"GIANT'S HOLE" AND "MANIFOLD"
Between Sparrowpit and the head of the Winnats the old road from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Castleton skirts what is, geologically, one of the most important localities in Derbyshire. It runs along the side of a shallow upland valley, about 1200 feet above tide-level and two miles long, which is bounded on two sides by the curve of Rushup Edge and on the other two by Elden Hill, Windy Knoll, and other Limestone acclivities. One of the great faults of the Pennine chain traverses this valley longitudinally, the Yoredale strata having been thrown down to the level of the Limestone, so that the middle of the valley is the boundary between the Yoredale rocks, shale grits, and milestone grit on the north, and the Limestone plateau of Mid-Derbyshire on the south. The valley is completely encircled by higher ground; there is no egress for streams on the surface. Accordingly other modes of drainage are to be looked for, and they will be discovered in a numerous series of swallets situated along the line of the fault, the water that runs over the impervious shales perforating the Limestone as soon as it comes in contact with it. This shallow valley, in fact, is the gathering ground for the waters that pour into the abyss of the Speedwell Cavern, traverse Peak Cavern, and make their way to the open air at Russet Well and other springs at Castleton. That such is the case has long been proved by observations of the temperature and colour of the waters, and by tracing chaff and other things thrown into the upland streams. But there exist hardly enough data to establish the theory of the French speleologist, M. Martel, that Peak's Hole Water comes from Perryfoot, and the water of Russet Well from Coalpit Mine, near Sparrowpit. All that is definitely known is that these waters run through the massive Limestone for distances varying from two to three miles and reappear in Castleton, 600 feet beneath. Whether they unite into one or two large streams, which form considerable chambers and caverns in the inaccessible region beyond the farthest known parts of Speedwell and Peak Caverns, is an interesting question, that tempts one to answer boldly in the affirmative, since the action of underground streams in Somerset and Yorkshire seems to justify the assumption, if we take into account the extent of the vertical joints eaten away by the water in its descent of 600 feet, and the effects of periodical floods. In Somerset, in a situation exactly similar, two caves of 600 feet fall and 2000 feet horizontal measurement have recently been discovered by opening similar swallet-holes. Is there any hope of finding such hypothetical cavern or caverns here by exploring, and if necessary opening artificially, any of the swallets between Perryfoot and Giant's Hole? The investigations recently carried out by a friend and myself do not make us hopeful that if there are such caverns they will ever be made accessible.
We began our work at Giant's Hole, which opens in the bottom of a little gorge between Peak's Hill and Middle Hill. The brooklet that runs in at the cave mouth was very low, and we passed almost dryshod over the rough stones that cover the stream-bed for some 60 feet. Giant's Hole has an arched entrance about seven feet high, and the first part of the cave retains the same form. Then the walls contract, and the cave takes the shape of a deep and narrow canyon, cut through solid rock, with the stream coursing along at the bottom over little falls and waterslides and through pools that are not easy to pass without a wetting. One hundred and fifty feet from the entrance to the cave is a lofty rift, near the top of which an upper gallery turns west, the general direction of the main passage being southerly. Passing this, we followed the stream downhill for another fifty or sixty yards, and were then brought to a standstill by a partial choke. At this point a quantity of stones and gravel comes within two feet of the roof, and the water is dammed back in a pool a foot deep, so that there is barely a foot of clear space between water and roof.
Returning to the steep climb to the upper gallery, we scaled the wet and slippery rocks, and found ourselves on a shelf over the canyon. The shelf gave ingress to the gallery, which rose gently in a westerly direction, with frequent twists and turns, and then turned north. In 150 feet it divided. We scrambled on; but all the branches evidently approached the surface of the ground, becoming earthy, and we soon found it impossible to get any farther. This upper level, which for our purposes was of less interest than the lower, is incrusted with deposits throughout its length of 80 or 90 yards. There are stalagmite curtains and sheets of tufa on the walls, the older rocks on the floor are cemented together with a crust of polished stalagmite, and some of the boulders are covered with shining enamel. We found it best to use an Alpine rope in getting back to the lower level, the ledges underneath not being easy to find by candlelight. Outside the sun was shining brightly, and the light that streamed in at the cave mouth, through the ferns and flowers and grasses that encircled it, was stained a fairy-like green.
Continuing our way through the gorge between the sharp Limestone knoll of Peak's Hill and the bulkier Middle Hill, we followed a stream that comes down from Rushup Edge, perforates the Limestone base of Peak's Hill, and comes out on the other side at a small cave. In three furlongs this stream is swallowed under a cliff some 20 feet high, the ingress at present being through a series of holes, where the water makes an intermittent roaring, almost like the throb of a hydraulic ram, as if a siphon were momentarily discharging. Older rifts are seen in the same line of cliffs, and can be penetrated for 30 feet, but are now deserted by the water save at flood-time. Farther on is a deep depression in the hillside, big enough to engulf a house. It is supposed locally to have been produced by the falling in of a cave roof, but it is more probably an independent swallet, one of a series, nearly all funnel-shaped and long out of working order, that lie along a higher level in the Limestone than those that occupy the line of demarcation from the shales. The biggest of them is Bull Pit, which we come to later. Next to the last pair of large openings into which streams are running, and which may be called the Peak's Hill Swallets, since their waters rise out of Peak's Hill, we come to a large irregular series of trough-shaped hollows converging on another swallet at this same geological border-line. The openings here are all little ones. But the next swallet has a cave above it, into which we entered. It does not go far, but it has two ascending branches that can be traced to two small depressions in the Limestone where tiny affluents have percolated and cut for themselves little tunnels in the rock. The next swallet beyond this has but a small opening, although the hollow cut out by its rivulets through the shales is hundreds of square yards in area. An abrupt cliff walls in the hollow on the Limestone side, only a few paces from which are naked patches of Yoredale rocks, clearly defining the boundary of the two series.
