5th August

5th August

Vince, Tav, Brockers, Nick, Jon, and Jake Full team available today which means the spoil will be moved, in one go, from dig to surface. At the current dig, down in the deep Soft South at the end of the NE passage below Trick or Treat, Tav worked away in the righthand corner, loosening sediment, […]

22nd July

22nd July

With Jon, Jake, and Nick As planned, arrived at HR early with drill and plugs/feathers. Down to the deep Soft South and along to the end of the NE passage and the current dig. There are a couple of large boulders left behind from previous digging sessions that require some reduction in size. The boulders […]

10th December

10th December

With Jon, Nick, Brockers, and Mike The boulders bite back! I was upfront digging under the pissing tree, well actually, somewhere close to Trick or Treat, at the current end of the NE passage in the deep Soft South. Jon was next in line filling bags and shifting away the rocks as I loosened the […]

3rd December

3rd December

With Brockers and Jake A bit thin on the ground today but I am sure we will manage to get plenty done. Brockers and Jake headed to the Soft South to start digging, I went in another direction making my way towards Trick or Treat. Decided against going through Toil and Trouble so off to […]

26th November

26th November

With Brockers, Mike, Duncan, and Jake Smaller team this weekend. Down at the current end of the NE passage in the deep Soft South, Brockers was busily digging underneath the pissing tree, Mike was clearing away the spoil back to the pot. I was on the slippery ledge (clipped in for safety), Duncan at the […]

5th October

5th October

Solo Down in the deep South Soft, along the northeast passage and ‘underneath the pissing tree,’ I set to work with the plugs and feathers. The plan being to trim some of the rock and boulders that were jutting out from the passage sidewalls, so that a skip would run more freely along the route […]

24th September

24th September

I had an appointment at Bath Racecourse, where there is a vaccination centre, for another (4th) covid jab. Hence, I was unavailable for digging but the rest of the team kept up with the task: Report by Jon: “Three diggers (Jake, Tav and Jon) arrived at the farm at the appointed hour. Jake remembered the […]

17th September

17th September

With Brockers, Nick, Jon, and Mike Started the session with a small team, no matter. Brockers and Nick upfront digging, Jon was moving the filled bags back to the pot. The bags were hauled up to the ledge where I unloaded the bucket and carried the filled bags along the passage back towards the entrance. […]

16th July

16th July

With Jake, Brockers, Duncan, and Nick Me and Jake down in the deep Soft South forging ahead along the NE passage, Brockers on the ledge, Duncan at the bottom of the entrance, Nick on the surface. Following the set quota of 20 bags per number of participants, a total of 100 bags were filled, hauled, […]

2nd July

2nd July

With Brockers, Nick, Jake, and Duncan Brockers and Nick digging so a regular supply of well-filled bags was to be expected. I was on the ledge catching the hauling bucket and transferring its load to the next skip to be hauled away by Duncan positioned at the bottom of the entrance. Jake was on the […]

11th June

11th June

No digging took place last weekend (4th June) I was in the Yorkshire Dales (BCRA CA SIG Field Meeting at Lower Winskill, Settle) and the team took advantage of the longer [Jubilee] bank holiday. With Brockers, Jon, Jake, and Nick Nick and Jake were today’s digging team down in the deep Soft South heading NE, […]

30th April

30th April

With Jon, Brockers, Phil, Jake and Tav. Jake and Tav digging in the deep Soft South, Brockers on the ledge, Phil at the bottom of the entrance, leaving me and Jon on the surface. Jon and I alternated the tasks of hauling and emptying bags, adding any rocks to the various terrace walls, and generally […]

26th March

26th March

With Brockers, Jake, Jon, Duncan, and Mike turned up later in the morning. Me and Brocker digging, alternating the loosening sediment/filling bags, and hauling the spoil up to the ledge. Jake was on the ledge, catching the bucket and transferring its contents to the skip to be hauled away by Duncan, at the bottom of […]

