Barry King Online Archive

langcliffe

Well-known member
Some of Barry King's Giant's Hole photographs have been added to the BCRA Online Archive. These were taken in the late 1950s / early 1960s, and provide a good reminder of the epic journey involved between the entrance and Garland Pot before much of the entrance series was blasted open in 1967 for the ill-fated show cave venture.

Any comments / corrections welcomed.
 

Boy Engineer

Active member
Thanks for posting the link to the pictures. A timely reminder that we don't know we're born sometimes, particularly where clothing and gear is concerned. My first trip into a proper cave was P8 with the Derby College of Art and Technology Caving Club. Cotton boilersuit over a cagoule. Never been so cold in my life; fortunately someone took pity on my shivering frame and got me out. It nearly put me off for life.
 

Fulk

Well-known member
It reminds me of doing Giants in a tee-shirt, jeans and a sweater (before Backwash Pool was blown up); at least, we had electron ladders.
 

Jenny P

Active member
This is a fascinating archive and Barry's tales of exploring the various Peak District systems with his friends are great.  He did the first ever proper survey of Carleswark Cavern, printed in a BSA publication, and was a very active caver for several years.  His collection of photos is a real reminder of caving in the 50s and 60s, when we all wore "grots" and were resigned to getting soaking wet and very cold along with fantastic bruises because of the lack of padding.

I bet there aren't that many cavers around now who can remember bailing the Backwash Sump into the dams in order to get through to Giants Hall.  Trouble was that, even when the pool was bailed, it still had plenty of water in it so that you got soaked going through.  But then you'd already been soaked getting under the dreaded Curtain before you ever got to Pillar Crawl.  I can remember Garlands Pot having a fixed ladder on it, which actually stuck up well above the top of the pitch, and an epic climb up once when the cave was getting very wet when the waterfall on Garlands actually shot out over your shoulder on the way up.

Garlands used to be 30 feet deep before the way was blasted through.  The rubble from the blasting was wheelbarrowed down the passage and tipped over the top of Garlands so the first time we got back in after the work had been done we were astounded to find Garlands only 15 feet deep and the rubble and stones spreading on down the Crabwalk.  Nowadays, as the stuff gets washed further down with every flood, Garlands is beginning to get deeper again and may eventually get back to its original depth.  In the early days it had a cobble floor and there was a small lip going into the Crabwalk so the cobbles didn't get washed down.
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
The final two sections have been added to the Barry King archive on the BCRA Online Archive:

Fatigue Pot

Contains photographs from about 1957 of Fatigue Pot, near Stoney Middleton

Miscellaneous

Contains a few "historically" interesting photographs.
 
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