We now came to one of the most interesting openings that we have met with. It lies about 200 yards north of Bull Pit. As often happens, immediately above the swallet, in the Limestone, is a deep chasm almost perforating the escarpment. At the base of the escarpment is a rounded archway with a turbulent stream running in. After securing a photograph we enter, and make our way down stream easily for a little distance; then the cave twists and narrows, and at a distance of 40 feet or so we are disappointed to find the channel too confined for us to force our way farther. Outside we had observed that the basin-shaped area had been flooded not long ago, and inside the vegetable débris that was plastered over the walls and roof showed that the swallet must have been completely choked during the recent wet weather. But the peculiarity of this swallet was that the solid mass of rock through which the stream had carved its way was not ordinary Limestone, but beautifully veined and crystalline like marble, and its surface smooth and polished. It had very much the same appearance as the marmorised Limestone found in the neighbourhood of intrusive lavas, such as those near Tideswell. By the action of the water it had been sculptured into fantastic shapes; in one place a corner had been cut through and a small pillar left, joined to the rock at top and bottom. We scrambled with some difficulty into the chasm behind the swallet. At the bottom, on the same side as the existing swallet, was the broad and lofty arch of a cave, which went only a few yards in, otherwise it would have broken through the escarpment. Right above the keystone of the arch was a weathered group of stalactites hanging from a ledge, and under them the broken stalagmite floor of a tiny grotto. It is a rare thing to find such deposits in the open air, and doubtless it indicates that the chasm was formed by the destruction of a larger cave. A thick deposit of earthy mud covered the floor, and at one side a big hole penetrated this to a depth of six feet, the work of a stream that had perhaps not run for ages. This deposit, though dry, was so soft that I nearly sank through into the hole. We found four birds' nests in this cave mouth, with eggs and young in them, and were disappointed not to come across the egg of a cuckoo that flew out the moment before we entered. In the wiry grass not far away from the top of the cavity we discovered a lark's nest with two eggs in it.
Bull Pit lies in the wood just above this opening, nearer the road. It is a great open abyss, walled on three sides by crags of Limestone nearly a hundred feet high, and with trees growing all round the edges. This, no doubt, is a very ancient swallet that has not been in operation for ages—belongs, perhaps, to the same period as Elden Hole, which opens 200 or 300 feet higher, a mile away, on Elden Hill. A little way on, near Perryfoot, we come in sight of another very ancient cavity, on the side of Gautries Hill. It is a gaping pit about 70 feet deep, with a noble arch inside, spanning the entrance to a broad cave. At present the cave mouth is silted up with sand and clay. All these rocky openings are the lurking-places of beautiful ferns and mosses; the feathery fronds of the Limestone polypody, the late primroses, various saxifrages, and the delicate foliage of herb robert making a brave show. The wilder birds take refuge there. A crow flew out of the hole on Gautries Hill, and one day on approaching Elden Hole I was startled by a dense cloud of jackdaws, more than a hundred, suddenly rushing out. Farther down, from 50 to 100 feet lower, a host of starlings had built their nests on the walls of the chasm. Disturbed, they came flying up in twos and threes, beating the air in painful efforts to wing their way straight up and out of the hole.
At Perryfoot a stream is engulfed which M. Martel considers to be the source of Peak's Hole Water, and to be identical with the stream that flows through the inmost passages of Peak Cavern. It now runs into a cleft that is too small to be explored. But at a comparatively recent date it was swallowed in a number of large fissures in a crescent-shaped wall of Limestone 100 yards away. Most of these openings are impracticable, but at the extreme east I had already reconnoitred a promising cleft which we now proceeded to examine thoroughly. This complicated swallet, with the passages behind it, is known locally as "Manifold." Going east for 35 feet, the fissure divides, one passage striking up towards the surface and the other turning south. We soon had to crawl, the passage being very low, narrow, and lined with objectionable stones. After 30 feet more we came to a wider place, with a sort of chimney on one side. Here was the sole mark of humanity that we found in this cave, a stake that had apparently been used to climb into the chimney. Nothing was gained by climbing it, so we squeezed our way along the main passage. Now the tunnel grew into a high but narrow canyon where we could stand upright, then it dwindled to a tunnel again, generally descending, but occasionally rising in what was once a siphon. We passed one or two branches, at the most important of which the principal tunnel curved to the left and descended a little more steeply over some small ledges and basins brimming with water. We began to feel sanguine about the wished-for cavern, but presently the diameter of the tunnel grew so small that we could not advance another yard. My companion was some distance behind with his candle out, and I would not make a move until he had got it relighted, the consequences of both candles going out at once being unpleasant and possibly dangerous. For a long way we could not turn round, and had to crawl feet foremost. Just after repassing the junction my companion shouted that we were going wrong. He did not recognise the passage. I remained at the junction whilst he went farther and ascertained that it was the right channel after all. Then I examined the branch. It ascended 20 feet and then divided, the left branch, which was earthy, plainly striking up to the surface, the right branch going back towards the swallet. Undoubtedly there must be quite a labyrinth of dry water channels to correspond with the numerous series of openings in the cliff, but the one we explored seemed to be the largest and most practicable. Very tired and hot, not to mention the dirt, we made our way back to the exit, glad to feel that our day's work was done.
The one thing that had impressed us most during our explorations was that all these swallets and water channels are cut through solid rock. Only when the rocks are shattered or disintegrated, as in the cases alluded to in Somerset, would there be any possibility of enlarging a swallet artificially. And though we had penetrated to a distance of 400 feet at Manifold we had not found the passages growing more roomy nor enlarged by the accession of tributaries. So far, the prospect of opening up the large fissures and chambers that must surely exist deeper in the rock seems unfavourable, unless the main channel of Giant's Hole can be unblocked.
E. A. B.
[EXPLORING NEW CAVES IN DERBYSHIRE]
The new and exciting game of cave-exploring has been pursued so strenuously during the last four years that one would almost think the possibilities of fresh discoveries had been exhausted. When a little while ago, therefore, rumours came in of a big cavern in Lathkill Dale, so big that people were said to have been lost in its recesses, they were received not a little incredulously. But after the usual allowances had been made for exaggeration and myth, and the alleged casualties reduced to the misfortunes of a sheep-dog who spent fourteen days in the cavern, probably rock-bound on a ledge, it still appeared that there was something worth exploring. Accordingly two friends, Messrs. W. H. and G. D. Williams, who were residing near Matlock, kindly undertook to find the cave or caves, and see what was to be done; and a native of Middleton was commissioned to make further inquiries. First, a letter arrived with the disappointing intelligence that there was no cave on the Lathkill, nothing but old mine workings: but hard on its heels came a wire to say that a cave had been located and was being explored tentatively. Then further messages arrived with mention of another opening, but which was the reputed great cavern was a question to be settled only by a regular exploration.
