Robert Scott said:Did you ask at Twislteton Dale House as to why?
NigR said:Now that's a coincidence! I had a similar experience back in October. Spent a fair while looking for the entrance (had no intention of going down but wanted to re-locate it for future reference) and failed to find it. As it was getting dark (ended up wandering around with a head-torch) and I hadn't been in the vicinity for over 20 years I put it down to my own incompetence. Even considered posting a topic such as this when I got home but decided against it. I did come across a large pile of scree that had the appearence of having been put there on purpose but couldn't be sure it was the right place. Thought about starting to dig at that point but didn't really have the time (would take a fair bit of work) and was concerned about upsetting the farmer in case it had been filled in deliberately.
Perhaps someone local to the area could shed further light on this? (Pitlamp where are you?).
I'll keep quiet.One of the pleasures of caving in a wild, unspoilt region such as the Black Mountain is that it takes a certain amount of effort, skill and judgement to find the caves in the first place. It's a pretty good natural selection process really - if you can't locate the entrances then you probably aren't really up to going down them, so reducing the chances of causing damage to yourself or what is, due to the paucity of visits, a very well-preserved underground environment.
Why does everybody want everything given to them on a plate these days? It saddens me that here we have two different groups bemoaning the fact that they could not find a particular cave yet no mention is made of the beautiful area in which they find themselves. By contrast, here is an account of a trip to the same place by another visiting party recently:
Trog said:Incidently, when I did Dale Barn in April 05, we arrived to find the oil drum entrance had been completely filled in with rocks. We removed the rocks, went caving and then left the entrance covered with a slab and a few small rocks for camoflage. It could be that whoever filled it in then has done it again.