In just over two weeks time the Bristol Exploration Club (BEC) will be hosting the next Wessex Challenge at the Belfry on Mendip! The event will kick off from 3pm on Saturday 28th of June. The BEC promise the usual fun and games alongside an on-site bar and BBQ open to all. They will now…
A human jawbone housed in a small Bristol museum has contributed ancient DNA to ground-breaking research into bacteria. The jawbone was found in Fishmonger’s Swallet, a cave in South Gloucestershire, and is now in the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society’s museum. This was one of four samples from across the UK, ranging from 2,300 to…
Back in September 2024, a few of us entered the Hidden Earth photo salon. There were some beautiful images on display, and SWCC members had varying degrees of success. The salon lead to much discussion, which somehow lead to me being volunteered to org…
“GODSTONE – Falling-in of the Roadway – Breakage of the Water Main.“ The news headline above doesn’t come from any of the reports on the sinkhole that recently appeared in the High Street at Godstone, Surrey. This unsensational heading comes from a news story that broke over 145 years ago in November 1879. Peter Burgess…
The Giles Barker Award is presented to any person connected with any aspect of cave photography in recognition of excellence or contributions to the field; it has a wide remit to allow consideration of many areas of image creation. The award has been running since 1993 in memory of Giles, a keen cave photographer who…
A rich seam detailing what lies beneath the surface of the UK has been donated to two major libraries for researchers to dig into. The collection of over 500 books about mining, minerals and underground infrastructure is the legacy of polymath and enthusiast Paul Sowan, who died in June 2021. Paul left this valuable resource…
Dave King, ATLAS digger, invites you to a weekend of digging, caving and two BBQs in Somerset this summer. 2023 is the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Thrupe Lane Advanced Speleologists (ATLAS). The ATLAS diggers have been involved with many digs over the last 50 years including Thrupe Lane Swallet, Honeymead Hole, Little Crapnell…
The Grampian Speleological Group (GSG), Scotland’s premier caving club, has a long history of producing guides to the country’s caves; indeed this is third edition of a guide that was first published in 1972. However, in another sense this is a new departure. Previous editions were very much home-produced, but this has been laid out…
The latest book on Irish caves to be published by the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society (UBSS) in conjunction with the Speleological Union of Ireland (SUI), Caves of southern Ireland has now gone to the printers and is expected to be launched this Autumn in both Ireland, at the SUI’s annual symposium, and in Bristol….
Reigate has a brand new tunnel, thanks to the efforts of High Peak Geotechnical Ltd., acting on instruction from the Wealden Cave and Mine Society (WCMS). WCMS opens three caves within the centre of Reigate, Surrey, for public tours, under licence from Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. One of the three caves is an abandoned…
Anybody visiting Powell Street, Penwyllt, in the last 18 months would have noticed how little activity there has been, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the restrictions imposed on social activities. As if determined to demonstrate that they are very much still around and keen to get on with caving, members of South Wales…
Team: Duncan Hornby, Simon Lowis, David Mullin, Claire Vivian, Clive Westlake, Tomasz ZalewskiDates: 28th August 2021Passage in Little Neath River Cave. Photo by Tomasz Zalewski.So the 28th August 2021 was a big day for SWCC, it was the 75th anniversar…
ATLAS (the Association of Thrupe Lane Advanced Speleologists) are planning a maintenance session at Thrupe Lane Swallet and are keen to get some help. You can also have a barbecue and catch up with friends as well!