A day was fixed for the campaign, and my section of the party drove up early in the morning from Bakewell Station on the Midland. Our friends were waiting at the head of Ricklow Dale, a mile below the little village of Thornyash, and we proceeded without delay down that streamless canyon, first over smooth greensward between the grim Limestone walls, then hopping from point to point of huge, close-packed fragments, until we reached the uppermost cave mouth. It has a very imposing entrance, solid piers supporting a massive lintel, about 20 feet wide. It opens in the west cliff of Ricklow Dale, at a height of 690 feet above sea-level, and is evidently the source at times of a large stream. Ricklow Dale is really the upper part of Lathkill Dale, above the junction with Cales Dale, and the head streams of the Lathkill originally flowed down it from the neighbourhood of Monyash. But at a later period, seemingly, the stream betook itself to an underground course, until it emerged into the open from this cave. At the present time the cave is swept by water only when the deeper cavities of the rock overflow. This happened, for instance, a few weeks ago, when the cave discharged a considerable stream, and was for the time being quite impenetrable to man. As the Messrs. Williams had been into this cavern a day or two before, we left it for the present, in order to try some unexplored openings farther down the dale.
On the same side of the dale they had detected the entrance to something, whether cave or mine they knew not, covered in by stones and earth. With pick and crowbar an entrance was soon exposed, not much larger than a badger's hole, and we crept through. At once it became evident that the hole was not a natural one; it was no "self-cave," as the country people say, but an ordinary level or a sough draining a lead mine. A pool of water filled the tunnel from side to side, stretching away into the distance; and as we preferred, if wading were necessary, to postpone it as long as we could, we left this alone for the present, and went on with our quest at two other spots in the entrance to Cales Dale. Needless to say, we had missed no opportunity of cross-examining the inhabitants of the district, but the results had been absurdly inaccurate and conflicting. Already a crowd of rustic onlookers had gathered round, but the only individual among them who knew anything about the region inside was the afore-mentioned sheep-dog, who could tell us nothing. He, too, was the only one who showed any inclination to join our underground party. In the upper Cales Dale Cavern, as we named it, he actually went ahead of us, and put our candles in jeopardy with the spirited wagging of his tail.
This cave is doubtless a very ancient channel of the Cales Dale Water, which now runs through hidden crevices till it meets the Lathkill; the span of its antiquity may be gauged by the fact that Cales Dale has been cut 200 feet deeper, and the cave left high and dry, since it was a regular stream-course. I say dry in a comparative sense, for we quickly found ourselves confronted by a short passage of extreme dampness. The main channel runs west for 150 feet, and then divides, both branches dwindling rapidly to mere water-pipes. But near the entrance a branch strikes off to the right. Although the roof came down on our backs as we crawled, we managed to keep just above the surface of a shallow pool that lay in the middle: but a second pool was almost entirely mopped up by our journey to and fro. The passage ended in a chamber where two can stand upright. Every bit of this little nook is covered with a creamy-white and brownish coating of amorphous carbonate. It is like a small empty shrine, with heavy curtains flowing over its walls, their folds and ridges flecked with innumerable scaly projections, like some delicate frilling. The rest of the cave is devoid of charm, though there are interesting masses of white tufa on the walls, as soft as putty.
At the bottom of the dale, almost exactly under and parallel to this upper cave, is a larger one, which we called the Lower Cales Dale Cavern. It is entirely concealed by bushes and nettles, and we had to remove a mass of blocks and detritus before we laid bare the two entrances. Even then, room could not be made for the broad-shouldered member of the party to get in. At the end of 15 feet of very tight wriggling there was more head room. We were in a straight tunnel, arched as evenly as a culvert, the floor covered with the gravelly deposits of a stream. Evidently it is a channel still used frequently by the Cales Dale Water. It ran due west for 300 feet, with room in most places for us to crawl on hands and knees: then it bent one point to the north. Here the stream had thrown up a low dam, behind which it had bored a series of holes on the south side, through which most of it gets away. Soon a wall of rock, shaped like the steps of a weir, confronted us, at the top of which we found ourselves in a wide, irregular chamber, the height of whose roof varied from 6 feet to 18 feet. We called it the Pot Hole Cavern, because of the number of water-worn cavities in the roof. The biggest of these cavities appearing to give entrance to an upper gallery, I climbed into it with the aid of a comrade's shoulder. It contained a pretty grotto, lined with incrustations, but led to nothing. Deep horizontal fissures yawned on every side of the Pot Hole Chamber, and vertical joints split the interposing strata. All the exits, however, came to an end speedily except two, one extending a point east of south, the other a point east of north. I explored the northern branch before my friends arrived. It had several short ramifications, in some of which there were trails of rabbits, and other evidences of a communication with the surface, such as pieces of sodden wood and deposits of soil; but it gave ingress for barely 50 feet. The other branch seemed more important, and as we were tired out and hungry, we left it until we had returned to the dale for rest and lunch, a waste of time, unfortunately, for it ran only for 100 feet farther.
RICKLOW CAVE IN FLOOD.
Photo by G. D. Williams.
We crept over a pavement of fractured blocks, into a broad, low passage that seemed to have been hewn by giants out of the solid Limestone. All around were the marks of a powerful, swirling current, that had split and torn the rocks asunder, and bored its way through their joints; yet not a grain of sand or a speck of mud was visible on their cleaned and polished surface. Fissures and passages twisted away at the side, but returned in a few yards to the main corridor. In the roof were discernible the clean-cut hollows whence slabs of Limestone had fallen that still cumbered the floor. The large chamber that we reached finally was bestrewn and heaped up with such masses, and all the ways of egress save one were entirely blocked up. This very soon came to an abrupt termination in a bell-shaped cavity, floored with a crust of stalagmite. But there were narrow fissures, a few inches only in width, running away in many directions; a strong draught made the candles gutter; and the occasional presence of great volumes of water was made evident by the damage done to some of the incrustations. There was no sign or sound of flowing water now; the silence was as profound and impressive as the darkness. Yet this rock-strewn chamber was once the birthplace of a river. Hither, from countless fissures, the streamlets gathered together and poured through the hidden places of the hill, now in a rippling brook, and now in a torrent, crashing and rending. At present the Cales Dale stream finds its way to the Lathkill river by still more secret channels. But at no infrequent times, even yet, the torrent thunders over the waterfall in the Pot Hole Cavern, the swallet is inundated, and a flood pours on through the long tunnel, and so into the open stream-course in the dale, now dried up and covered with vegetation. Proofs of this were legible all around us.