25th March

25th March

Update on recent activities by Tav: “Hallowe’en Rift – 19.03.2022  Tav and Jon digging, Duncan on the ledge, Brockers and later Nick on the haul and Jake and Brockers on the surface. 110+ bags plus rocks.   Hallowe’en Rift – 12.03.2022  Jake and Brockers digging, Nick on the ledge, Tav hauling and stacking at the […]

12th February

12th February

With Tav, Jon, Jake, Duncan, Nick, Brockers, and Caroline The first task of the session was completed by the Technical Manager, Brockers installed a swivel on the pulley attached to the pot hauling system. Me and Tav were digging, alternating the filling of bags, and hauling the bucket up to Jon on the slippery ledge. […]

15th January

15th January

With  Jon, Brockers, Jake, Duncan, Nick, and Tav After digging last weekend, me and Jon were on the surface; Duncan was at the bottom of the entrance, resting his knee following a trip into Wookey 22 yesterday. Brockers and Nick were digging, this left Jake and Tav to occupy the ledge and the junction (I […]

27th November

27th November

I was on a trip to the Peak District attend the BCRA Cave Science Symposium being held at Hulland Ward, near Ashbourne. Decided to stay at the Orpheus Caving Club hut. The passing of Storm Arwen sort of changed our plans and we spent nearly 5 hours digging snow off the track leading up the […]

20th November

20th November

With Brockers, Jake, Jon, and Nick Earlier start for me, some large boulders to start reduction to more manageable pieces. Underground about 09:00am. The largest of the boulders was much thicker than expected and only achieved in trimming off the edges. So, concentrated my efforts on the slightly smaller rock and almost finished when Brockers […]

25th September

25th September

Vince, Brockers, Jon, Jake, Duncan, Nick, and [French] Matt (?) As planned, I got to the farm early, changed, kit sorted and walked up across the fields to the cave. Underground by 0900hrs. Set to work with the plugs & feathers reducing the sizeable boulders at the bottom of the pot in the deep Soft […]

28th August

28th August

With Brockers, Jake, Tav, Nick, and Duncan (for the morning session). A bit of fettling of the pulley system and hangers beforehand, some discussion about the best position for pulling up the skip, we settled on the diggers hauling the spoil from the bottom of the pot. Jake and Tav were digging for the morning […]

21st August

21st August

Vince, Brockers, Jake, Jon, and Tav. Me, underground by 09:00 as planned, got the kit laid out and set to work breaking up boulders. Sometime after 10:00 Brockers turned up and made a start on bagging up the loose gravel and fine sediment. Then Jake arrived followed by Jon and a bit later, Tav. Jake […]

14th August

14th August

Vince, Brockers, Tav, Nick, Duncan. Jon, and Jake. Met with Brockers at the farm 08:30 where we got our respective bits of kit together and walked up to the cave entrance. Underground by 09:00. I got on with the task of reducing boulders to a manageable size using plugs and feathers while Brockers sorted out […]

7th August

7th August

With Brockers, Jake, Jon, Nick, Tav, and Duncan. Morning session: Tav and Jon digging in the deep (and getting deeper) Soft South, Jake on the ledge hauling the skip up out of the pit (c.100+ loads – top effort!) and transferring the contents to the next skip. I was at the junction hauling away the […]

19th June

19th June

Vince, Jon, Jake, Brockers, Nick, Tav, and Duncan Morning session: Brockers digging, aided, and abetted by Nick; me and Jon were hauling the skips along the passage from the Soft South back to the entrance. Jake and Tav were on surface, they were joined later in the morning by Duncan. The filled bags were moved […]

29th May

29th May

Vince, Jake, Nick, Tav, Brockers and Duncan. Some decent weather at last and surface duties were a popular option today. Morning session: me and Jake were on the surface; Brockers and Duncan were digging with Nick and Tav clearing away. Now it had dried out a bit, some spoil heap re-distribution could be carried out. […]

8th May

8th May

Vince, Nick, Jake, Duncan, Jon and Tav. A grey, overcast morning but it seemed that the heavy rain had passed over and would not spoil the lunchtime picnic. Morning session, me and Nick digging, Jon and Tav clearing away, Jake and Duncan on the surface. We decided to start removing the lower bench to widen […]

