ramblingon

11th August 2016: with Roz Simmonds. Duncan Price and Tom Chapman were in the also cave surveying from Chambers 9 to 20.

Tried out the new camera – Olympus TG-4 – but only quick point and shoots, it really requires a dedicated photo trip to try it out properly.

At the dig with Roz we cleared enough of last weeks effort to enable more holes to be drilled. The rock is not good – there is too much calcite including flowstone, it’s fractured, there are voids and mud filled cracks. It was difficult to get 4 hole drilled and those weren’t brilliant, there were some failed attempts too. Charged the holes I had and the evenings task was completed from a safe distance.

Exited the cave and met up with DP and TC who were just leaving Chamber 9.

4th August 2016: with Tav (Duncan Price and Claire Cohen).

Tav and myself made our way quickly up to the high route along the rift that we had started to widen last week. Cleared the debris that had been created and drilled some more holes and charged ready to make some more work for the next session. Made our way along the traverse and didn’t have to wait too long for DP and Claire, who had been down the lower route to the sump to deliver some dive kit ready for the next push. Completed my task successfully and we all exited the cave.

3rd August 2016: Kingdown Unconformity. NGR ST 5007 5352.

Mercia Mudstone Group (Marginal Facies) – Conglomerate of Triassic Age approx. 200 to 251 million years ago overlies Oxwich Head Limestone Formation of Carboniferous Age approx. 326 to 335 million years ago. Scale = 1 metre.

28th July 2016: with Tav, Nick Hawkes and Matt Tuck.

After about a three month lay-off it was good to return to the explorations beyond Chamber 20. This was a relatively quick in and out trip to get things going.

We had followed the lead first pushed by divers, Tom Chapman and Keith Savory, and this had ended at another sump that Duncan Price is planning to dive in a few days time. The plan is to follow another potential lead at a higher level, unfortunately this is a little constricted, hence the purpose of this evening jaunt.

Drilling wasn’t good as there was a bit too much calcite to get through and some alterations were called for. Perseverance paid off, job done and a satisfying conclusion. We’ll see next trip how things worked.

As usual it was rather warm tonight and I was only wearing the lightest of caving gear, Matt, however suffered most in his nice warm fleece and heavy duty cordura oversuit.

To the Hunter’s for refreshments and debrief.

Haggs Brow Excavations, Lower Winskill, Yorkshire Dale National Park.

Just spent an enjoyable few days on this project at Lower Winskill in the Yorkshire Dales with a group of fine like minded individuals seeking to further their experience and knowledge of caves and environment in this area, me included. The attached pdf is a record of my personal account of proceedings.

It is hoped that this is an initial phase of a longer ongoing investigation of the Lower Winskill environs and could, perhaps, spread to other features within the wider landscape.

The pdf above provides some useful guidelines to the treatment of animal bones recovered during excavations. A whole lot of further information on cave archaeology can be found on the BCRA_Cave Archaeology Special Interest Group website.

9th May 2016: took a stroll from Blackrock Gate up to Longwood to admire the fine display of bluebells there.

28th April 2016: I’m out of action for a while following some surgery on a dodgy elbow. However, the quest off Chamber 20 continues and thanks go to Nick Hawkes for penning the latest instalment, as follows:

Duncan, Brockers, Sam, Nick and Gavin(Newman)

7pm start, with a trophy tourist / filmaker, Gavin who occupied himself trying to recreate photo scenes fom the past, identifying the precise locations from where the old shots had been captured.

Fortunately the rest of us had better things to do and quickly headed straight to the end. With the way remaining clear after last weeks efforts we all slid down through. Sam took up the task of heading forwards at the very base of the rift while the rest of us further cleaned out the ‘slut’ above. After a full session digging the muddy slut was much bigger with steps carved for ease of exit, meanwhile Sam had headed on headfirst to a slightly bigger area with a boulder blocking the way on….a long inclined rift was visible. Nick gave assistance and the boulder was removed. Sam was duly despatched to investigate the rift. He quickly reached a point near the end, perhaps 15 to 20m on, where the gently inclined rift turns sharply to a vertical inclined rift. Nick then came to look on beyond and it was quickly agreed that it was time for the pub and not wise to try and progress any more as it looked bloody tight.