Returning up the dale, we closed the mouth of the artificial level, and went back to the Ricklow Cavern. Although the portal is so majestic, the passage becomes anything but commodious at the end of a few paces. Once more we had to crawl over hard, water-worn rock, deeply fissured and thrown out of the horizontal; our galled knees and elbows could scarcely be induced to go at all, and the pace was miserably slow. Then the roof came down so close in a horizontal fissure of huge extent, that there was nothing for it but to wriggle. My friends had ascertained that 280 feet of this work leads into a lofty chamber. It is one of those long, vertical fissures, not wide but enormously high, that are common in the Castleton caves. There were indications of galleries overhead, but we were too much exhausted to attempt climbing without a ladder. Only one exit was practicable, which led in 20 feet into just such another hollow, but still wider and uglier of aspect. Filling the cavity to a height of 30 feet was a mountain of shattered rocks, flung together pell-mell and wedged loosely. When we climbed it, the light of our candles showed that the structure was hollow, and hardly more durable in appearance than a house of cards. Some of the rocks were held by points and corners, swinging on their long axes; a touch sent others clattering down, as we crept with the utmost caution up the adjoining wall. It was as if the interior of the hill had been rent apart by an earthquake, and the headlong stream of rocks caught suddenly and held by the closing in of the fracture. We clambered to the summit of this hollow mass of ruin, and lit some magnesium wire. The formless walls went up into a dark void above us, their ledges fringed with glistening spikes and tendrils of transparent stalactite, revealed by the glare. There had been visitors here before. Scratched on the walls, but partially coated over by a crystalline enamel, were the initials "H. B.—R. A.," and the date 1817; other scrawls were indecipherable. No doubt this was the cave whose legendary renown had reached our ears. Getting down our shattered staircase was a more formidable job than the ascent. One stone, as big as a table, rocked like a see-saw when we set foot on it.
Stalactites were not numerous in these caves, which are not only very humid, but continually swept by water. Animal remains were plentiful, all recent, bones being carried in by beasts of prey and deposited by floods. As this process must have been going on for ages, the two Cales Dale caverns would probably yield good results to palæontological research.
A comic incident cheered my fatigued comrades when we regained the open air. In the morning I had brought my family up from Bakewell Station for a day in the country, a work of supererogation that now placed me in a curious predicament. The waggonette had gone off to pick them up for the early train, and, to my distress, I found the driver had relieved us of all the luggage, including the rücksack which held my clothes, not to mention boots, pipe, and railway ticket. The alternative stared me in the face of proceeding to town in slimy overalls or in attire of dangerous slightness. But the broad-shouldered friend came to the rescue with his cave jacket, a garment that fell about me like a baggy greatcoat, hiding the worst deformities, and with battered hobnailers at one extremity, and a cap that had more stiff clay than cloth in it at the other, I made the best of my way home under the cover of darkness.
[A VISIT TO MITCHELSTOWN CAVE]
Mitchelstown Cave, the largest ever discovered in the British Isles, is not situated at the town of that name, in county Cork, but 10 miles away, in Tipperary, on the road to Cahir. Its entrance is in a small Limestone hill in the broad vale of the Blackwater, midway between the Knockmealdown Mountains and the Sandstone ridges and tables of the Galtees. The cave was laid open in the course of quarrying operations in 1833, from which time to the present the work of exploration has gone on progressively, if at long intervals, and may, perhaps, continue until the extent of the passages known is considerably enlarged. It seems now to be entirely forgotten that the spot has been famous from time immemorial for a wonderful stalactite cavern. In October 1777, Arthur Young was taken into a cave, known as Skeheenarinky, after the townland, but the old Irish name of which was Oonakareaglisha. "The opening," he says, "is a cleft of rock in a Limestone hill, so narrow as to be difficult to get into it. I descended by a ladder of about twenty steps, and then found myself in a vault of 100 feet long and 50 or 60 high: a small hole, on the left, leads from this a winding course of, I believe, not less than half an Irish mile." He goes on to describe the beautiful scenery of the cave, which, he says, is much superior to the Peak Cavern in Derbyshire, "and Lord Kingsborough, who has viewed the Grot d'Aucel in Burgundy, says that it is not to be compared with it."[5] The odd thing is that the very existence of this cavern seems to have been forgotten since the discovery of its much finer neighbour. Yet the trees and brushwood guarding its mouth are in full view of the well-frequented entrance to the other cave; and Dr. Lyster Jameson, who was with Monsieur Martel on his visit in 1895, told me some years ago that an opening had been pointed out to him into a lower series of caves, which I have little hesitation in identifying with Young's cavern and the cave mouth I allude to.
A GREAT PILLAR: MITCHELSTOWN CAVERN.
Photo by E. A. Baker.
A FAIRY LANTERN: MITCHELSTOWN CAVERN.
Photo by E. A. Baker.
Dr. C. A. Hill and I visited the spot in August 1905, intending to go through all the accessible parts of the huge series now known collectively as Mitchelstown Cave, and also to examine the series referred to by Dr. Jameson, who had been unable to undertake their exploration. Our impression was that little or nothing was known of the latter series, and it was not until after our return from Ireland that we were startled and puzzled by turning up an account in The Postchaise Companion (1805 ed., pp. 301, 302) of a cave in this place already known and celebrated thirty years before the discovery of the Mitchelstown Cave. The explanation probably is that the guides find one cave a more profitable investment than two. To show the second (or rather the first, since the other is the usurper) would involve twice as much labour, but would hardly bring in twice the income. Since 1833, then, the original cavern has been suppressed, so successfully that even the omniscient Baddeley never suspected that there are two series, although he had read Young's description and confused it with the other. Dr. Hill let me down a few feet into the old cave-mouth, just such a narrow slit as Young depicts; but we found that the rock was cut away immediately beneath, and without more hauling power, the only way to get down was to use a long ladder, and this we could not obtain. The guide told us that the hole led into nothing of any interest, and that the entrance had been used as a receptacle for deceased dogs and other excreta. This effectually took away any wish to pursue our researches in that direction for the present. Still, the old cave ought not to be lost sight of; and we propose, if no one else undertakes the work, to explore the lower series on some future visit to Ireland. The unscientific explorers of a hundred years ago may have left discoveries to future workers as important as those which remained for so many years after the early explorations in the neighbouring great cave.
