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Descent 310 is out now.
....so prepare to see some of the best writing and photography from the caving world
Including: Into the Echo Chamber, Tim Allen reports on another magnificent Yorkshire Dales find by the Space Miners....and: The Great Geoff Yeadon, undoubtedly one of the greats of the caving world. Following his death at the age of 75, Geoff Crossley, Martin Grass and Mick Nunwick pay tribute to him.
Eldon Hole
- Thread starter owd git
- Start date
pwhole
Well-known member
No snow. We went three weeks ago to find the bottom completely devoid of snow, and it hasn't really had any significant since. So you should be fine. Ironically last July there was a huge plug, so we assume maybe wind direction has something to do with its formation - or not. Incidentally, another scaffolded dig has appeared since last time I was there - nearer the pitch up to Millers Chamber than the other one.
I still think the crawl through is the nastiest and most dangerous part of the trip - nearly took my eye out on that rusty corrugated iron. Can't we all get together this summer and sort that mess out?
I still think the crawl through is the nastiest and most dangerous part of the trip - nearly took my eye out on that rusty corrugated iron. Can't we all get together this summer and sort that mess out?
bograt
Well-known member
Whenever I start thinking about Eldon, I can't help comparing it to Alum. Imagine what Alum would look like now if the slab that peeled off to make the bridge had been nearer the whole length of the hole in size, then decades of loose walling stone and frost breakdown had fallen on it.
I think the digs in the chamber are in the wrong place, the way on is down in the main shaft, the ancient reports of it being 400' deep suggest the blockage is only a couple of hundred years old.
I think the digs in the chamber are in the wrong place, the way on is down in the main shaft, the ancient reports of it being 400' deep suggest the blockage is only a couple of hundred years old.
mr conners
Member
Best take that shovel 
pwhole
Well-known member
In Mines Quarries and Murders in the Peak District by Roger Flindall (PDMHS Mining History Special Edition, Vol. 16 No.1, 2005), the possibility of a hoax being perpetrated either on Lloyd by miners, or by Lloyd himself is raised - namely that the underground river never existed, and it was a wild exaggeration intended to add more 'thrills to the ride', as it were. I have no more idea on the veracity of that rumour than of the original tale, but it seems like a good place for a dig anyway, given where it is. And the fact that Windle and Rush mines, just up the hill, went down 660 feet to an underground streamway, presumably the P8 water on its way to Speedwell.
But digging a better tunnel through to the Main Chamber would seem to me to be the minimum required as it's disgusting and a serious health hazard in every respect at the moment.
But digging a better tunnel through to the Main Chamber would seem to me to be the minimum required as it's disgusting and a serious health hazard in every respect at the moment.
Pete K
Well-known member
I'm in, tiz a horrible place to be.
I have thought that a shuttered/walled trench dug horizontally outwards towards the shaft from the chamber would serve to create a nicer passage and also a good jumping off point for an investigative dig into the plug at the bottom of the shaft.
I have thought that a shuttered/walled trench dug horizontally outwards towards the shaft from the chamber would serve to create a nicer passage and also a good jumping off point for an investigative dig into the plug at the bottom of the shaft.
Pete K
Well-known member
Judging by the size of the scree slope inside the chamber I imagine it is pretty big. Stacking space is not an issue as long as it is done carefully and probably behind constructed stone walls inside to prevent it filling the active digs. I doubt there is any hope of getting enough people, kit or time to empty the place up the shaft to the field.
pwhole
Well-known member
I'm sure I remember it being described as something like ten feet high in Lloyd's time - certainly walking-height. When Puttrell and friends dug out the crawl again in the early 20th C, I don't think they got it much higher than body-sized, as they just wanted to get in and see what was there. Anyway, assuming I was free in the summer months, I'd be up for helping out on this. Surely some sort of organised 'clean-up' of that whole section could be done? With a few people, it would be easy.
Not sure if something like large-dia plastic pipe would be the answer, as it would require steps fitting really, and stretchers would have to fit through/down it easily. Of course, with a deep enough trench it need not be an awkward passage at all!
Not sure if something like large-dia plastic pipe would be the answer, as it would require steps fitting really, and stretchers would have to fit through/down it easily. Of course, with a deep enough trench it need not be an awkward passage at all!
phil lilley
New member
The bottom of Eldon is pretty grotty. Offering digging services if labour is needed
AR
Well-known member
Just to sound a note of caution, Eldon Hole also has extremely high archaeological potential. Although there will be a significant layer of stones thrown in by visitors in the last few centuries and the usual remains of suicidal sheep *cough cough*, in earlier times a big deep hole like Eldon will have attracted attention as an entrance to the underworld/realm of the gods/abode of demons, what have you.
This has tended to lead to the dreaded "ritual activity" as people throw things, or even each other, into the big hole to appease or cajole whatever entity they perceive to be present, but this then leads to potentially quite a depth of prehistoric and Roman deposits. I would strongly recommend anyone thinking of digging down there to get advice from a specialist in cave archaeology (which I do not profess to be!) before doing anything.
This has tended to lead to the dreaded "ritual activity" as people throw things, or even each other, into the big hole to appease or cajole whatever entity they perceive to be present, but this then leads to potentially quite a depth of prehistoric and Roman deposits. I would strongly recommend anyone thinking of digging down there to get advice from a specialist in cave archaeology (which I do not profess to be!) before doing anything.
AR
Well-known member
droid said:
I was actually thinking of the likes of Andrew Chamberlain who've been involved with major underground archaeology projects in the past, though John would certainly suggest good people to talk to if you asked him
I would have liked to have seen Time team trying to empty Eldon Hole in an archaeologically responsible manner in three days....
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