Covid continues to create certainty for events organisers, with some cancelled and others moving online, but there might be light at the end of the tunnel … unless it’s a caver coming the other way. Hidden Earth: the National Caving Conference The following announcement has been made by the Hidden Earth team: “We are sorry…
In a world first, British caver, polar explorer and climate change scientist Gina Moseley is preparing to lead an expedition to the planet’s northernmost caves in Greenland. While the expedition will explore several caves, there is one giant cave in particular that Gina is captivated by. She first found out about it in a conversation…
This account of a caving holiday in South Wales has no exciting discoveries, no dramatic incidents, and no unusual activities. But we hope Peter Burgess’ account of a caving trip to South Wales reminds our readers of the pleasures of simple caving that we have all been missing this year. I returned to one of…
CRO were called to help with an incident in Bar Pot – part of the Gaping Gill cave system under the slopes of Ingleborough. A caver (F 14yo) had fallen about 2.5 metres whilst abseiling down the first pitch of Bar Pot. The caver had landed heavil…
As I type, the Craven Pothole Club (CPC) is well into its 91st year. The founder member in September 1929 was Albert Mitchell, FRGS, who sadly passed away in October 1985. He was a prolific writer on caving and many other subjects. His early career as a reporter for the Craven Herald was partly why…
Sammy Field, from the University of Southampton, visited the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society’s collections as a PhD researcher to collect data for her thesis, ‘Re-evaluating the use of dental wear to estimate age at death of British archaeological remains.’ Sammy has kindly written a guest blog about her work in the UBSS collection. Age…
Here’s Caver Keith’s traditional annual caving roundup video. It contains some previously unseen footage.It’s not been the most prolific year for the studios in terms of videos completed, but it has been a very good year in other ways. Keith’s complete…
Team: Chloe Francis, Duncan Hornby, Tim lewingdon, Helen Stewart & Claire VivianTrip date: 25/1/20A few years ago Claire and I had the privilege of supporting a Freem filming trip beyond the sky hook at the top of Midnight Passage. It was quite an …
UBSS, Bristol. 2019. 364pp, 20 colour photographs, 136 maps and surveys. Hardback, 180mm × 248mm. £20 ISBN 978-0-9545850-1-3 In one sense, Caves of Mid-West Ireland is the fourth edition of this caving guidebook, while in another it is the first. That is, the University of Bristol SS has a longstanding and well known intimate…
On Saturday, 9th November 2019, the University of Bristol Speleological Society brought the public facing part of their centenary year to an end with a superb symposium, and attracted a good number of cavers to enjoy a day of fascinating talks on a wide range of cave science subjects. It was early afternoon on a…
With a record breaking 30 people to arrange trips for, this weekend was a huge one. We had 18 people completely new to caving and 11 who were within their first year of starting caving with SWCC.Meeting bright and early on Saturday morning to kick the …
In 2019, The University of Bristol Spelaeological Society (UBSS), one of the oldest caving clubs in the country, celebrates 100 years of cave and archaeological exploration and research. On the 9th/10th November, to mark the occasion, the society is hosting a weekend of presentations and fieldtrips celebrating its past, present and future. UBSS member Professor…
Bob Hall, on behalf of SWCC and the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu Cave Advisory Group, has sent the following information: Changes to the Administration of Access of the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu System Background The Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system lies within a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest administered by Natural Resources Wales who own the…
Swildon’s Hole and a terminally bad experience in Sump 1 feature in our latest look at caving fiction. I’ve followed Damian Boyd’s West Country police series on and off over the years but managed to miss out on Death Sentence, which features caving as part of the plot, so I’m grateful to Bob Mehew for…
New samples taken for DNA analysis from human bone from Aveline’s Hole by Natural History Museum researchers have thrown up surprising results. Graham Mullan reports on their findings. Aveline’s Hole, Burrington Combe, Mendip, contained the largest assemblage of Mesolithic human remains yet found anywhere in Britain. The cave was excavated in the 1920s by the…
A dig in Bleadon Cavern on Mendip has revealed more pieces to a mysterious puzzle … In 1833, a survey was carried out of Bleadon Cavern by John Heel but was, in all likelihood, drawn up by William Beard who had been investigating the area from 1828. This survey was first mentioned in more recent…
Peter Burgess hears about ritual protection marks, cars going underground, time capsules and threats from out east in the Subterranea Britannica spring meeting at the Royal School of Mines in London. It has been over 25 years since I stopped my regular attendance at the bi-annual lecture meetings of Subterranea Britannica. In the intervening years,…
Pete Buckley and Ali Moody assisted by a band of Wessex diggers have had more success recently at their dig at Bagpit, on the south side of Mendip above Draycott. The site, a low cliff on the east edge of a closed basin with the same name, has three potential entrances. By excavating Pit 1,…
Team: Andy Freem, Antonia Freem, Tim Lewingdon, Andrea Lewingdon, Brendan Hoare, Chloe Thomas, Collin Hoare, Duncan Hornby, Liz Bristow, Mark Lee, Tenzin Lee, Matthew Jones, Jill Brunsdon, Paul Meredith, Haley Meredith, Phill Thomas, Sanita Lustika, Si…
Cavers, no matter how carefully they abide by access arrangements, should always be conscious that for some of our most treasured caves, access can never be taken for granted.