What was done in the latter during the first year after the discovery may be read in an article by Dr. Apjohn in the Dublin Penny Journal for December 27, 1834, an article reproduced from the Dublin Geological Journal, vol. i. Dr. Apjohn carried out a most elaborate and painstaking survey to points considerably beyond the second great cavity, now known as the "House of Lords," but failed to reach "O'Leary's Cave," the key of the farther ramifications, or to explore the tunnels connected with "The River." His plan, worked out to scale, and showing the differences of level with great minuteness, remained the only map of the cave until M. Martel's survey in 1895. Meanwhile various adventurers had got to more distant points, particularly to the long chain of caverns running east to Brogden's, at the end of which M. Martel's chart stops. The French explorer does not seem to have broken any fresh ground; but his plan, which appeared in The Irish Naturalist for April 1896, with an account of his visit, was a brilliant achievement, especially when the short time at his disposal is considered, six hours for the whole of the cavern. Parts of this chart were only hastily sketched in, either from a rapid survey or from information supplied by the guide, as M. Martel explained to me in a conversation some time ago, and errors of detail were, under these conditions, unavoidable. For instance, "O'Leary's Cave" is much larger than appears on the plan, and the "Chimney" is not situated at the far end of a passage, but actually opens in the floor of "O'Leary's Cave." The caves running east, again—O'Callaghan's and Brogden's—are not such a simple series of straight passages as they seem on the chart; our guide had considerable difficulty in threading his way among the various bifurcations. As will transpire later, there is a mystery connected with the name of "Cust's Cave," the real Cust's being in a totally different part of the series, and a different chamber altogether in shape. Unfortunately we did not go prepared to carry out any survey, believing that all this had been done; so that we can at the most point out some places where the existing plans are at fault. We were also unfortunate in not being prepared to take a large number of photographs, the accounts we had read not leading us to anticipate the actual grandeur and extent of the scenery. M. Martel compares the Mitchelstown Cave with such famous continental caverns as those of Adelsberg, Padirac, Dargilan, and Han-sur-Lesse, and it comes off but poorly in such a comparison. I have seen his lantern slides of these caves, and after exploring all the most beautiful caves discovered as yet in England, I venture to say there is not one English cave that would not come off badly if set beside any of these. Compared, however, with other British caverns, that of Mitchelstown can hold its own easily; though individual chambers may be surpassed, there is nothing like the same extent of brilliant subterranean scenery anywhere else in these islands.
The tourist portion of the cavern, a fraction of the whole, but yet a considerable extent of underground passages, is deservedly much frequented. The spacious vault, nicknamed the "House of Commons," vies in dimensions and dignity with those in the Peak of Derbyshire, but it is far surpassed by the "House of Lords." Seventeen massy columns of pure white stalactite, surmounting enormous cones of terraced stalagmite, tower from floor to roof of this impressive dome, some 140 feet in span and 70 feet high. The grandeur of its height is lost somewhat through the mountain of fallen blocks that rises from the entrance almost to the apex of the roof. Behind this vast accumulation a sort of ambulatory runs round under the walls, opening here and there into side chapels and irregular cavities, all bountifully adorned with the fairy-like work of the Limestone carbonate. The so-called "Tower of Babel" is a majestic pillar rising from the summit of a pyramidal mass of stalagmite, 40 feet in circumference, that being also the measure of its total height. A crowd of other Limestone freaks, some aptly and some incongruously nicknamed, and many extremely beautiful, are found in this chamber.
The cavities and passages that lie to the north-east of the first great chamber are not often visited. They start from "Sadlier's Cave," which is not large but bewilderingly picturesque, and contains a superb pillar, "Lot's Wife," almost of the prodigious size of the "Tower." The "Kingston Gallery" is a straight rift, nearly 300 feet long, but only two or three feet wide, with sheets of snowy white sweeping down the walls, and breaking into whole garlands of scrolls and pennons and curtains, which in places have been thrown right across the gallery, dividing it into lofty cells. Manholes, actually, had to be cut through these diaphanous partitions to create a passage. From the cave at the end, a lower passage, the Sand Cave, comes back in a parallel direction to the point of junction, and from the quantities of fine sand on its bed, was evidently an important stream-course after the Kingston Gallery was drained of its waters. It has one unique feature, the succession of parallel rifts, called the "Closets," which are connected together by rents in their dividing walls. Some of these are extremely narrow, and by candlelight it is impossible to see any limit to their height, depth, or length. Similar widenings of the master joints and degradation of the Limestone separating them, are a special feature of the Mitchelstown Cave, and the key to its ground-plan, with its maze of right-angles.
The great eastern vault, the Garret, which is only 19 feet below the level of the entrance, does not fall, as stated by M. Martel, towards a series of choked swallets, that originally carried the waters farther down, but rises towards inlets from the surface. Its fretted roof has fallen in at the upper end. A little to the south is a nameless series of charming vestibules, grottoes, and tunnels, meandering towards the insignificant lakelet called the "River." Here we spent the whole of our first day. It is possible, we learned, to reach the easternmost series of caverns by this route, which also takes one into the square cavity designated as "Cust's Cave" on M. Martel's chart. We chose the other way, that is, through the passage from the "House of Lords" to the "Cathedral."
In the tangle of contrary passages into which this leads we lost ourselves several times, in the absence of the guide, and only recovered the thread by careful observation with the compass. Eventually we found the way into "O'Leary's Cave," which struck us as one of the most impressive chambers in the whole cavern. It is not only much larger than is shown on the plan, but different in shape. Apparently it is the most recent of all in formation, although this may be only an appearance caused by the falling in of the roof. Unlike the other parts, where every bit of débris is sealed down by a glistening layer of stalagmite, this great cavity is heaped high with loose fragments, as free from incrustation as if the ceiling had collapsed yesterday. So wild and vast is the configuration of "O'Leary's Cave" that, standing on the lower side and looking across a depression in the middle to the ascending ground opposite, one fancied oneself, in the dim candlelight, gazing across a valley to a range of hills in the distance. We spent some time vainly searching for the horizontal tunnel supposed to end at the "Chimney," and before the guide joined us were lucky enough to hit upon a string of chambers that seem never to have been entered before. These run, so far as we could make out without actual measurement, right over the O'Callaghan series. In fact there were openings in the floor which we might have explored but for the aggressive and tenacious clay bedaubing everything, apparently leading down to these nether passages. Brilliant draperies swept down to the bold masses of stalagmite below the walls, and long crystalline wands hung from the roof in thousands, so that we could not move without committing havoc in this pendulous forest.
