in the price of lead caused it to cease, and mining on Mendip came to an end for the last time.

M. Hannam Editor's Note. Readers who are interested in this subject will remember the articles by Mervyn Hannam in B.B.'s last year. Since he wrote then, I happened to be having a natter with Bert Russell who tells me that the story of Mendip smelting very nearly had another chapter added to it. It seems that, I think in 1923, he was employed by a company to collect samples of slag from the heaps and as a result, it was decided to reopen the smelting works. A celebratory dinner was held in the Star at Wells, but at the last moment, money was not available and the project fell through. He reckons even now, that a small modern working, employing just a few men and using electricity, might pay. It would be interesting to have: Mervyn’s comments on this.

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Returning to the photographs now in the Belfry, the lower of the two is a copy from the print possessed

by Gil Weeks, which in turn is a copy of the original print. The upper photograph was obtained by touching up a similar print of the lower photo; rather clumsily I’m afraid, and re-photographing. It says a lot for the quality of the original when you consider that the upper photograph has been through no less than four cameras! _______________________________________________________________________________________ THE B.B. EDITOR S.J. COLLINS. 33 Richmond Terrace, Clifton, Bristol 8