tony from suffolk
Well-known member
Thinking back to my younger days, I remember in 1965 or thereabouts myself & a mate were staying in the Queen Victoria at Priddy over the school holidays. We got to learn of a dig at the site of a recent collapse in a depression just off the Priddy to Ebbor road, which is clearly visible on Google Earth at 51˚ 14? 41.4? N, 2˚ 40?56.92? W.
So the next day we kitted up & went to help. A shaft some ten feet or so had been dug in clay & loose boulders, slightly south of the lowest point in the depression, and was shuttered with the odd bit of old timber here and there - all very unsafe, but we were young and reckless in those days...
We managed to dig down a further few feet & managed to uncover a draughting hole between the boulders which we were all very excited about but when we returned the next day, alas, the bottom half of the shaft had collapsed and after making a few desultory efforts to dig it out we gave up. In retrospect this was probably a good thing for our continued wellbeing!
On our next visit the shaft had by then almost completely collapsed, so that was that!
I can?t recall the names of our fellow diggers, where they were from, or even if permission had been sought for the dig, but I often wonder if anyone else has attempted to dig here? Over the years I?ve often looked across from the road but I?ve never noticed any digging-type activity.
So the next day we kitted up & went to help. A shaft some ten feet or so had been dug in clay & loose boulders, slightly south of the lowest point in the depression, and was shuttered with the odd bit of old timber here and there - all very unsafe, but we were young and reckless in those days...
We managed to dig down a further few feet & managed to uncover a draughting hole between the boulders which we were all very excited about but when we returned the next day, alas, the bottom half of the shaft had collapsed and after making a few desultory efforts to dig it out we gave up. In retrospect this was probably a good thing for our continued wellbeing!
On our next visit the shaft had by then almost completely collapsed, so that was that!
I can?t recall the names of our fellow diggers, where they were from, or even if permission had been sought for the dig, but I often wonder if anyone else has attempted to dig here? Over the years I?ve often looked across from the road but I?ve never noticed any digging-type activity.