Conducted by the guide, we now descended the "Chimney" into the tortuous passages leading to the "Scotchman's Cave," which lies under O'Leary's. It is a small but very beautiful chamber, giving one the idea that it has been hollowed out in a mountain of Parian marble. Now we struck into the long series running east through "O'Callaghan's Cave" to the farthest point yet reached. This was one of the principal channels by which the ancient waters descended, from openings now unknown and inaccessible, to the labyrinth of forsaken waterways we had left behind. Our guide, who astonished us by the rapidity with which he got over difficult ground, was unable to make very speedy progress here. The ramifications are extremely hard to unravel, and he had only been in this part twice before, in 1895 with M. Martel, and twenty-five years earlier, as a boy, with his father. Eventually, after many wanderings, we reached "Brogden's Cave," where hitherto all direct progress had stopped. On the south side (not on the north, as shown in the chart) is the "Chapel," which M. Martel rightly described as the most beautiful thing in the whole cavern. It is an arched recess, canopied with stalagmite of the purest and most delicate lustre.
Whilst my companion rested, I joined the guide, who was hunting for the passage to a cave where his father had taken him thirty-five years ago. We discovered the opening at last, and after wriggling and squirming round innumerable twists and corners, we dropped over a low cliff, beyond which a short wriggle brought us into a long and lofty cave, magnificently walled and pillared with snowy calcite. Floor, walls, and roof were a spotless white, wrought into intricate reliefs and embroideries by the flow of the freakish stalagmite. The guide stated that this was "Cust's Cave," and the one beyond, where our progress stopped, he called the "Demon's Cave." M. Martel's chart shows a "Cust's Cave" of a totally different shape and size, near the "River"; and, as there is no mention extant of any cave beyond Brogden's, I take it that this, the real Cust's, was unknown to him. Unfortunately I had followed the guide without bringing the plan or a compass, unaware that we were going so far from the known parts of the cavern; and now, to my disgust, the guide was unable to find the way out. Twice he descended into a hole at our end of the cave, and emerged with the intelligence, "It's not there, sir." We ransacked every opening in wall and floor, but failed to hit on any exit whatever. The guide grew alarmed, and rushed off to the farther end of the cave, wondering if we had completely lost our sense of direction. He tried whistling; but the hundreds of feet of rock between us and our companion were well able to guard their ancient silence. Tired with these exertions, he next proposed that we should put out the lights and rest for a while. Whether his idea was to husband the only provisions we had, I could not say; but at any rate the situation did look serious, since rescuers might have taken days to discover our position in this remote corridor, of whose very existence, probably, our guide was the only man in Ireland that knew anything. But where there is a way in, there is a way out, as I very well knew from several similar experiences; and after a pretty bad half-hour, we did manage to recover the trail, and got back to our friend, who had been completely mystified by our disappearance, and was almost as relieved as we by our return. After many hours of fatiguing work, we were glad to follow our guide back through the labyrinthine passages, by the most direct route to the open air.
Our chief regret was that we had relied too much on the completeness of previous surveys, and had not taken materials for correcting the map. We had secured many photographs of the earlier chambers, but had not taken the camera into the innermost cavities, where photography would be most profitable. M. Martel's dictum can still be endorsed that there is a great field for research in the Mitchelstown Cavern.
[INDEX]
Abergele, [123].
Abîmes, Les, [34], [39].
Adelsberg, [43], [162].
Albanets of Couvin (Belgium), [31].
Alfred (King), [3].
Alps, [43].
Anemolites, [90].
Angels and Men (quotation), [45].
Antiquity of caverns, [18], [21], [25].
Apjohn (Dr.), [161].
Arragonite, [119], [124].
Arthur (King), [2].
Attrition, effect of, [29].
Avalon, Isle of, [2].
Aveline's Hole, [99], [103].
Aven de Vigne Close (Ardèche), [37].
Avignon, [33].
Axbridge, [106].
Axe, the river, [2], [3], [5], [7], [23], [25], [26], [27], [31], [36], [46], [57],
[70], [82].
Badger Hole, [13], [23].
Bagshawe Cavern, [42], [93].
Balch (Mr.), [31], [36], [37], [48], [61], [71], [83], [101].
Bamforth (Mr. H.), [71], [83], [85], [100], [138].
Banwell Cave, [22], [28], [113].
Barnes (Mr.), [71].
Bath, [10], [69].
Bats, [54], [93], [125].
Bear, [14], [23], [24].
Beehive, [30].
Beehive Chamber, Lamb's Lair, [117].
Betsy Camel's Hole, [14].
Bishop's Lot Swallet, [8].
Bishop's Palace at Wells, [5].
Bison, [23], [24].
Blackdown, [3], [17], [99], [104].
Blackwater, [159].
Blue John Mine, [38], [88], [90].
Bonheur (Gard), [39].
Bos, [14].
Boule (M.), [31].
Bouvier (M.), [33].
Bowling Alley, [139].
Bramabiau (Gard), [39].
Bristol, [1], [2], [69].
Bristol Channel, [3].
Brogden's Cave, [166].
Brue, [2], [3].
Buckland (Dean), [33].
Bull Pit, [147], [148], [149].
Bunter Sandstone, [129].
Burrington, [17], [28], [42], [62], [97], [99], [102], [104].
Buxton, [29].
Cadbury, [3].
Calamine, [33].
Cales Dale, [154], [155], [156].
Camden's Britannia, [46].
Camelot, [3].
Canyon, [64], [65], [72], [73], [81], [150].
Carbonic acid (action of), [4].
Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone, [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [7], [10], [11], [26],
[28], [29], [53], [106].
Cascades, [6].
Castle of Comfort, [17], [29].
Castleton, [37], [144], [157].
Causse de Gramat (Padirac), [40].
Cave-earth, [21].
Cave Hunting, [47].
Cave Man of Cheddar, [85], [86].
