Caving Phil Hendy

Caves just north of Mendip

CAVESoccur along the whole length and breadth of the Mendip Hills, from Brean Down to Frome, and Burrington to Wookey Hole. Yet the enthusiast can find underground features of interest not far to the north. There are plenty of caves and mines which can be explored between Mendip and Bristol, and some are, on occasion, opened for non-caving visitors to enjoy.

The most famous of these is probably Redcliffe Caves, chambers and passages dug out of the soft sandstone at Redcliffe Wharf. The sand was used in nearby glassworks, but being close to the River Avon, the tunnels were useful for storing cargo.

They also held French and Dutch prisoners of war, although there is no proof that they were ever associated with the slave trade. Covering at least an acre, no-one knows the full extent of these artificial workings, which on occasion are used by film and television companies as a cheaper and more realistic alternative to building a cave set on a stage.

Nearby, a small cave excavated at the back of the Quaker Burial Ground, was occupied by a hermit in the 14th century. Guided tours give a full insight into the history of the caves.

More than 20 natural caves and springs can be found in the limestone of the Avon Gorge and its associated valleys. Most of them are accessible only to cavers with some skill in rock climbing, but Ghyston or Giant’s Cave can be entered by descending steps under the Clifton Observatory on Durdham Down.

In 1937 William West built the observatory and the camera obscura and he also constructed the steps leading down to the cave. The chamber was originally reached via a perilous path down the cliff face. The natural cave is short, but a platform allows fine views of the Gorge.

It may also once have been a hermitage and possibly as a secret place of worship by Catholics clinging to their religion after the Reformation.

The hot mineral water of Hotwells were famed in the 18th and 19th centuries as a cure for consumption (TB) and led to development at Clifton, with hotels, taverns and an assembly room and a Pump Room.

At one time, the area rivalled Bath as the place to see and be seen by other fashionable people, but gradually, with river widening and doubts being cast on the purity of the water and its medicinal efficacy, popularity waned.

The Colonnade can still be seen on the Portway and nearby is the lower entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway. Like the railway at Lynmouth/Lynton, it was a funicular, but ran through a tunnel, constructed in 1893 as a convenient way of taking people from fashionable Clifton to the Hotwells.

It closed in 1934, but was later requisitioned as an emergency broadcasting centre for the BBC during WW2 and also as an air

With PHILIP HENDY

raid shelter.

Pen Park Hole lies in a grassy area in the middle of an urban area in North Bristol. It consists of a vast chamber with some side passages. There is no natural connection with the surface, and it was discovered by lead miners in the 16th century (traces of surface workings for lead can still be seen on nearby Durdham Down).

The cave was formed many millions of years ago by hydrothermal activity – hot water rising from below. This was the same water that gave rise to the Hotwells. An intriguing feature of Pen Park Hole is the lake in the main chamber.

The water is deep, but is known to fluctuate by as much as 27 metres. Little, if any, lead ore was found, and the cave was lost, then rediscovered and capped again, in view of its proximity to the residential area. Cavers have now renegotiated access, but to all others, the entrance shaft remains firmly closed.

Moving south, high on the north side of Brockley Combe is Yorkhouse Cave, a rift which has been artificially widened, and may have been home to a hermit in the 18th century.

Wealthy landowners would instal these recluses as part of their Romantic vision, although many hermits were probably disillusioned men and women who for various reasons opted out of the conventional world.

Yorkhouse Cave would have made a comfortable dwelling, as beyond the narrow entrance lay a roomy rectangular chamber. There was even a natural chimney, and a small anteroom. Other cliffs in the area contain small caves and rifts, and there is some evidence of mining.

The stone quarries on the north slope of Dundry Hill, some of which were underground, like those east of Bath, have now largely been filled and lost, but the redding pits around Winford are still open, on occasion, to cavers.

Redding was a deep red form of iron ochre and was much in demand, possibly from Roman times. The ochre was originally extracted from surface pits, but later the miners went underground, leaving extensive workings which have not yet all been rediscovered.

Apart from being smelted to make metallic iron, the mineral was valued in the paint and linoleum industries of Bristol and elsewhere.

Details of the opening times for the Clifton Observatory and Redcliffe Caves can be found on their websites.

Ghyston Cave overlooked by the Clifton Suspension Bridge