Stocks House Shaft. Priddy, Mendip.

When:  29 Mar 2014  14.30 – 16.30 pm.
Where:  Stocks House Shaft. Priddy, Mendip.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T.

Stocks House Shaft is in Stock Hill Forest and about 50 metres from the Cornish Shaft entrance to Five BuddIes Sink.  It is thought possible that it could have been one of Thomas Bushell's twenty shafts, sunk around 1657 in the search for a natural cave or "swallow" from which drain unwanted water from the flooded lead mines. A number of mining relics were recovered when it was excavated by the BEC between 1999 and 2001.
The entrance is a concrete tube lined shaft some 15m deep. This intercepts a small stream way which leads through some gnarly crawl areas, a 6m high boulder filled rift and into a natural passage which ends in a heavily silted too tight passage some100m later.  The part called Silt level is a flat out crawl through the stream way and under a low passage.
A very interesting mine especially when its the first entrance pitch you rig yourselves for SRT.

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Five Buddles Sink. Priddy, Mendip.

When:  23 Mar 2014  10.00 – 12.00 pm.
Where:  Five Buddles Sink. Priddy, Mendip.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T.

A small lead mine which shows several periods of activity since before 1709.  There is the remains of a wheel pit at one end which would have housed a 10.5 feet diameter water wheel.  From the foot of the pitch a short mined level leads to 20 metres of natural streamway, which is walled in places by the lead miners.  This runs under the road to the foot of a 3 metre Cornish shaft.  From the foot of the shaft a 10 metre long natural rift can be entered.  Much of the passage still contains wooden flooring from the late 19th century, when the site was used as a tailings pit by the Mendip Hills Mining Company.

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Compton Martin Ochre Mine, Mendip.

When:  31 July 2013  19.30 – 21.15 pm.
Where: Compton Martin Ochre Mine, Mendip.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T. B Hanley and S Tidey.

Compton Martin Ochre mine is at the back of opencast workings in a bed of red ochre.  The mine was dug by using the pillar and stall method.
There was once two openings into the mine but sadly one collapsed and the remaining one was looking very precarious but thanks to two bodies of like minded enthusiasts it has been shawled up with wooden beams and a concrete pipe so should be ok for a while longer.  However once inside it is a different matter as a lot of the original wooden supports have rotted away and the roof is looking very unstable in places.  Its a small mine with a maze of passages and falls.  Some of the supports have fungi growing out of them and some have disintegrated altogether.  Its a very interesting mine but you wouldn't want to spend too long exploring it.

 

 Damp and rotten roof support.

 

 Fungi growing on roof support.

 

Passage with roof supports.

 

 

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Sludge Pit Hole, Priddy, Mendip.

When:  17 July 2013  19.00 – 21.15 pm.
Where: Sludge Pit Hole, Priddy, Mendip.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T. A Sparrow, C Castle, N Denis, T Denning-Kendle and S Tidey.

This was the first time most of us had visited this cave as there has been no access for the past twenty odd years.  Andy and Chris have been down before as they have been caving for donkeys years. There has been a number of access restrictions placed on the cave, such as an admission fee and peoples names put in a visitor book.  This is all done just inside the entrance. Once we had signed ourselves in and paid our dues we rigged the pitch with a ladder and lifeline and descended to the bottom.  We assembled in Fault passage and headed down towards I think Shale series then down Tributary passage, left at the end into four pots rift.  Most of the team went through this but Chris, Trish and myself opted for the easier option through the Maze into the area past Triple Arch.  After a short rest we backtracked through the Maze and into the main rift.  We then went to the end and had a look at the dig by the sump.  On the way out some of us went through Aragonite rift and Strike chamber.  We were soon all ascending the ladder and back to the surface.  This is a short but very sporting cave (very tight in places).

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Hilliers Cave Photo Trip, Stoke St.Michael, Mendip.

When:  5 June 2013  7.00 – 9.00 pm.
Where: Hilliers Cave Photo Trip. Stoke St.Michael, Mendip.,
Who:    Darren T, Rich T.

Nobody wanted to come on this trip so it was just Rich and myself. We took the photo kit in a pelicase and the tripod in its bag. We wanted to photograph the Cambridge Grotto. so we went in Hilliers entrance which is gated and locked with a CSCC lock. we slid down the entrance climb and followed the cave to the connection with Fairy cave. straight on and up the climb and right, through the boulder ruckels and into Upper grotto. It was a mission with the pelicase but Rich did it without complaint. This is the part where I bottled it the week before. Deep breath and forward I went, it wasn't as bad as it looked. A fair bit of wriggling and twisting and we emerged into the most beautiful and enthralling part of a cave I have seen so far. We spent nearly an hour in there taking lots of pictures. It didn't take long to reverse our route to the exit and home we went.
Some of the pictures you can see below.