Ceiriog Valley, [133].
Cevennes, [37].
Chapel-en-le-Frith, [144].
Charterhouse, [17], [27], [97].
Cheddar, [3], [7], [16], [17], [18], [19], [22], [28], [29], [30], [31], [82], [96].
Cheddar Water, [5], [82], [92].
Chokes, [9], [34], [63].
Clemens Alexandrinus, [45].
Clevedon, [4].
Coalpit Mine, [145].
Compton Bishop, [28], [106], [113].
Compton Martin, [25].
Copper, [33].
Coral Cave, [28], [105].
Corridors, [9].
Cotherstone Hill, [123].
Cows hounded over cliff, [24].
Cox's Cavern, [83], [92].
Cox's Hole, [10], [11].
Croft (Mr. J.), [138].
Crook's Peak, [110], [111].
Croscombe, [14].
Cross, [106].
Crosse (Andrew), [124].
Cust's Cave, [162], [164], [166].
Dangers of exploration, [41], [43].
Dargilan, [162].
Dawkins (Prof. Boyd), [23], [31], [33], [46], [99], [101], [102].
De Launey (M.), [31].
Deer, [14], [23], [24], [74].
Demon's Cave, [166].
Denny's Hole, [111].
Denudation, [2], [5].
Derbyshire, [1], [29], [42], [43], [44], [91], [138].
Devil's Hole, [47].
Devil's Punchbowl, [29].
Dinder Wood, [15].
Dolomitic Conglomerate, [12], [13], [23], [25], [26], [27], [29], [31], [48],
[53], [110].
Dovedale, [133].
Doveholes, [29].
Downside Monastery, [12].
Drayton, [47].
Dulcote, [2], [14].
East Harptree, [116].
Eastwater, [7], [8], [9], [30], [36], [37], [42], [48], [60], [70].
Ebbor, [3], [7], [13], [17], [29].
Elden Hill, [149].
Elden Hole, [38], [149], [150].
English Channel, [3].
Enmore, [123].
Eocene, [31].
Exeter, [1].
Exploration (dangers of), [41], [43], [72].
Extinct animals, [22], [23], [34], [74].
Fairy Slats, [12].
Fauna of caves, [33], [74].
Fissures, [5], [12], [27], [33], [39], [66], [73], [85], [87], [89], [94].
Flatholm, [4].
Fluor-spar, [33].
Fontaine de Vaucluse, [33].
Foreland, [1].
Foxe's Hole (Burrington), [99].
Fox's Hole (Compton Bishop), [110].
Frome, [1], [7], [27].
Frost (action of), [6].
Galtees, [159].
Gaping Ghyll, [35], [37].
Gautries Hill, [149].
Geological Survey, [25].
Giant's Hole, [144], [145], [151].
Gibson (Mr. James), [101], [104].
Glacial drift, [29], [31].
Glastonbury, [3].
Goatchurch Cavern, [42], [62], [99], [100], [104].
Golden Cap, [3].
Gough (Messrs.), [16], [19], [28], [82], [93], [106].
Grassington, [138].
Gravel, [8].
Great Cavern of Cheddar, [82], [83], [92].
Great Chamber of Lamb's Lair, [116].
Green How, [138].
Grotten und Höhlen von Adelsberg, Die, [34].
Gurney Slade, [27].
Gypsum, [33].
Han-sur-Lesse, [162].
Harptree, [18].
Harrington (Dr.) of Bath, [46].
Helln Pot, [37].
Hiley (Mr.), [70].
Hill (Dr.), [160].
Hillgrove, [7], [61], [70], [114].
Holwell, [27], [123], [124].
Hope, Dale of, [37].
Horse, [14].
Hyæna, [23], [24], [46].
Hyæna Den, [13], [22], [23], [24].
Hydrology, [33].
Ingleborough Cave, [35], [37].
Inscriptions, [22], [30].
Irish Elk, [23], [24].
Irlande et Cavernes Anglaises, [34].
Jackdaws, [54].
Jacob's Well, [140].
Jameson (Dr.), [160].
Joints, [5], [11], [13], [71].
Katavothra, [33].
Kent's Cavern, [30].
Kentucky, [43].
Keuper, [31].
Knockmealdown Mountains, [159].
Kyndwr Club, [138].
Labyrinths, [8], [9], [62].
Laibach, [33].
Lake village, [3].
Lamb's Lair, [30], [39], [115].
Lathkill Dale, [152], [153], [154].
Lathkill River, [156].
Lead, [33].
Leland, [46].
Lewsdon, [3].
Lias, [27], [28], [29].
Lion, [23], [24].
Llangollen, [133].
Long Hole, [19], [28], [97].
Long Kin Hole, [37].
Long Wood, [97].
Lower Limestone Shales, [2], [4], [5].
Loxton, [112], [113].
Mammoth, [23], [24].
Manifold, [150], [151].
Marble Arch, [42].
Marshall (Mr.), [11], [13].
Martel (Mons.), [17], [19], [30], [34], [37], [39], [57], [145], [160], [161], [164],
[165], [167].
Master-joint, [34], [131].
Matlock, [104].
Mazauric (M.), [39].
McMurtrie (Mr. J.), [122].
Mendip plateau, [36].
Middle Hill, [147].
Mitchelstown Cave, [159].
Monyash, [153].
Morfa Rhuddlan, [131].
Morland (Mr. J. O.), [83].
Murray's Guide, [116], [122].
Natural wells, [18].
Neolithic barrows, [3].
Niagara (Gough's Caves), [30].
Nidderdale, [138].
North Hill, [3], [60].
O'Callaghan's Cave, [162], [165].
Offa's Dyke, [133].
Ogo, [45], [127].
Ogof, [45], [127].
Old Red Sandstone, [1], [2], [3], [4], [7], [11], [26], [53], [60].
O'Leary's Cave, [161], [164].
Ookey, [45].
Oonakareaglisha, [159].
Outfit, [41], [62].
Padirac, [162].
Parrett, [3].
Peace of Wedmore, [3].
Peak, [34], [38], [39], [42], [47], [144], [159].
Peak's Hill, [147].
Peak's Hole, [145].
Peak's Hole (source of water of), [150].
Pen Hill, [2], [4], [60].
Percolating water, [6].
Percy's Reliques, [46].
Perryfoot, [145], [150].
