Badlad said:
. . .
At Draenen, the original entrance was dug without landowner consent, in fact the diggers were told they would not be granted permission, but they continued anyway. The landowner changed and permission was granted for access, but when another team dug a second and third entrance without permission we have ended up with the sorry state of affairs we have today. If the landowner changes again who knows what the access situation will be. That is exactly why a legal right of access for recreational caving is so important for the future of our sport.
. . .
The first and original entrance to Ogof Draenen was dug with the permission and blessing of the nearest occupier of the land.
Following a number of visits to the area during the 1980s, I visited Pwll Du on 17th June 1988 in order to look for the site of the Garnddyrys-branch entrance to the Pwll Du Tram Tunnel. I'm pretty certain that it was on this day I went into the Lamb & Fox Inn at Pwll Du and met Brian Lewis for the first time.
I had a drink in the pub and I bought Brian a drink, describing to him what caving is about and my interest in the Pwll Du Tram Tunnel. Brian was in quite an isolated spot up there at the time with his pub and said to me that he would be very pleased if cavers could find a tunnel near the pub. He thought that it would be good for business and also for general interest in the area ? which otherwise seemed largely forgotten at the time. Whether 'tunnel' or cave, Brian was quite happy for cavers to go hunting for underground passages on the land he occupied.
Later, between Christmas 1989 and New Year 1990, I took Hugh Penney up to the entrance of 'Ogof Draener' (as it was then known) to show him the site with its powerful draught as a potential dig. Hugh took a picture of me and I took a picture of him. I had been based in Cardiff between 1987?9, living at Galston Street where Peter Bolt was also based and Lou Maurice later resided. I joined Morgannwg Caving Club at the time. I seem to recall Hugh Penney was also a Morgannwg member but have no idea as to whether he passed on the details of the Ogof Draenen dig to other Morgannwg members such as Peter Bolt, etc.? However, the connection is there.
After the cave went in October 1994 the absent freeholder of the land - there were no fences or notices relating to land ownership or access at Pwll Du between the road and the cave entrance at the time, simply open moorland - The Coal Authority - was approached with a view to formal access permission being granted in writing, except The Coal Authority preferred, at first, for the status quo to be maintained: provided they weren't formally informed about the cave then they would not object to cavers continuing to access the cave.
After a while The Coal Authority decided that they wanted to sell the land, so changed their mind and the verbal 'arrangement' with the cave explorers was converted into a formal written agreement.
The land including the cave entrance was then offered for sale, upon which news the explorers were interested in
buying the land around the entrance, to ensure future access. Thus, those who were exploring Ogof Draenen commenced fund raising measures to enable the purchase of the land, until it was discovered that they would be bidding against Brian Lewis and his other (unknown) local associate(s) and so the idea to bid for the land was dropped in deference to the current occupier(s).
Once the transfer of ownership had taken place, the new landowner(s) were happy to adopt the existing access agreement, with some modifications.
One significant part of the
agreement is that no further 'entrances' are dug into the same cave - which leaves us where we are today.
However, an 'emergency exit', if agreed upon reasonably by all parties concerned, does not seem to be ruled out by the landowner(s).
Clive Gardener