 

 

 

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Fairy Cave, Hilliers Cave, Stoke St.Michael, Mendip.

When:  29 May 2013  7.30 – 9.30 pm.
Where: Fairy Cave through to Hilliers Cave. Stoke St.Michael, Mendip.,
Who:    Darren T, Rich T, Tricia, Sean.

We met in the carpark as I have a CSCC Key. It was pouring down with rain. The others soon arrived and once we were all changed we made our way to the entrance of the Quarry. There is a combination lock on the gate. The entrance to Fairy cave is at the back of a building to the left of the gate. Trish led the way and we were soon crawling around underground. Fairy cave is quite short but what it lacks in length is made up for by the size of the boulder chokes and small passages. Some places are very tight and Sean and Rich struggled to squeeze through some bits. We found the way to the water duck quite easily and Rich went first. Luckily the water level was low so no need to hold your breath today, however Rich left his oversuit open and scooped up a few litres of water as he went through which made it even better for the rest of us. There are quite a few pretties in Fairy cave and I had brought my new compact camera. I didn't know how crawly it was and had opted to carry the camera down the front of my oversuit and when I got it out to take some pictures of the large curtain formation at the top of the dig passage I discovered that the viewing screen at the back was cracked and not working. Not many pictures today then I thought. We continued over drop out rift and through the connection to Hilliers Cave. A sharp right took us into some very tight and twisty boulder ruckels which led to Upper grotto which is a low passage made of flowstone with some stalls etc. The way on is straight ahead over some shallow pools and then a sharp left into Cambridge grotto. I stayed in Upper grotto while the others went on as I didn't like the look of the tight passage. Once they returned Rich said I should have gone and looked as it was quite magnificent in there. We decided to return the following week with the photo kit and I would man up and crawl in there.
 We back tracked to dropout rift and continued through Hilliers cave  over the small traverse and onto Tar Hall. Its called Tar Hall because the walls are coated with tar which has seeped down through the stone from the Quarry works above. There are lots of flowstone curtains broken on the floor from the explosive blasting from when the Quarry was active. We soon arrived at the base of the climb to the door of the cave. Not long and we all exited to a dry evening. Quite a good trip despite the broken camera lol.

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Waterwheel Swallet, Charterhouse, Mendip.

When:  8 May 2013  7.00 – 9.00 pm.
Where: Waterwheel Swallet, Charterhouse.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T, Tricia, Rachel, Nicky and Chris.


 We parked up and soon got changed into wet suits and caving gear, this is a very wet and sporting cave. The entrance is a steel tube with a lid on to keep the sheep from falling in. There are rungs welded to the inside to climb down. Once at the bottom we followed the passage and passed Oldmans chamber on the left.   A right turn and a climb down later and we had reached some steps followed them down and then back up again and we found ourselves with a climb followed by a more challenging climb. Once the climb had been negotiated we stopped and admired the stalls which were a mix of black and white the black being lead apparently.
 Not far past the pretties is the first of the Dams. These are a series of manmade pools which fill with water but can be emptied by removing a bung. When you remove a bung the pool empties and the water continues to the next pool. The first pool is about a foot deep with about 2 feet of roof space above the water.  We climbed over the dam and as Rich was last to do so he pulled the bung to make the next part of the trip a little more interesting. We followed the path round and climbed down into the next pool. I was first followed by Tricia; I crawled into the passage which was full of water with only about 6 inches of space above the water level. At the next hollow I sat up to take a breather as the next part of the passage looked a bit daunting as there was only a few inches of space above the water and the passage was about 20 feet long. I could hear Tricia coming up behind me. She asked if I was ok and I said “yeah, is it meant to be that deep, it’s covering my nose and mouth?". Tricia replied "Let me take a look" a short silence and she said "I don't remember it being that deep". We had made the mistake of pulling the bung and talking for five minutes or so in which time too much water had gone into the second pool and still more was going in. Rachel back tracked and re inserted the bung and slowly the water level returned to normal. We were joined by Chris and Nicky as they had been late to arrive. We made our way through the flooded tunnels to the top of the pitch leading to the lake. After some inventive rigging from Nicky, Chris life lined us down the ladder. Rach was first and then Rich. I descended the ladder with ease into the lake, disconnected my lifeline and swam the 4 metres or so to the edge of the pool. Nicky was next down the ladder. While she was coming down me and Rich had a look down the rest of the passage which gets smaller and smaller. Nicky and Rachel caught us up and they all went on to the end of the cave squeezing through the rift onto the false floor not far past that the rift shuts down and that is the end. We made our way back to the lake. Rach climbed the ladder followed by me and then it was Nicky's turn then Rich. We were soon all up and de rigged and then swimming back through the tunnels, climbing and clambering we found our way out to a very cold and windy hilltop.
What an epic trip. To me this is what caving is all about as it reminds me of potholing in the Brecon Beacons when I went to Pencilli on a school trip many years ago.