It was significantly more knackering coming out than going in and it didnt help that Gavin was gleefully waiting to film and question us as we emerged from the dig….

This metalwork hoard, probably of bronze/copper alloy was recently uncovered on a site in North Somerset. It was block lifted by yours truly and, subsequently dispatched to the county FLO to be further examined and fully excavated at a later date, as yet a report has not been published. The hoard is likely to be classified as type ‘founders’ hoard’ as it appears to consist mostly of scrap metal and might have been an ‘economic deposit’ placed in the ground by artisans for safekeeping and never recovered.

The deposition of hoards is a phenomenon that occurs throughout the Middle and Late Bronze Age, thousands have been found across the British Isles. These hoards might be represented by a few objects, or there could be hundreds of pieces of metalwork in a range of forms that includes weapons, tools, ornamental items and scrap or broken metal.

23rd April 2016: In Harptree Combe ST 5618 5600.

Aqueduct for Bristol water supply, completed in 1851, the engineer was John Simpson.

14th April 2016: with Nick, Brockers and Dunc.

I had amassed a pile of kit to go underground including 2no. BDH’s filled with cement, drill with assorted bits and hangers, new skip and a 1 ton dumpy bag, all to deal with the sloppy sediment issue. I was glad to see a good team to carry it.

On inspection at the end there wasn’t quite enough space to fix the dumpy bag in the side rift so a rapid rethink of strategy was needed. A wall was constructed in the larger rift, this meant a rearrangement of the rock-pile that was already there, mixing the cement with the sloppy sediment dried it and the mixture used as mortar in the wall, hopefully it will harden.

While this was going on Brockers had been digging away at the end, in a largely solo effort, he then called back ” I can see open passage” the question came, how much? “nearly 10 metres”. I went down to have a look and there was passage beyond although it, initially, didn’t appear too big and there was a lot of spoil in the way. Got to work with the spade, passing the sticky mud back to Brockers, then got to work with the feet pushing the spoil ahead, “he’s like a human bulldozer” Brockers exclaimed. The mud went and I went with it squeezing through into the passage ahead, ‘that’s going to be interesting on the return’ I thought to myself. I had entered c.10 metres of steeply inclined bedding with a vertical drop of c. 5 metres, it was relatively comfortable progress and there were a few formations. There is a continuation at the bottom that will require a bit more digging – encouraging though. After wriggling back up through the squeeze I suggested that someone else should take a look, second opinion and all that. Nick took up the challenge and he too was equally impressed.

Satisfied with our evenings effort we made our way out of the cave and, of course, up to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn.

7th April 2016: with Jake, Nick, Brockers, Duncan P, also Sam Batstone, Roz Simmonds, Jeremy and Luke Hawkes.

Duncan has a sore back so took Roz, Jeremy and Luke on a tour around while the rest of us headed down the rift to dig. Nick, Jake and Brockers went to the bottom, Sam stayed at the top of the ladder to haul the skip and pass it up to myself where I was stashing the rock debris at the base of one of the climbs. There was a lot of rock coming up and eventually the available space, that was limited anyway, was just about used up. More of the spoil had been stacked below the ladder and there’s still plenty of sediment, some quite sloppy, to remove. There’s plenty to keep the team busy for a couple of weeks or so. By the time the tour party reached us we were just about ready to leave the cave and head up to the pub. With all the rock stacked at the base and part way up the rift the climb, that had been a tad awkward, was now much easier. A good session.

31st March 2016: with Tav, Nick, Brockers and Peter Bolt.

Continuing the exploration of the rift off Chamber 20 in Wookey Hole. This evenings trip was more about the application of some rock engineering technology really. While I was attending to that the rest of the team set about tidying the spoil and ensuring that the available stacking space was being utilised efficiently. When I had done my bit then my bags were whisked away out of the cave for me, all I had to do was to bring the task to a satisfactory conclusion and extract myself from the cave. Should be plenty to clear next session.