4 minute read
Caving Phil Hendy
Big find at Red Quar
THE13th annual JRat award was held at the Hunters’ Lodge Inn on November 19th. The prize, an engraved plaque, which can be seen in the pub, is awarded to the digging team which has found the most natural cave in the previous year, either on Mendip or in Scotland, the late Tony Jarrat’s main areas of interest. There was a good turn-out of Mendip cavers, though this year Scottish cavers did not submit an entry.
Rumours had been circulating for a while of a big discovery at Red Quar and sure enough, the prize went to a team of young diggers from the Shepton Mallet Caving Club for their discovery of 499 metres of passage in Home Close Hole.
This dig in dolomitic conglomerate was started in 2008 and entered the lower reaches of nearby Wigmore Swallet via Young Bloods Inlet in 2014. Several leads had been noted at the time, but not pushed, until the Shepton regained interest last year.
The southern part of the cave has three leads in wet and muddy gravel. Two were abandoned fairly early on, but the third was pushed for 60 metres via low crawls and small enlargements. This crawl led to a walking-size passage some 50 metres long.
Two avens were found; one was blind, but the other was ascended using a maypole (a ladder attached to lengths of scaffold pole) where more large passage ended in a boulder choke after 100 metres. Following a side passage, the explorers found another ascending void named Crown Aven after a large fossil found there.
Not content with that, the diggers then examined a hole in the roof near Slime Rift in the old cave. This had been noted, but never entered. A large but open boulder choke led to a vast but low chamber, some 30 metres long and 23 metres wide. There is digging potential here.
Trevor Hughes and his team, drawn largely from the Bristol Exploration Club, have continued to work at Stock Hill Mine Cave, on the edge of Stock Hill forest. A steep slope was pushed to Strike Dig, which led to a large passage and an aven. This was climbed until the diggers were only a few metres below the surface.
Below this, a six-metre dig broke through to a keyhole passage, where the top is a wide sloping bedding plane, with a deep rift below. This makes for an awkward traverse, although there are some jammed boulders giving respite.
The route rose to an aven, then down to around 40 metres of passage. The new discoveries, totalling 254 metres, head south and the end of the cave is near the road between the Hunters’ Lodge and Hillgrove. It is at a depth of 90 metres.
Further west on the road to Priddy, White Rabbit Hole (formerly Lower Pitts Farm Dig) has been reopened by a group of cavers from the Wessex Cave Club. They are at pains to point out that the dig is on private land and visits should only be made when the diggers are working, with their permission.
A Hymac was used to excavate a damp depression in 2015 and early work by the North Hill Association for Speleological Advancement (NHASA) showed that there was a boulder-filled cavity at the side of a buried cliff face. The dig was closed but reopened in November 2021.
The first five metres of the shaft has been stabilised with concrete pipes, and seven metres below this a small side chamber was entered. The way on was dug through a steeply descending bedding plane some ten metres wide.
Another side chamber was found; there is a draught here and some formations and this is where the dig is being continued. The passage is heading east, and the cave is currently 105 metres long.
Elsewhere on Mendip, Cutler’s Green Sinkholes are currently flooded, which has called a temporary halt to proceedings. In Longwood Valley Sink the boulders in
With PHILIP HENDY
Tickle Choke have been removed to enter the draughting Tickle Rift. A lot of scaffold and engineering was required to reach this and the way on can be seen in a tight but clean rift.
The Cowshed Dig at Higher Pitts Farm is now more than 80 metres deep in conglomerate. Large unstable boulders lying against a solid wall are slowly being removed. There is a good draught and hopes are high.
At Templeton, technical problems are causing some concern and pushing at the end is on hold until a solution can be found.
Further west, Pete Glanvill and associates are working on several sites on the Quantock Hills. Cothelstone Cave and a nearby shelter are being excavated. An old name for the cave was Blackatops, after a recluse who lived there many years ago. Other sites are being dug.
The area is in fairly young Devonian reef limestone, so it is unlikely that any really large caves will be found. Also on the hills, an old copper mine which reputedly led to limestone caverns is being explored.
Shafts and adits are being reopened. Some of these are wet, but as work progresses they are slowly drying out. So far, the limestone caves have proved to be elusive.
We have not enjoyed a social event for cavers for some time, and it was good to remake old acquaintances. We were due to meet again on December 10th for the launch of Rob Taviner’s Somerset Underground Vol. 3 (Central and South Mendip).
In the meantime, we will follow J-Rat’s advice, and Keep on Diggin’!