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East Twin Swallet, Burrington Combe, Mendip.

When:  25 April 2013 7.30 – 8.45 pm.
Where: East Twin Swallet, Burrington Coombe Mendip.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T.

 We arrived in the Coombe and parked in the lay-by closest to the cave and were soon changed and following the path to the cave entrance. The stream was lightly flowing into the entrance. To avoid getting wet you can go in to the right of the stream and climb down a 2 metre rift. Once inside the cave resembled a builder’s yard, there were bags of spoil and plastic pipes all over the place. This cave is an active dig site. We followed the scaffolding pipes down into the first chamber where a rift on the right takes most of the stream water.
Ducking under some rock into a smallish passage takes you into the main chamber where the haulage system is set up to remove the dig spoil from the bottom of the cave. The chamber floor is very steep and the diggers have built a series of steps to get down to the bottom. As I had been a numpty and left the survey in the car we decided that it was probably best to retreat and come back another day for the cave didn’t really resemble the survey as there had been so much digging going on.


We exited the cave with some ease which is surprising as the pitch looks quite difficult in reverse lol.
As we had not been long in there we had a look for Foxes Hole cave up the road but couldn’t find it.
We then thought we would have a look at Toothache dig in cheddar gorge. This is one of the clubs digs.
We parked at the gates to Black Rock and put our helmets and wellies on and followed the track. By now it was pitch black and not knowing where the dig is we went back to the car and headed home.

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Swildons Hole, Priddy, Mendip.

When:  27 January 2013 3.30 pm to 7.00 pm.
Where: Swildons Hole, Sump one.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T, Steve, Steve’s Son and Max Fisher.

 ChCC trip to sump 1.


 Rich and I arrived at the usual meeting place outside the barn on Priddy Green. Next arrived Max and then Steve and his son.
We all changed quickly and walked across the fields to the entrance of Swildons Hole. On route to the entrance we met two other club members Chris and Nikky who were on their way back to the barn they looked very wet and very cold, there had been a lot of rain recently and this had thawed the previous week’s snow. The stream going into the entrance looked more like a river.
Rich was our leader for the trip as he wanted to learn the route to the twenty foot pitch.
We opted for the long dry way so we would not get wet too early. It was good to crawl around the stalls etc. We followed the stream way and the water was in full flow going down the pitch into the bottom of the old forty.
We soon reached the top of the twenty pitch and the waterfall was roaring. Steve sorted the kit out and did all the life-lining. I was the third to descend down the ladder. I was a bit apprehensive as this was the first time on a ladder since breaking my foot but my inexpensive safety wellies did their job. The water was very cold and quite powerful.
Once Steve had descended the pitch and sorted out the kit we regrouped and headed for the twin pots. This was my second time here. I had negotiated the pots easily first time but with the water rushing down the stream way it was going to be a different story this time and I was forced to let go and landed in the second pot. Under the water I went. As the story goes I have now been baptized a son of Mendip.
We headed into Barnes Loop and had a quick rest before carrying on down, we also popped up into Tratmans Temple quickly to point out the route into St Pauls and the other bits of the cave.
It wasn't long before we arrived at a very foamy sump 1, Rich and Max did the sump and soon returned, I was getting cold and tired by now so didn’t do it. Next time I will do it.
By now we were all cold and fatigue was setting in so we started the climb back to the twenty.
On the way back we opted to go through a tight rift which I struggled with and had to retreat and climb up the old washing pot. Back at the twenty we soon realised that it was going to be a struggle to climb the ladder as we were tired and the water was now coming down the waterfall quite heavily. It was a team effort to get everyone back to the top.
On we went heading for the exit. The waterfall at the bottom of the old forty turned out to be a bit of a mission and in the end Steve managed to climb up and put a hand line in. We continued via the short dry way and exited to the cold dark Mendip hills with thunder and lightning in the distance.
Once back at the changing barn we hurriedly changed in time for the club meeting.
This was my first proper caving trip after breaking my foot.
 All in all it was a cracking trip.

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Rods Pot, Burrington Combe, Mendip.

When:  7 December 2011 7.15 pm to 9.30 pm.
Where: Rods pot, Burrington.  Digging trip.
Who:    Darren T, Flexx, Andy Sparrow.


