Caving in the Mendips

In the late 1960s I was a sixth form pupil at Sidcot School and a member of the Sidcot School Speleological Society or the SSSS. This was a self-governing caving club formed in the 1920s. Pupils went underground without supervision from staff and each trip was led by a sixth former. My friend Chris Davies was a competent caver and I was confident to explore undergound Mendips with him as leader.  Each expedition was written up in the SSSS log book which had an unbroken record of cave visits since 1929. The club was strongly supported by Richard Brayshaw, the headteacher at that time.

Sidcot School lies at the edge of the Mendip Hills, an area rich in subterranean limestone passages, some dry, a few with flowing streams. On the flat-topped hills there are numerous swallow holes leading to a fantastic underground world. The longest of these caves is Swildon’s Hole which connects with the Wookey Hole system. It displays a great variety of calcite formations as well as many features ranging from chambers with deep drops to narrow squeezes, passages with a fast-flowing stream, crashing waterfalls with plunge pools and quiet caverns with only the sound of dripping water. However, there are many other caves in the Mendips each with its own personality and challenges for explorers.

The history of the exploration of Swildon’s Hole exemplifies the problems faced by early speleologists in the UK. The cave was first entered in 1901 by some members of the Wells Natural History and Archaeological Society. For a few years the entrance was blocked by a trout pond. When re-opened, progress was slow. There were obstacles, called pots, where the stream gushed in a waterfall down a vertical drop, the deepest of which was the forty foot pot. The cave system was prone to rapid flooding. Cavers had no specialist equipment and made do with old clothes, leather boots and cloth caps. The legendary local caver and archaeologist Herbert Ernest Balch would wear a shirt and tie underground. Light was provided by candles or paraffin lamps which were both likely to go out due to mud, water or draughts. Free climbing down the pots, underneath a waterfall in darkness, was impossible. Hemp ropes were used to get down these chasms; this was before the days of nylon ropes and coiled metal-runged ladders.

In 1921 Swildon’s first sump was reached. This is a section of passage where the roof dips down below the water level causing a section of completely flooded passage. Progress was halted for 15 years. There was no way of knowing how much of the passage was flooded and a dive would have to be done in darkness. Eventually a crude pump using a re-fashioned football, a hose, and part of a bicycle frame was designed. The first dive in 1936 was over in 10 seconds since the sump was found to be only 6 feet in length. Since then many sumps have been found in the passages beyond and they are now explored by cave-diving, one of the most hazardous of extreme sports.

Swildon’s Hole, in the previous 30 years had been well explored but it remained a challenge. Trips into the cave system, which was an extensive labyrinth of dry and wet (flowing river) passages, needed much planning and stamina. They could last up to 5 hours. By the late 1960s an underground light source was provided by carbide lamps (small acetylene gas lamps) or miner’s electrolytic cells. These were both an advance on paraffin lamps. The carbide lamps, however, were temperamental and easily doused by water. The miner’s battery packs were resistant to water but could lose their charge or develop loose connections. Some cavers bought wetsuits to reduce the danger of hypothermia.

I kept a record of my caving trips between 1969 and 1971 and I’ve used it to describe some of my caving experiences, choosing the most well-known and challenging caves I visited. Chris Davies was often the leader. He had superb caving and climbing skills and an uncanny 3D sense of direction underground so he had an instinct for the best route out of a cave. I always felt that I had an experienced leader if he was in the team. As can be seen, however, the trips were not always without incident or drama.

Swildon’s Hole

Swildon’s was always an exciting place to explore and I’ve started by listing the different trips I made to this wonderful cave. Names had to be left in the farmer’s book at Priddy and the key obtained to unlock the manhole cover over the cave entrance. One SSSS rule was that all members of a group had to be fit and well for an expedition to continue; anyone feeling cold or less than their best and everyone would retreat and head for the surface. It was always more difficult to clamber upstream and against gravity on the way out of a wet cave.

The dangers in Swildon’s are getting lost, falling, drowning, hypothermia, suffocation from foul air and becoming immovably wedged in a very tight section of passage. Otherwise quite safe! There have been many rescues from the Swildon’s system.  The cave is prone to sudden and severe flooding. If this occurs cavers can be trapped for hours or even days by high water. The threat of hypothermia from cold moving water is significant. Treacherous drops demand advanced rope and belay skills, especially where a ladder or rope is below a waterfall.

