July 1961 Vol XV No.7
Number 161
Page 1
July 1961 – No 161
_______________________________________________________________________________________ Swildons Six Our congratulations to the team who took part in the operation on Juno 17th. For the benefit of those members who are not able to visit Mendip regularly, we hope to include an article in the near future, if we can persuade our representative - Frank Darbon - to write it up for us. Until then, it appears that Six is some 240' in length, there are two or three side passages, and Sump Five has now been lowered so that, at any rate under low water level conditions, it is now a passage with air space all the way. Club Ties These have now arrived. It is expected that there will be a great demand for them, so get YOUR order in to Bob Bagshaw as soon as you can, otherwise you may have to wait for the next batch to be ordered from the makers. You will find the price of the ties later on in this B. B. Cave References. To assist anyone who may be doing any serious work of research on Mendip caves, a list of all the references to original cave exploration and other serious work on Mendip which have appeared in the B.B. has been compiled. A small number of these lists will be duplicated and will be obtainable from the Editor on request. Supplies for the B.B. We should like to record our thanks for the gifts of paper which have been received lately. Especially for the reams of Spicer’s Paper - which is at the moment being jealously guarded for the Christmas B.B. Further donations however, are urgently required, and will be greatly appreciated. To those of you who had B.B.'s last month printed, on alternate sheets - Sorry, but this was due to the use of inferior paper which did not go through the duplicator properly. "Alfie" _______________________________________________________________________________________
ARCHAEOLOGY Lundy Several members of the B.E.C. are going to Lundy early in July to undertake an excavation on behalf of the Lundy Field Society. The site, which is in a paddock called Bull's Paradise is probably a Dark Age Medieval cemetery and it is hoped to find any associated buildings which may be nearby. During the latter half of the last century, a number of human burials were discovered including two of a "gigantic nature", the larger measuring 8' 2" in length. The site became known as the Giant's Graves, and a number of beads found with the giants have been associated with the Dark Age Irish type and are now on display at Bristol Museum. Other relics of the period include a carved memorial stone and occasional shards of imported pottery. There is historical evidence to suggest the presence of an early Christian chapel on the island, but the history of this and of subsequent chapels is very confused and it is not at all certain that the known chapel ruins are in fact those of the original building. It may be that the early chapel stands on the site to be tackled in July. It is hoped to convene a meeting of members interested in archaeology at some date before the A.G.M. in order to discuss the extent to which archaeological activities should be carried out within the club. Personally, I do not wish to see the B.E.C. organising excursions or lectures which nobody attends and I would prefer merely to leave the club as a medium for active digging etc - but if anyone is interested in. those activities, it would be useful to learn of it. K.S. Gardner.