[THE GREAT CAVERN AT CHEDDAR]
The ultimate goal of our researches at Cheddar has been the discovery of the underground river-course. Not many yards below the entrance to Gough's, or the Great Cavern, a large body of water wells up at the foot of a cliff, spreading out into a beautiful mere, half encircled by crags; flows on thence through the village, performing a great deal of industrial work on its way; and, finally, proceeds a mile or two farther as the Cheddar Water, to join its brother, the Axe, which has a similar origin. But less is known about the darksome course of the Cheddar Water than about the stream flowing out of Wookey Hole. With its tributaries, it has doubtless been the principal agent in the formation, not only of the caves, but also of the famous Cheddar gorge, which bears every evidence of having been produced by the gradual destruction of a series of caverns. Yet this important stream has actually not been met with hitherto at any single point of its course underground, and we have anything but complete information as to its sources on the uplands of Mendip. The owners of the Great Cavern, the Messrs. Gough Brothers, tell me that they intend to blast away about 10 feet of rock immediately overlying the exit of the river. When the stream is very full, water often bursts forth here from cracks and joints several feet above the normal level, and they imagine that there must be a chamber of some height just within. This, however, in my opinion, is not a necessary inference, since every cavity and crevice behind the outlet would at such times be heavily charged with water, under pressure, and the large cavities might be a long way back. It is curious that the water in a low tunnel recently discovered in Cox's Cavern, which lies some distance from Gough's, and at a lower level, rises and falls in unison with the movements of the water-level of the river outside, although that always remains 10 feet higher. Cox's Cavern is occasionally flooded, yet the water never rises to a point within 10 feet of the river level. Obviously the subterranean connection must be of a complicated and roundabout form.
At the time of my first serious attempt to explore the caves of Cheddar, when our party contained Dr. Norman Sheldon, Mr. J. O. Morland, and Mr. Harry Bamforth, two of whom have not since been able to join us in Somerset, I had not the advantage of knowing Mr. H. E. Balch, and we were utterly unaware of the great work he had been doing in the cave region adjoining Wells. On the other hand, we received invaluable assistance from the brothers Gough, who are not only proprietors of show caves, but take a sincere interest in underground exploration. Their father, who died in 1902, was the discoverer of the caverns that bear his name, and was actively at work pushing his way farther and farther into the rocky bosom of the hill up to the year of his death, at a good old age.
STALAGMITE PILLARS IN GOUGH'S GREAT CAVERN.
Photo by Gough, Cheddar.