11th May 1969

Group: Dai Rees, Chris Davies, Phil Laity, Gareth Hopes, Chris Williams.

Trip: 3 hours’ duration.

The stream was twice its normal volume and we were concerned but farmer Maine reassured us there was no rain forecast. We were saturated immediately (no wetsuits) by the small waterfall just below the entrance. Dai’s battery belt broke but he was able to knot it on to his waist. After the first drenching the water felt quite warm, about 9 degrees Celsius. We had no trouble going down the 12 foot pot and the Lavatory Pan. After 1968’s floods the 40 foot pot was now only a 10 foot drop. At the 20 foot pot Chris slipped on the ladder pitch, cutting his finger. We continued through the Double Pots, Barnes Loop (crammed full of beautiful formations) and Tratman’s Temple. Here we turned off through the St Paul’s Series, Balch’s Forbidden Grotto and Blasted Boss to the Mud Sump. Chris began to feel unwell and shivery so we decided to return to surface. My nife cell flickered like a stroboscope then packed up so my return trip was in reflected half-light from the others’ lamps. Chris’ carbide lamp was also unreliable and had to be re-lit. We had left our rope at the 40 foot pot but it had disappeared! Gareth and Dai went down the stream course and found it neatly coiled at the 20 foot pot so another group of cavers had borrowed it. We reached the surface after 3 hours caving. We covered 3,800 feet of passages to a depth of 340 feet.

16th July 1969

Group: Chris Davies, Stephen Crabtree and Chris Williams. Trip: 2 hours.

This visit to Swildon’s was a great jump forwards for us all since we tackled the First Sump. We wore old clothes, no wetsuits. Swildon’s stream was completely dry but the sump was full. We had anxious moments pulling on the fixed rope through the sump, hoping not to get stuck under any overhangs. However, it was easy, a couple of kicks then we emerged on the other side. The water was very cold. We swam through deep water at Duck 1 with difficulty, quickly through Creep 1 and Creep 2 then ran through a wide passage to The Landing. Returning, the fastener on my cord trousers broke and they were down at my knees going back through the sump. It was exhausting to get back through all the passages and up the ladder pitch with one hand holding up trousers.

7th February 1970

Ben Makins, Roger Fiskin, John Perry, Chris Williams. Trip: 2 hours.

The stream was fullish. Roger and I swam through Sump 1. Ben didn’t feel keen and John had a punctured eardrum, so they waited on the upstream side. I had no wetsuit so suffered from the fast-flowing cold water. I was plagued by cramp on the way up the waterfalls and became a ‘son of Mendip’ by falling off a rock pitch backwards into one of the double pots (this was the expression used for anyone falling into a plunge pool underground and getting a total soaking). I led this party but was not in the best fitness after a few months’ break from caving.

6th September 1970

Chris Davies, Gareth Hopes, Phil Kennell and Chris Williams. Trip: 3 hours.

Chris took Gareth through Sump 1 for his first time. I waited at the upstream side with Phil. We explored the passages at the top of the 40 foot pot. Chris free-climbed the pitch at the 40 foot, a commendable feat. We all had wetsuits so it was an easy trip, in fact I overheated and got a crashing headache.

18th October 1970

Chris Davies, David Harbottle and Chris Williams. Trip: 5 hours 30 minutes.

We had no wetsuits so were delighted to find the mud sump completely dry. We did some digging at the SE Inlets and were excited when we made an air connection. We explored the Shatter Series as far as the Duck. We met Richard Law and John Ham and exited with them. It was perhaps a bit too long underground but an enjoyable trip.

1st November 1970

Chris Davies, Richard Law and Chris Williams. Trip: 4 hours and 30 minutes

We had a long session of strenuous digging at the new Sidcot System and removed 25 buckets of mud and rubble. We then had enough energy to tackle the Round Trip. I fell down the Greasy Chimney. First Trouble needed bailing to create an air gap to get through. There were a series of muddy sumps until eventually we reached the Landing with a slide down to the streamway. We visited Sump 2. On the return Richard had dizziness in Duck 1 and 2 and also at Sump 1. The buoyancy of my wetsuit made Sump 1 more difficult to swim through. An excellent trip. Four hours after we left a violent storm flooded the cave.