The following information has been released by South Wales Caving Club regarding a revised access route to the entrance of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1. Due to some tensions with a local landowner, please note the following: If you are walking from the SWCC HQ: take the road down the hill, past the start of The…
Chesney the Chipmunk and Valentine the donkey go caving in Reigate. Peter Burgess was there to record the occasion! Cavers do some pretty daft things at times. Spending hours on end in cold gloopy mud, digging out blocked passages that you can barely fit through even after you have forced your way into them, or…
For the first time, curious chalk inscriptions on the walls of an ancient stone quarry in Surrey are being systematically recorded, as part of a wider research project to better understand the long and hitherto hidden history of this important source of stone for London. Many of the chalk inscriptions have been identified as ritual protection marks (RPM).
Mendips Meet, 17-18 NovTeam: Bill Buxton, Celestine Crabbe, Andy Freem, Antonia Freem, Duncan Hornby, Stephen Johnson, George Linnane, Sanita Lustika, Phill Thomas, Claire Vivian, Clive Westlake. With Miri and Duncan Simey in support.This was the last …
This was the biggest Provisionals’ Weekend I have been involved with. We had 34 people come caving with us over the course of the two days and over 20 current club members helped out to make sure everyone had a great experience. Some were current SWCC …
Why not check out Dales water levels before you decide whether to get up? Craven Pothole Club have gone live with a River Ribble monitoring webcam in Horton. Anyone viewing the sites will be able to view live feeds of river conditions to give an indication of how high water levels are.
SWCC Team: Duncan Hornby, Allan Richardson & Claire VivianTrip Date: October 16th 2018Following directly after the SWCC Yorkshire trip meet, Claire and I stayed up North for a few more days. On a wet and miserable Tuesday we headed over to Nenthead…
SWCC Team: Derek Cousins, George Linnane, Helen Hooper, Duncan Hornby, Mark Rees, Lee Smith, Claire VivianDates: 12th October – 14thA smaller team of SWCC cavers descend upon the YSS for a weekend of SRT training and trips. Very wet weather limited our…
Andy and Antonia have been making films for some time now, mostly about caves and caving. Many of their previous productions can be found on their You Tube channel but Tales from Cuthbert’s is their most substantial film yet. St Cuthbert’s Swallet, Priddy, Somerset is a beautiful and complex cave deserving of a great film…
The BCA Cave Surveying Group have just announced an Intermediate Therion training course. The scope of this training course is to improve the skills of people who ideally as a minimum have attended a CSG Paperless Surveying training course or are currently using Therion for their mapping projects. The course is not aimed at people…
SWCC Team – Jill Brunsdon, Bill and Doreen Buxton, John Cliffe, David Eason, Mark Hampton, Duncan Hornby, Andy Jones, Barbara Lane, George Linnane,Darren Mackenzie, David Mullin, Angie Peacock,Claire Vivian, & Tarquin Wilton-Jones Otter Hole Leader…
In January 2018, we reported that the Wealden Cave and Mine Society had been awarded the opportunity to get free radiocarbon dating work performed on archaeological samples from the Reigate area. By the end of March, the results were available, but disappointingly, two of the three samples submitted did not contain sufficient carbon to provide…
Dr Gina Moseley from the Innsbruck Quaternary Research Group will receive one of this year’s prestigious Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) START prizes. The START programme is an Austrian initiative to support and strengthen outstanding research projects in science and humanities. Gina, a member of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society and current Symposium Lecture Secretary…
Team: Derek Cousins, Duncan Hornby, George Linnane, Lesley Markie, Ariana Preston, Lee Smith, Richard Sore, Claire Vivian, Neil Weymouth.Dates: 18th -20th May 2018This club meet saw new and old club members travelling from far and wide to descend upon …
Subterranea Britannica group enters the Kőbánya cellar system, 35 kilometres of underground quarry. Photo: Peter Burgess I was once an active member of Subterranea Britannica, usually abbreviated to “Sub Brit”. Its quirky interest in man-made and man-used subterranean space appealed to me, and my own interests in old mine and quarry workings fitted in well….