 This was our second trip since joining the Cheddar Caving Club and our first digging trip. We met Andy Sparrow at the carpark just passed the cattle grid on link lane. Once we were all ready we walked off to find the entrance. Andy was telling us all about the numerous digs going on in the area and we were soon at the entrance. It’s quite a tight cave and you have to crawl round the edge of some large and deep pots, we soon arrived at the top of the 45ft pitch whereby we climbed down freehand using the flying angel technique. Andy went first and I followed, Flexx brought up the rear I think he was out of sight and couldn’t really see how we descended the pitch so he struggled to get to the bottom. We sat and chatted about the dig for a bit and then heard movement way up above us. It was Burt coming down to join us. It was decided Burt would stay at the bottom of the pitch and distribute the spoil from the digging, I would sit at the entrance to Bone Chamber about 20 feet along a passage from Burt and do the change over of the bags of spoil from one drag cart to the other, Flexx and Andy would go to the dig face about another 20 feet along the passage. While Andy was digging Flexx was busy filling the bags with spoil and loading them into the drag cart. I would then drag the cart to me by hauling on the rope, I would then transfer the bags to the next cart and Burt would then haul them to his position. All was going well until the rope became undone between me and Burt and I ended up with no cart on the end of it, and then had to crawl down the passage to retrieve the lost end of rope. A good job was done and I think we must have moved about 30 to 40 bags of spoil in all.
I even had time to crawl into bone chamber and can see why it’s got that name. Not sure what animal remains are in there but it has been there a long time.
We all decided that we had done enough for one evening and Flexx went back up the rift first. Glad Andy had told us to bring a hand jammer to aid free climbing back up with the aid of the rope. I think we both got up there reasonably well considering how much of that sticky Mendip mud we had stuck to us. Flexx’s new warmbac didn’t look too new now.
It didn’t take long to get to the last Z bend and we could smell the cold night Mendip air coming through the small rabbit hole that is the entrance and exit of Rods pot.
That was our first cave digging trip, did we make any great discoveries of new cave systems, no not this time anyway.

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GB Cave. Charterhouse, Mendip.

When:  23 November 2011 7.15 pm to 10.00 pm.
Where: G B cave Charterhouse Mendip.
Who:    Darren T, Rich T, Rachel Sparrow, Daniel Govier, Nicola Dennis.


 This was our first trip with Cheddar Caving Club. We met at the Charterhouse centre, which is about a mile from the cave. Rich was hiring an oversuit and helmet from the club so Rachel issued him with his kit and we all had to fill out a form so we could be issued with our permits to enter the cave. Parking is a bit tight on the side of the road by the cave so 5 of us piled into the caveclimb 4x4 and Rachel drove us to the lay-by. We met the other members of the trip and got our gear on and proceeded across the field to the cave entrance blockhouse, which is locked. We took the easier route Mud passage that is a flat out crawl this enters into a dry passageway, which continues some 60 meters down. We then came to a gorge which is a stream passageway some 6 meters wide and up to 12 meters high in places.
In another chamber 20 meters wide and 23 meters high for a length of 122 meters there is a bridge formed out the rock by a stream, which can be very fast flowing in the winter. We went down a tight passage and emerged by the side of a waterfall after climbing down we continued to the end of the passage. We then retraced our steps but this time climbed up the entire length of the waterfall and continued to make our way to the surface.
G B Cave is a very pretty cave with lots of calcite and stalagmites and stalactites, which is why it’s locked.

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Swildons Upper Series, Priddy, Mendip.

When:   7:00-10:00 28th September 2011.
Where:  Swildons Upper Series - Butcombe chamber and the oxbows.
Who:     Darren T, Flexx, Dave G, Tim T


 Butcombe Chamber and the Oxbows

 This was mine and Flexx's first trip to Swildons and as neither of us had kneepads and Flexx only had his cotton overall Dave G decided it was wiser to keep us in the upper series. Our route is shown in green on the map below. All in all it was a very good trip and when Flexx gets his warmbac we will return and descend the ladder pitch into the much wetter parts of the cave system.
Swildons upper series - the dry and wet ways, the oxbows and butcombe chamber

We entered by the zigzags and came out above Jacobs ladder; descending Jacobs ladder; at the old grottoe we went outwards up the long dry way,; crossed over to the wet way; up the crack/crawl to butcombe chamber; climbed up various holes in butcombe chamber; followed the stream down to the wet way; climbed to the old forty; descended and did the waterfall under the old forty; headed down to visit the twenty; retraced our steps and came out the wet way; I had a minor accident slipping and falling 4 -5 feet and landing on Daves outstretched arm but luckily no real harm was done.


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