Ninebarrows Swallet

19th July 1969

Chris Davies, Stephen Crabtree, Chris Williams.    Trip:1 hour 15 minutes

This swallet was dug out for the first time only 3 years before in 1966. We descended at    1 am after an afternoon hay-baling (for a shilling an hour) and an evening’s drinking at The Hunter’s Lodge Inn. The passage contained boulders with serrated, sharp fossils causing unpleasant crawling. The final chamber however was glorious: long stalactite straws and huge curtains.

The main drama of the day happened earlier when we had a look at the entrance to Hunter’s Hole. The shaft is 95 foot deep. Stephen dislodged a large pole, a small tree trunk, and sent it thundering down the shaft, just missing me. We left exploration for another time.

21st September 1969

Stephen Crabtree, Peter Crabtree, Stephen Large and Chris Williams. Trip: 1 hour

A ghastly trip. We cycled up Burrington Coombe to Priddy, me wearing two pullovers and an anorak and loaded down with overalls and boots in my saddlebag. I was seriously overheated and thirsty before we had started caving. It was a painful crawl over boulders with sharp serrated fossils and through cold, muddy pools to reach the final chamber. This had an attractive lily-pooled floor of calcite formations. We plodded back to the hut in a downpour. Cycled down Cheddar Gorge with inefficient wet brakes.

GB Cavern

This cave contains the second largest chamber under the Mendips. The Gorge and Great chamber together are 695 feet in length and 75 feet high. There was a major rockfall in 2021, fortunately at a time when no cavers were underground.

20th September 1969

Chris Davies, Stephen Crabtree, Phil Laity, Nicholas Maufe, Gareth Hopes and Chris Williams.   Trip: 4 hours 30 minutes.

We were all staggered by the enormity of The Gorge. The ladder hung down into the chasm free of the sides and the floor too far below to be seen in the darkness. We were able to climb down using feet on alternate sides of the ladder. A chain gave us some kind of belay protection. We took Mud Passage in preference to Ooze Passage or Devil’s Elbow. Thompson’s Grotto and Bat Passage had remarkably beautiful calcite formations, white and red. The climb back up the ladder was a challenge, with tired arms and very muddy boots, especially the final few feet where the ladder was tight on the rockface. Both Phil and Nick’s lights lost their charge and they had no light for return to surface. We had a big concern when we discovered our key was jammed full of mud and would no longer open the padlock.  Trapped underground! Fortunately my trousers were kept up with a large safety pin and I was able to scrape out the mud and we got the padlock open. We reached 430 foot below the surface.

Sidcot Swallet

11th October 1969

Phil Laity, Roger Fiskin and Chris Williams. Trip: 2 hours 15 minutes

Pupils at Sidcot regarded this correctly as ‘our’ cave. The school’s caving club had discovered it in 1925 and for many years it was the scene of digs in the narrowly contorted passages which go by the names of Purgatory, Hell, The Devil’s Tie-press and, in the final grotto, Paradise. We cycled over to Burrington Coombe, me with a ladder clipped to my belt. A party of 10 were in front of us, and another party of 10 behind us as we descended. And at the Boulder Chamber the 23 of us had to wait for another party of 10 to come up from the Pretty Grotto. We unrolled the ladder down the 15 foot aven and soon got to Garden of Eden. Roger and I free-climbed up the 30 pot by strenuous chimneying. Phil had two attempts but fell back down so he returned via the aven. Purgatory was tight, awkward, sharp and painful. Roger was too exhausted to attempt it.

Goatchurch Cave

This is a popular easy cave for beginners. The earliest recorded entry was in 1736. Bones of mammoth, bear, hyena and cave lion have been found.

26th March 1969

Chris Davies, Gareth Hopes and Chris Williams. Trip: 2 hours 30 minutes

This was my second ever caving trip yet I was one of a group of three who were responsible for guiding a party of 22 12 year-old boys and girls from a Southampton School down into the cave. We had teachers from the school to accompany us. The children arrived at the cave entrance with no lights, no helmets, and ordinary shoes, not boots. We split the party into two groups of 11. Halfway down the main passage one of the boys froze with claustrophobia so I took him back to the surface. We managed to persuade them all to get through the narrow passage at the end of the main gallery but avoided The Drainpipe, a long very tight passage which would have guaranteed some kinds of problems. All out safely after quite a long trip.   