1st May

1st May

Vince, Jake, Nick, Tav, Jon, Brockers and Duncan. Following my 2nd covid vaccination jab on Tuesday I have been suffering with an ‘iffy’ shoulder, hauling stuff out to the surface and digging is off the agenda for me. I settled down at the bottom of the entrance and transferred the spoil from skip to skip, […]

24th April

24th April

Vince, Brockers, Jake, Nick, Tav, and later, Caroline. A lovely sunny day perfect for digging, and long may it continue. Tav turned up laden with digging skips and a rope net expertly constructed by Dave Brook and kindly donated to the cause by Alison Moody. These were to be put into use as soon as […]

10th April

10th April

Vince, Jake, Brockers, Nick, Tav, Jon, Duncan, and Mike. A ‘full’ complement of participants today, we split into two groups; one group on the surface consisting of me, Jake and Brockers, the second group underground. The extra pair of hands on the surface enabled spoil heap management to be undertaken and the slope was redistributed. […]

3rd April

3rd April

At last breaking free from lockdown and the digging team assembled for the first time in 2021. After a quick chat underground, I returned to the surface with Brockers to haul-out and empty bags, etc. The rest of the team mixed it up underground and shared the duties. The filled bags emerged from the cave […]

2nd January

2nd January

A low turnout for the first digging session of 2021 but, not wholly unexpected. The UK government has imposed more corona-virus pandemic restrictions, that includes an ever-fluctuating and rather confusing “Tier” system. And, the weather is not great, temperatures are just about at freezing point or below and the roads are icy. As a follow […]

24th October 2020

24th October 2020

Vince, Nick, Jake, Jon and Brockers. After some discussion at the entrance me and Nick went along to the “Cold Gnarly North” while Jake, Jon and Brockers returned to the “Sunny South West”. We had decided to revisit the “Cold Gnarly North” to retrieve the empty packs of bags, tools and other sundry items including […]

10th October 2020

10th October 2020

With Jake, Jon, and Nick. A mellow morning digging session back in the “Sunny South-West” passage. We had spent quite some time enlarging this passage only to put it on the ‘back-burner’ in favour of the “Cold Gnarly North”. Nick was poked into the rather constricted end and left to his own devices in an […]

12th September 2020

12th September 2020

With Brockers, Jake, Jon, and Nick. Missed last weekend (5th-6th September) as I was excavating at Bagpit with Professor Danielle Schreve and Ali Moody to extract some Pleistocene animal bones, mainly aurochsen and horse. This meant that there was nothing to clear this weekend. A bit of a re-assessment at the current end of the […]

29th August 2020

29th August 2020

Vince, Brockers, Jake, Duncan and, another late show by Nick (it is becoming a habit!). The usual thing, up to the end, check all was good and start clearing the debris. All the loose material loaded directly into the skip to be bagged elsewhere. Some hammer and chisel work removed fractured rock from the walls. […]

1st August 2020

1st August 2020

Vince, Brockers, Jon, Tav and a late appearance by Nick. At the current end of Cold Gnarly North, checked to make sure all was good before the morning’s activities got underway, quite a lot of gravel had had been ejected along the approach and needed tidying. Tav followed me up for a gander but declined […]

18th July 2020

18th July 2020

Vince, Brockers, Jake, Jon, and Nick. Yesterday I had spent some time fettling a dozen skips for use in HR from six 25 litre containers supplied by Hugh Tucker, these were loaded into the van along with the rest of the kit, all prepped and packed, ready to go. At the farm, the team congregated, […]

14th March 2020

14th March 2020

The global pandemic, Covid-19 (corona virus), that is spreading at an alarming rate requiring various Governments around the world to take draconian measures to protect us all, well that’s what they want us to believe, has in a roundabout sort of way, affected our activities in Hallowe’en Rift this week too. Earlier in the week, […]

Seek and ye shall find – the discovery of Beard’s lost passage in Bleadon Cavern

Seek and ye shall find – the discovery of Beard’s lost passage in Bleadon Cavern

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…