BROWNS FOLLY

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jonathon

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Could anyone please tell me what is happening at browns folly regarding access?????  muddy hole has been partially filled with very wet mud that smells suspiciously like piss and has a stupid arch thing concreted in and is not very inviting. Shakespeares has not got the combination locks on any more and the iron door has had the lock ruined so it cannot be opened. we did manage to get in through a small collapse eventually but whats happening in there?  dustbins with water in and the passage leading to the iron door has been completely backfilled is it the AWT doing this? If there was an emergency in there the emergency services would have a hell of a job in before even getting anyone out  if the person was on a back board they would not be coming out.  The bats will probably not be able to get in this coming autum if the entrance blocking carries on. I have been going to browns regualry for the past 30 years but have never seen anything like this before so I hope sombody can help before I phone the awt and get it from the horses mouth
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
I think some work has been done at Browns Folly to stop folk stealing the railway lines and selling them as scrap. The idea now is that the lines cannot come out of the entrances.
 

RobinGriffiths

Well-known member
There's some relevant threads on the Darkplaces website. It appears the Avon Wildlife Trust are already concerned.
 

Bob Smith

Member
tbh, it can't have been that regular, since the problems you describe have been in place for around 18 months, if not more. Besides, access is currently denied, officially, and the gates and holes still provide bat access. The other post are correct to point you towards darkplaces for more info.
 

Les W

Active member
Muddy Hole is not supposed to be inviting. It got dug open from a muddy crawl to a walking passage and immediately after the paint spaying chav scum started blitzing the place. Lurid sprayed graffiti over all the old miners drawings, etc. Piles of sh*t in every corner, litter everywhere and the final straw was the pikeys thieving the railway lines from Clapham Junction. To be honest, yes you will get a bit muddy going in Muddy Hole but the price is worth it to protect the site. The only other options are a gate or infilling the entrance completely.

AWT's entrances are not available to explorers (or anybody to be honest, since they had an inspection carried out by a mines inspector, who reported that it was dangerous - surprise...). All access was withdrawn by AWT and locks changed/gates welded closed. The wall that blocks Shakespeare's is doing an excellent job of keeping out the chav scum when they break open AWT's gates and allows the bats continued access. It is also separating the bat areas (dotted red on your survey) from the main quarry area.

TBH, If a little bit of mud in a short crawl puts you off going in then perhaps you need to look for something easier...  :unsure:
 

jonathon

New member
A little bit of mud has never put me off at all but would you crawl through some one elses urine and excrement Im certainly not going to and the amount of mud that has been put there and how wet it is shows that some one is trying to fill it up which I think is terrible. The last time I went to browns was about three months ago and muddy hole was dry compared to what it is now and a definetly not as full or S%$T and did not smell.   
There are buckets and dustbins of rainwater being stored down there and some one has been digging the rails out near clapham where they have been buried since i can remeber (first trip 1972 to browns) so possibly its a scrap man doing that.
I have emailed awt to see what they think as apparently it is meant to be combination locks on shakespears and some one has cut them off  and put their own locks on.

I just think it is totally wrong that one or two people are causing a big problem by blocking entrances and filling in holes so as I said before it would be very very difficult to get an injured person out sat they tripped over the end of the newly cleared loading bay and hurt their back how are you going to get them out on a body board????

Its hard enough that most of the quarrys are gated now but for somone to block the entrances on purpose they have got to be deranged
I started caving back in 1958 and have never seen anything like this its petty and extremely dangerous.......
 

mikem

Well-known member
I'd have thought the wetness & smell of the mud is more due to the horrendous amount of rain we've had in the last 12 months washing stuff into the entrance. The reason the entrance has been shrunk is too many people have been going in & trying to remove stuff (such as the rails) or creating more graffiti...

Mike
 

Peter Burgess

New member
I would agree, although I can only speak from memories of an equally muddy and smelly tight entrance I used to use elsewhere. Organic materials in a permanently wet and clayey mix end up decomposing anaerobically leading to revolting pongs reminiscent of certain excreted matter. I can only imagine this entrance has similar conditions. If you don't like getting filthy and smelly then wear a good oversuit which limits the degree to which the mud makes contact with your outer layers.
 

Maggot

New member
jonathon said:
A little bit of mud has never put me off at all but would you crawl through some one elses urine and excrement

Not much difference between that and, say, Swildons Sump 1 is there?
 

jonathon

New member
I went into browns again this weekend and not through muddy hole!  There was a very strange chap in there that was cleaning up rubbish and seemed very offish toward myself and the small group I was with and he seemed to question what we were doing in there! I enjoy going underground greatly and have never ever met anyone like that underground it was very odd behaviour. Is the quarry privately owned by this chap now? and not awt?? The way he was acting it seemed like it was his own personal property and we were tresspasing any ideas anyone? we did not meet anyone in kingsdown stone quarry or box and a trip the same day to single way, devils cave, and all the holes on the bathampton escarpment did not turn up any one like the chap in browns...
 

ttxela

New member
Clearing up rubbish is generally a good thing isn't it? An appearance of brusqueness is not necessarily unheard of in persons of good character.

I suspect an engagement in conversation will result in mutual understanding and all will be well  :hug:
 

Peter Burgess

New member
Alex is spot on. It sounds like the issue here is not one of appearances (the words "seem to" or equivalent appear more than once) but one of honing some social skills on one or both sides.
 

bograt

Active member
Didn't anyone think to ask the guy? if he is the new owner then it seems like a missed oppurtunity to open negotiations.
 

Blakethwaite

New member
bograt said:
Didn't anyone think to ask the guy? if he is the new owner then it seems like a missed oppurtunity to open negotiations.

I think the locals know exactly who he is and good on him for taking the time for picking up other scrotes filth...
 

ChrisJC

Well-known member
I know who the chap is. He does spend a huge amount of time tidying up, picking up litter and trying to remove the huge amounts of graffiti / waymarkers that people spray willy-nilly everywhere.

I suspect he will treat strangers suspiciously as some of them are culprits of the above.

However, I also know that when approached correctly he is a mine of information on the place.

He is not the owner, and neither is AWT.

Chris.
 

dazza

New member
Truth be known AWT don't even own the land muddy hole is on.
All hail that man in there. He is doing and has done a splended job.
:clap:
 

jonathon

New member
A trip into browns folly again last week and no sign of the owner/caretaker/numpty that has been working in there the local i was chatting to on the surface said he (the caretaker) is in there from lunch time until some times 2 in the morning 7 days a week!  any way the trip went well and i did the falls and the underground stable crept along grahams grovel and looked at the square well which looks as though its radioactive a strange green colour as were some water butts that we found hidden.It is certainly and interesting quarry  Does anyone know the story on the massive wall that has been built on the passage to get through the steel door as I was hoping for a through trip and to come out of the steel door but had to go all the way back through muddy hole. Very few bats were spotted as well I suppose that is because of the fumes down there and this chap being in there all the time.
 

graham

New member
Somewhat of a shame that someone who seems to be putting a lot of effort into graffiti and rubbish removal can be so causally dismissed as a 'numpty'.
 

menacer

Active member
Also a shame that someone new to the forum has used 100% of their limited posts to publicly slur someone they know nothing about.

They perhaps hit their head too hard when they started caving back in 1958.

 
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