Mystery Photo of Puttrell

yrammy

yrammy

Member
The British Caving library has been contacted by someone who wants to identify the cave/mine in the attached photo.

The picture shows James W Puttrell at an unidentified cave entrance and can be found on 'Picture Sheffield'. 

Do you recognise the cave/mine entrance?

We have ruled out Lathkill Head and Great Douk.  Could it have been in a quarry - not blasted away?

Thanks
Mary
 

Attachments

  • Puttrell.jpg
    Puttrell.jpg
    33.4 KB · Views: 1,600
Alex

Alex

Well-known member
Could it be Scoska cave, in Upper Littondale? Unfortunately, I can't find any photos taken from that angle but it does look possible from the photos I have seen.
 
Simon Beck

Simon Beck

Member
Alex said:
Could it be Scoska cave, in Upper Littondale? Unfortunately, I can't find any photos taken from that angle but it does look possible from the photos I have seen.
Click to expand...

I agreed, but after looking at my own photos of the entrance pretty certain it isn't.
 
Alex

Alex

Well-known member
Hmm, then what about Allt nan Uamh Bone Caves, in Scotland?

Entrance_to_one_of_caves.JPG


The roof etc seems to match, if the dark bit shown on the original is the roof, just view it from the left.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
It's certainly not Scoska. I'm not convinced about the Scottish cave either as the beds in the Puttrell picture are horizontal. If that's Puttrell it's very likely to be somewhere in the White Peak.  Mary may be right; it could have been quarried away now (in which case, maybe one of those lost to quarrying in Stoney Middleton Dale?).
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
He looks quite old in the shot, so likely to be 1920s onwards - he died in 1939. I'm sure the JP Craddock biography mentions them visiting a cave in South Derbyshire that was then removed by quarrying, but I don't have a copy. My guess if it's Derbyshire is that it's closer to the BCL than Castleton!
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
I have that book, as I helped the author by supplying information at the time. If you can give me any further pointers I'll happily have a glance through.
 
R

rob4206m

New member
I've just spoken to my Dad who looks after the Derbyshire Pennine Club records. Apparently this photograph is captioned Thirst House, Deepdale circa Oct 1926. However, a quick search online suggests it looks nothing like that if it is indeed a photo of the entrance? Something nearby?
 
G

grahams

Well-known member
The photo does look like Thirst House Cave from some angles. Take a look at the image by the themodernantiquarian https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/5192/thirst_house.html.
Bearing in mind that the image has very high contrast and that it's difficult to discern the size of the cave entrance, it could also be Victoria Cave.
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Thirst House should show a shoulder of rock in each corner & Victoria cave is much larger (even before it was fully opened up). Worth considering that old prints were sometimes developed as a mirror image.
 
SamT

SamT

Moderator
Looks very "Peaky" type limestone.

wouldn't surprise me if its somewhere that's been quarried away by now. either in stoney, Eldon hill, (Earles/Blue Circle/Lafarge/Hope/Breedon or what ever its called these days)
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
Earle's Quarry (the precursor to Hope cement) was opened in 1929, and they started work in the corner nearest Pindale, so if it was there they would have to have been quick! I saw some wonderful aerial shots of the quarry taken over each decade in the manager's office a few years ago, and the photo of the first iteration was great - lots of cranes and tin huts but not much else. That said, I'm reasonably confident there's a buried system around there due to a certain draught I've noticed, which was enough to blow my hat off.

Victoria Cave is much larger (if we're talking about the Yorkshire Dales one), and has a bunch of solution pockets to the right of it.
 

Attachments

  • _IGP6927_sm.jpg
    _IGP6927_sm.jpg
    325.4 KB · Views: 203
Katie

Katie

Active member
Interesting it was labelled Thirsk house cave. It doesn't look much like the entrance to me, but maybe worth a wander around Deep dale as there are other entrances that I have never paid much attention to!
To me the limestone at the top of the entrance looks very sharp and pointy which makes me think it may have been a recent find, probably from blasting in a quarry.
 
AR

AR

Well-known member
Topley Pike Quarry was already in existence by 1926 so possibly the photo was taken there, showing a long-removed bit of cave? Might try and get over to Deepdale at some point this weekend and have a proper look at the various entrances.
 
P

phizz4

Member
Don't forget that access along the dale has been diverted due to landscaping efforts (until 2026 according to the signs), if you approach from the A6 end.
 
J

Jenny P

Active member
I had wondered if it might have been the entrance to Great Douk, taken by someone standing below at the base of the shakehole.  What appears to be a sort of path leading out of the cave to the right  could, possibly, be where the stream comes out if it was taken when there was almost no water in it.  It's a long time since I've seen Great Douk though so I'm really not sure.

I can't think of a Derbyshire site which looks anything like this - there aren't that many open entrances you could stand in like this and have a photo taken from that angle.  It's not Lathkill Head and I'm pretty sure it's not Thirst House or Frank i' th' Rocks Cave or Harborough Rocks Cave.  I wondered about something in the Manifold Valley but can't think of anything like this.  There is a cave in Deepdale on the opposite side to Thirst House cave, high up and hidden by nettles, but that's much smaller I think.

Did Puttrell ever visit Ireland?  If so, could it be somewhere there?
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
It's not Great Douk. Unless they trimmed the edges off when they shoved that big rock in to try and block the entrance ;)
 

Attachments

  • _IGP3160_sm.jpg
    _IGP3160_sm.jpg
    314.1 KB · Views: 218
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top