Holwell Cavern Filled in!

Barney1

New member
Hi guys. Sad news today. A friend and I paid a visit to holwell cavern this evening (09/01/13) and were saddened to discover that landslip and slurry have completely filled the east series to within 4ft of the small east entrance and to within inches of the top of the old Metalwork at the east series entrance in the main passage! Access to Andrew crosse chamber is through a slurry puddle although is accessible via the "up-and-over" route. The exit way after bung hole is again accessible only via rank mud and slurry with what looks like a drop of diesel in. Tuppeny tube is still clear as is fairy grotto and the higher elevated section of the same series. We first visited holwell early 2012 and thouroghly enjoyed the more "friendly" east series and looked forward to a re-visit after a long break whilst my partner in crime was recovering from spine surgery. Our first visit since! Sad times. I would love to visit the. east series again oneday but due to the landowners restrictions on access I don't think an excavation is on the horizon and I fear my second cave and first unguided cave will have to be a memory from now on. Sad times. Barney
 

rhychydwr1

Active member
Sad news indeed.  The cave dates back to 1851 when Andrew Crosse discovered "life" from some crystals found in the cave.  The only hope is to contact a local bat group as there are Greater Horseshoe Bats trapped in the cave  Hopefully the farmer will get a rollicking.
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
This is scandalous.  The current farmer has been difficult and once told me nothing could stop him filling it in as long as he left a gap for the bats. Sounds like he is going back on his word. Sadly this was descheduled as a SSSI despite its historical context and the aragonite formations. It is also one of the longest caves off Mendip. What are CSCC going to do about it:mad:
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I have written to Les w. There will be a tiny snippet in the next Descent with a longer feature in the one after. I am going to try mobilising bat group contacts and if CSCC are happy, write to the local press. I expect Old Ruminator will want to be involved as he has some clout as a local author and well known figure in the area.
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Well known for what ?( Nothing to do with J. Saville ! )

I did get a pm about this and was quietly fulminating til I saw Mr O. Doc on Tuesday.
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
I think it's likely that if cavers are known to have used a third party (bat conservationists) to pressurise the landowner to reopen the site then they'd most likely just do the bare minimum to satisfy the bat brigade and resolve that cavers have denied access thereafter. I doubt there'd be much, if any, goodwill towards us lot! I suppose at the very least it would be a win for the fluffpuffs.
 

graham

New member
Chris's worry is really rather irrelevant. It is necessary to take the long-term view on this as, if the cave can be kept undamaged then access may well be restored at some point in the future (see Sludge Pit & Nine Barrows).

However, there are a number of points of concern raised here:

According to Mr O'Doc the farmer has been refusing access for some time I believe, though that is not explicitly stated in this thread. So how did Barney1 gain access for his trip? My concern here is that the behaviour of cavers may have contributed to the farmer's decision to act in this way. I am not blaming anybody for anything here, but would appreciate having this matter clarified.

Again, it is stated that this site was 'de-scheduled' as an SSSI. Whilst noting that scheduled status offers protection to the site but does nothing to facilitate access, I would like to know when this de scheduling occurred and what advice Natural England took in making this move.

The site is said to be a bat roost. I assume that the bat groups have been contacted about this, as this 'should' provide a degree of help. I wouldn't hold your breath, though. I know of at least one entrance, a major bat roost that was comprehensively filled in many years ago despite opposition from bat groups. Nothing was done.
 
According to Mr O'Doc the farmer has been refusing access for some time I believe, though that is not explicitly stated in this thread. So how did Barney1 gain access for his trip?

So...Cave filled in with landslip and slurry - probably polluted landslip and slurry...and according to Graham the guy that reports the problem is potentially at fault!
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I don't think we should sit back and do nothing. One other major Somerset cave has been physically  destroyed at Cannington in the last 20 years (the curse of the interim planning order).  The history of Holwell is that the previous  landowner Mr. Porter used to allow trips if one called in at his farm before hand. However because of its relative ease of access (you park in the lane climb over a gate and walk one field) and  the fact that it is an ideal cave for budding cavers (Graham and I wouldn't fit in several of the squeezes nowadays) it was often visited by the younger generation who tended to just walk in. People used to cycle out from schools in Taunton to visit it. Mr Porter's grandson now runs the farm and he clearly thought the quarry would make a convenient land fill site (he has done a considerable amount of work on modernising the farm including partially damming and piping the water from the nearby resurgence).  Unfortunately cavers unknown visited the cave, didn't like the appearance of the landfill, and reported this to the local council. The first the owner knew was when the council appeared to inspect the site. This appears to have poisoned his mind against cavers. I had two long chats with him some years ago. He has a thing about 'townies' who he feels interfere in country matters. He was very cross when I casually mentioned after a permitted trip that one entrance was blocked and stated that he could do what he liked with his land and could block the whole cave up provided he left a tiny hole for bats.  CSCC approaches offering help with stiles for access etc. were greeted frostily and clearly he does not want visitors to be encouraged. the cave has considerable historic interest and a film crew wanted to work there some years ago - I expect they were turned away.  The irony is that the cave is only a mile or two away from Fyne Court, the base of Somerset Wildlife Trust, and the former home of Andrew Crosse after whom the main chamber in the cave is named. The recent visitors would have therefore been clandestine. I suspect actually that little more landfill has occurred recently but that heavy rain has washed the slurry and mud into the entrance passages. If permission could be gained it would be possible to remedy this quite easily and access could be maintained by doing what was done at Coombesend Cavern and Baker's Pit in Devon (the former less successfully) which is to create an artificial tunnel to the entrance over which landfill could be placed.
Bat groups tend to want to do bat counts so would need access. I am more interested in preserving the cave rather than leaving it as a sporting caving venue if it comes to the crunch.  I have approached a bat expert in Somerset WT who I know fairly well to find out who does the bat counts there. Hope this provides some clarification.
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
Post script. I will write a longer article for Descent magazine about the cave.  The late Dave (Wig) Irwin wrote an authoritative paper on the cave some years ago. It had some famous visitors.
 

graham

New member
Thanks, Peter, most informative. I'd still like to know when & why it was de-scheduled.

jasonbirder, do you not see that there is more than one way to be at fault?
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I have thought of that. If there is diesel on the slurry it will drain into the tiny stream inside the cave.  Ironic if it polluted the resurgence the farm is using - although that is the other side of the valley.
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Just like Cannington Cavern Holwell Cave has been sadly neglected by cavers when access was permitted. Nothing was ever done at Holwell to stop the damage to the formations. I first caved here as a schoolboy around the mid 1960's. The old Victorian gate had been ripped off long before that. We used it to hold back boulders at the East Series entrance. The cave should have been re gated then but it never was. Anybody and everybody went in there for whatever purpose they liked. It really is now all about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Luckily the same never occurred at Festival Cave near Wellington which has been gated for years now.

You may have seen some of these before.

Me , left, at Holwell c 1964. The cave entrance left.

holwell_edited-1.jpg
 

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
A strange bearded fellow counting tractor tyres at Holwell in recent years.

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The SBF in Andrew Crosses's chamber. Note the Victorian walling.

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The SBF standing where the blockage will now be. East Series down slope to the right.

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More walling in Andrew Crosse's Chamber.

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053-1.jpg


Cannington Cavern. Major bat roost and untouched archaeological site. Gone the way of greed and folly.

cannington.jpg


Will anything come of all this blather ? I rather doubt it. As Peter said I rather think much of the infill was existing tip brought down by wet weather. You would have thought all the tractor tyres would have stopped it. Yes. Lets wait 40 years til the present incumbent goes away then future generations can dig it all out and gate it properly.
 
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