The caves in Reigate, Surrey, are in reality sand-cut cellars and sand-mines. The caves that were excavated in Tunnel Road in the nineteenth century were, in part, used as a large beer cellar by the local Reigate brewer, Mellersh and Neale, until the early twentieth century. Local publicans Blackiston and Son also had a cellar…
Three years of digging and the second choke has still yet to yield. It’s not for want of trying, as you’ll discover in the video below. Lots of time spent lying in squalid mud, the main stream and way too many scary moments to be comfortable with!Anton…
Team: Antonia Freem, Duncan Hornby, Ollie Jone, Sally Richards, Alan Walsh & Tarquin Wilton-JonesTrip date: 24/2/18“Team Freem” had been wanting to film the furthest parts of Ogof Craig A Ffynnon for some time and last weekend had been a trip in th…
In the summer of 2017, I was made aware of a scheme to encourage community archaeological groups to submit material for radiocarbon dating. The scheme is known as the Community Archaeology Radiocarbon Dating (CARD) Fund, and there is a simple online application process for suggesting suitable items for dating. The Wealden Cave and Mine Society…
Team: Claire Vivian and Tarquin Wilton-JonesTime: 12 hours. (Saturday 6th January) It all started off so well! Wake up a 5.30am. Yes. Taxi to train station at 6am. Yes. Catch train to Cardiff at 6.30am. Yes. Then things started to go wrong. Leave Neath…
OFD1 to Cwm Dwr – Sun 10 DecemberTeam: Jo White, Helen Hooper, Andy Jones, Darren Mackenzie, Lee Smith, Ariana PrestonTime: 4 hoursNew SWCC provisional member Ariana Preston tells us about her first OFD through-trip. All photos by Darren Mackenzie Our…
December 31st 2017 was a wonderful example of SWCC members coming together and proving that many hands make light of hard work. So read all about it or even better watch the video!Ashford Price, the owner of Dan-Yr-Ogof show cave had very generously of…
Team: Paul Crowsley, Si Lowis, Lesley Markie, John Roe, Samsung S7, Claire Vivian, Neil Weymouth, Tarquin Wilton-Jones.Report and photos: Tarquin Wilton-Jones.This was a very welcome chance to visit one of my favourite caves with some SWCC friends, and…
Team: Andrea Jessup, Matt Jones, Paul Tarrant, Claire VivianThis was a quick evening trip to introduce Andrea to OFD1 and let Matt have a chance to practice his routefinding skills on his second visit to this part of the system. Fun was had, including …
Team: Andrew McLeod, Bob Hall, Duncan Hornby, Helen Stewart, Jo White, Malcolm Stewart, Mason Davis, Morgan Specht,Trevor Rogers, Richard Sore, Tarquin Wilton-JonesDate 18th November – 19th NovemberA few of us arrived at the Shepton on Friday, unusuall…
At the beginning of the summer break of 2017, six members of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society (UBSS) travelled to County Clare on our annual Ireland expedition. Our main objective was to continue the re-surveying of the Coolagh River cave which was started last year. We also had the secondary objective of continuing survey…
Lucy Archer, Barbara Lane, Angie Peacock, Claire VivianA small group of us thought we would scare ourselves silly by visiting Alton Towers for Scarefest on the weekend before Halloween. There were dancing zombies and witches a-plenty, plus the odd ghos…