12th October 1969

Stephen Large, Andrew Sparham and Chris Williams. Trip: 1 hour 30 minutes.

This was Andrew’s first cave. He wore sparkling white overalls from his pea factory job and an immaculate helmet. We descended after a huge party from Clifton College. I got through Hellish Tight only after removing my nife cell battery and helmet then led through The Drainpipe, 40 feet of scrabbling on elbows and toes. In the final chamber we turned off our lights and stood in silence and darkness. Andrew was enthusiastic about his caving trip.

Lamb Leer

1st February 1970

Chris Davies, Phil Laity, Stephen Large, Stephen Crabtree and Nick Maufe.  Trip: 3 hours

This was the world’s first pothole ever descended as part of modern cave exploration (as opposed to mining or prehistoric cave dwelling) by the geologist John Beaumont in 1681. He gave an account of his descent to the Royal Society. It had been first found around 1676 by miners looking for lead. Subsequently lost, it was re-discovered in 1880 when a new shaft was driven in. It became a tourist attraction and people could be winched down in a large bucket. In the late 1930s a crude cable-car was in place across the Great Chamber. In 1974 a caver with no belay rope fell off a ladder and badly injured another caver standing below on the cavern floor. In later years access to the cave has not been permitted by the landowner.

Our caving trip got off to a bad start. The pedal fell off my bike with 5 more miles to go; I slowly cycled with one leg for the remaining distance. Stephen Large’s carbide exploded at the bottom of the entrance chimney and went out for good. We found a pile of gunpowder but disappointingly were unable to light it. A build-up of carbon dioxide in St Valentine’s Series caused us to abandon it. I was entirely exhausted by the climb back up the 65 foot free-hanging ladder pitch.

Mangle Hole

8th November 1970

Chris Davies, Stephen Crabtree, Richard Law and Chris Williams.   Trip: 3 hours

This cave was discovered on the 27th October (12 days before) by two London cavers but they had no ladders to explore a deep rift. It was named by the discovery of an old mangle in the entrance. It had been fully explored just 2 days before by Chris Davies, Stephen Crabtree and Willie Stanton. Our visit was to photograph the unique mud stalactites that they had seen in the furthest reaches of the cave.

We took plenty of ladder to get us down the 75 foot of steeply inclined muddy, loose rift. We spent an hour untangling and unwinding rope ladders and belay ropes in a confined space as we descended. The descent was slowed by the instability of the rock, the narrowness of the rift, an overhang and glutinous mud flows. I was carrying the ammo box (camera inside) which constantly jammed against the constricted sides of the unstable chimney while at the same time attempting to see with a flickering light.  The helmet which I’d borrowed was a few sizes too big and it persistently fell over my eyes. This was happening during a long descent of a yawning rift chasm.

At the bottom of the rift (after a final 20 foot vertical which took us below sea level) we found the mud formations.  I photographed these delicate mud stalactites, some polyp fossils and a huge slab of rock which had fallen down the rift and was jammed between the sides. We named this the Grand Piano. The photography was laborious because each photo needed a separate flash bulb. It was a struggle to keep mud away from bulbs, the flash unit and the camera and prevent fogging of the lens by our breaths.  It was not made easier by my light which did one last flicker then went out for good. I did not enjoy the long climb out of the rift, through mud and up an overhang, in the reflected light of the others’ lamps. The ladder was tight against the 70 degrees inclined rock meaning it was hard to get boots securely on the ladder rungs. We emerged with some relief after 3 hours. The photos came out well and were published in the Wessex cave journal.

Looking back at these caving experiences I can only admire a school that had enough faith in its sixth form pupils in the 1960s to allow them to organise their own exploration of the caves of the Mendips. We were, though, well aware of the many dangers and also keen to avoid a rescue by the famous Mendip Cave Rescue (MCR) with subsequent newspaper reports. I remember the feeling of excitement after each trip; I had been exploring an entirely different world, almost unknown and inaccessible. They are precious memories from that time.