Phelps, [106].
Phosphorites, [31].
Pilsdon, [3].
Pleistocene gravel, [28].
Pliocene, [29].
Plumley's Den, [100], [103], [104].
Polyolbion, [47].
Pot, [34], [84].
Pothole Cavern, [155], [156].
Potholes, [6], [68], [72].
Pottery, [21], [22], [58], [74].
Priddy, [7], [8], [17], [48], [60], [61], [98].
Primitive man, [13], [22], [24], [34], [47], [128].
Puttrell (Mr. J. W.), [138].
Quantocks, [123].
Quercy, [31].
Radstock, [27].
Radstock Coalfield, [10].
Rain (action of), [6].
Rakes, [33], [38].
Ravine formation, [19].
Ravines, [6], [20], [23].
Raymond, Walter, [98].
Red Deer, [23], [24].
Reindeer, [23].
Reliquiæ Diluvianæ, [33].
Revolving stones (action of), [6].
Rhaetic, [27], [31].
Rhinoceros, [24].
Rickford, [28], [102], [104].
Ricklow Cavern, [157].
Ricklow Dale, [153].
Risings (extent of flow), [17].
"Rock of Ages," 104.
Rock shelter, [15].
Roman Cave of Cheddar, [93], [95].
Roman mines, [97].
Romano-British pottery, [21], [22], [58], [74].
Rookham, [2], [28].
Rowberrow Farm, [17].
Rushup Edge, [144], [147].
Russet Well, [144], [145].
"S" bends, [65], [68].
St. Andrew's Well, [5], [28], [31].
St. Dunstan's Well, [10], [11].
St. George's Cave, [127], [130].
"St. Paul's," 86, [88].
St. Swithin's Hole, [7].
"Salle à Manger," 38.
Sand (action of), [6].
Sand Pit Hole, [8].
Schmidl (Dr. Adolph), [34].
Scotchman's Cave, [165].
Secondary Rocks, [5], [12], [18], [27], [28].
Sedgemoor, [3].
Severn, [4].
Shakeholes, [29].
Sheldon (Dr.), [83], [84], [90], [100].
Sheldon (Mr., of Wells), [17].
Shipham, [100].
Silt, [10], [11].
Siphons, [33], [34].
Skeheenarinky, [159].
Slater (Mr.), [71].
Smith (W. W.), [45].
Snowdonia, [130].
Société de Spéléologie, [34].
"Solomon's Temple," 86, [88].
Somerville (A. F.), [14], [15].
Sorgue, [33].
Sparrowpit, [144], [145].
Speedwell Mine, [38], [144].
Speleology, [32].
Spiders, [54].
Springs, [5], [11].
Spur and Wedge, [53], [56].
Squire's Well, [104].
Stalactites, [10], [76], [77], [80], [89], [118], [140], [142].
Stalagmite bridges, [78].
Steepholm, [4].
Stoke Lane, [7], [10], [11], [12], [13].
Stratton-on-the-Fosse, [11].
Stump Cross Cavern, [138].
Subterranean streams, [6], [7], [8], [72].
Subterranean waterfalls, [72].
Swallets, swallow-holes, [1], [5], [7], [8], [12], [26], [27], [34], [60], [61], [84],
[148].
Swildon's Hole, [7], [8], [36], [48], [61], [70].
Tanyrogo, [127].
Tennyson, [4].
Thornyash, [153].
Tideswell, [148].
Tindoul de la Vayssière (Aveyron), [40].
Tone, [3].
Torquay, [30].
Tower Rock, [14].
Traps, [34], [65].
Trias, [18], [26], [27], [28], [29], [31], [106], [109], [110], [130].
Troup (Mr.), [21], [59], [70], [71].
Two Men o' Mendip, [98].
Ubley Farm, [98].
Undermining, [4], [6], [25].
Upper Langford, [105].
Van den Broeck, [31].
Vaucluse, [33].
Wastdale, [96].
Wavering Down, [106], [110].
Wedmore, [3].
Well (in Swildon's Hole), [73], [77].
Wells, [2], [5], [7], [8], [17], [26], [28], [29], [36], [83].
Wells Museum, [14].
West Riding, [34].
Weston-super-Mare, [16].
Wharfedale, [138].
Wightman (Mr. F.), [138].
Wild Boar, [23].
Wild Goat, [23].
Wild Horse, [23].
Willcox (Mr.), [30].
William of Worcester, [45].
Williams, (W. H. and G. D.), [152].
Wills Neck, [123].
Wind (action of), [6].
Winnats, [91], [144].
Wirral, [129].
Witch of Wookey, [46].
Wolf, [23], [24].
Wookey, [45].
Wookey Hole, [5], [7], [13], [16], [17], [18], [21], [22], [24], [30], [31], [36], [37], [42],
[43], [45], [52], [60], [70], [82], [127].
Woolly Rhinoceros, [23].
Wrington Vale, [115].
Yoredales, [144].
Yorkshire, [1], [10], [29], [35], [44].
Young's Cavern, [160].
Printed by J. Baker & Son, Clifton
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Only a few years since, three cows were driven over the cliff by several unruly dogs, and of course were instantly killed. Thus was the tragedy of long ago re-enacted.
[2] In 1894 the initials "T. W." were carved by Mr. Willcox of Wells on the great stalagmite bank in the end chamber of Lamb's Lair. I added "1894," that in years to come some measure may be obtained of the rate at which this bank is being formed. I make a rule of never making an inscription, but in this case I thought that the end justified the means.
[3] Recently, October 1906, Mr. Balch dug through an obstruction here and entered a vast fissure chamber, which he climbed to a height of 150 feet: it has a remarkable shaft as its outlet.
[4] Mr. James McMurtrie, then manager of Earl Waldegrave's estates, was responsible for the exploration of this cavern after its rediscovery in 1880. He had it surveyed and plans made; he had the windlass erected, but went down himself before it was fixed. Very great credit is due to him for this valuable work, which it is hoped will not be rendered less valuable by allowing the artificial shaft as well as the windlass to be permanently destroyed through neglect and decay. The plan and section contained here were the result of independent measurements, which fully confirmed the results of his previous survey.
[5] Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland; ed. by A. W. Hutton. 2 vols. Bell, 1892. See pages 464-465, vol. i.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact. The Index has been created in one column instead of two for ease of reading.