Caves & Karst of the Yorkshire Dales - Volume 2

BCRA is pleased to announce that Volume Two of this book will be launched on 4 October 2017, price ?30, and will be available to order online from that date, for ?30 including UK postage. Information is at http://bcra.org.uk/bookshop/dales.html but please note that the book will not be listed on our order form until the launch date.

Pre-launch sales will be available at Hidden Earth (30 Sept and 1 Oct) at ?24, and there will also be a special offer at Hidden Earth, not available online, of Volumes One and Two, for ?40. For information about Hidden Earth please see http://hidden.earth

Volume One of this two-volume set was published in 2013 and covered the geomorphology, speleology and science relevant to the Yorkshire Dales. Volume Two contains chapters that describe the major caves and gives a regional overview for each of 17 areas within and around the Yorkshire Dales karst. The book is aimed at anyone with a serious interest in the Dales, and that will include everyone from the academic geographers to the dedicated cave explorers.

During the period from 2014-2017, when Volume 2 was being compiled, chapters were placed online as they were completed. these files have now mostly been taken down in preparation for publication of the printed book. It is intended that all the chapters of Volume 1 and Volume 2 will be made available online before stocks of the printed books run out. The online chapters of Volume 2 will be revised and updated when significant new explorations make that appropriate. Meanwhile, three items remain online at http://bcra.org.uk/dales/ . The Outline file is a free download that lists the contents in detail and also includes the index. Chapter 24 is presented as a sample of the chapters in Volume 2, and is a free download for members of BCRA. Chapter 25 is made available as a free download for everyone and as a contribution towards understanding of the karst geomorphology of the Malham area, which attracts wider interest from non-cavers.

The editors would like to thank all the authors and photographers for their contributions to this project over the past five and more years.

This book is now available for ordering online http://bcra.org.uk/bookshop/order.html

Please note that the hardback edition is not yet available but you can order it now, and we expect it to be delivered to you by the end of October.

My copy crashed through the letterbox today. This is a fantastic accumulation of knowledge in the form of text, photos, maps and diagrams and a worthy succesor to its 1974 predecessor. Most of it has been published before on-line but there are significant new chapters in this paper edition and also some useful edits and corrections included. The hard copy is certainly more impressive than a set of pdf files. This will keep my armchair caving going for some time and may even stimulate the occasional potholing trip.

There is one omission that is also mysteriously absent from the new Northern Caves. See the map on p228 of the 1974 Limestones and Caves of North West England or have a look for a trip advert behind the bar of a well known pub in Dent. This cave really needs to be published after all this time and the number of people who know of its existence and have been in it! Somebody please....

Had a look at the map in the old book loads of caves on it give us another clue.

If you go on the new Northern Caves website and filter for Dentdale, it's the cave not listed there. Starts with H.

Would that be Harry Long's H-cave discovery way back last century?

psychocrawler said:

If you go on the new Northern Caves website and filter for Dentdale, it's the cave not listed there. Starts with H.

Click to expand...

Can you expand on the mysterious omission? The diagram suggests three possible H's. Not familiar with the area but love a good bit of drams!

I can't - I'll get sent to Coventree.

Found another omission too from C&KofYD too. Obvious cave downstream of Birkwith below road in river bed probabably feeding Low Birkwith but can't remember what it's called. Not in old NC.

Good to see Snurd's Hole included after omission from the draft on-line, if a tad dismissive if it's relative importance.

psychocrawler said:

This cave really needs to be published after all this time and the number of people who know of its existence and have been in it! Somebody please....

Click to expand...

Is it a cave or is it a mine? If it was a cave there would be no problem I'm sure.

Definitely a cave.

What a bizzarre trend this thread has takern....

This book..... Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales volume 2 contains a truly monumental amount of information on thousands of caves throughout the Yorkshire Dales.....

The panel of authors have to be congratulated  on putting together a book such as this that ought to reside on the book shelves of every Dale's caver / geologists home

I am really shocked that instead of applauding the BCRA, the Great Tony Waltham and David Lowe  for dedicating a huge chunk of their lives to producing this tremendous work .... some individuals on here only concerns to find fault and point out the omission of one single cave..... 

Really this is a sensational book..... Showing maps of all our major and even some not so cave systems, both in birds eyes ( if there were birds with ground. Penetrating radar sight that is) along with longitudinal sections, showing their relationship to each other, this is done across the whole region....

The photographers have done us proud..... I was chatting to John Dale at the BCRA Symposium at the weekend and he gave me hint of the sheer dedication put in to get such a comprehensive collection of photos to illustrate and inform the reader in pictorial form of our wonderful world of caves, that we Dale's and visiting cavers have to explore and enjoy....

Theres a huge amount of information to assist in our enjoyment of this heritage.....obviously the result of many years of diligent research and hard exploration by the individual authors and those who have gone before and those who are presently actively engaged in speleological projects.

A Fantastic book.....buy it because it will inevitably prove invaluable to have your own copy to hand when you need it...

Richard.

richardg said:

I am really shocked that instead of applauding the BCRA, the Great Tony Waltham and David Lowe  for dedicating a huge chunk of their lives to producing this tremendous work .... some individuals on here only concerns to find fault and point out the omission of one single cave

Click to expand...

psychocrawler said:

This is a fantastic accumulation of knowledge in the form of text, photos, maps and diagrams and a worthy succesor to its 1974 predecessor. Most of it has been published before on-line but there are significant new chapters in this paper edition and also some useful edits and corrections included. The hard copy is certainly more impressive than a set of pdf files. This will keep my armchair caving going for some time and may even stimulate the occasional potholing trip.

Click to expand...

Richard, I don't think anybody has found fault with the authors. Psychocrawler was simply pointing out the ommision and I'm sure he wouldn't have thought it neccessary to add that it is not the fault of the authors.

I think the book is so good that I forked out for the hardback option so it doesn't wear out too quickly. I'm definitely not criticising any of the authors. They have done a magnificent job and additionaly have responded to feedback in relation to the on-line chapters.
The cave in question is always omitted from all publications for reasons that are completely beyond me, hence my moaning about it on here. It is probably well known to the authors but they don't have permission from the original explorer(s) to publish. I (and probably quite a few others) could publish a description now but I don't have a survey to go with it and would much rather see both come from the discoverer(s) and original explorer(s) who deserve the credit of finding a really splendid cave all those years ago but which remains 'secret' (or actually not secret at all, just unpublished).

The book is excellent and will be keeping me entertained and out of trouble for more than a few wet afternoons.

All this cloak and dagger hinting at a cave that the select inner circle know about but nobody can mention us just bloody irritating though. If you have a secret cave that you want to keep for just you and your mates, fine, but why bother talking in code on a public forum?

I thought I knew Dent pretty well but can't for the life of me remember this cave. And I've spent many an hour in the George and Sun. That is probably the problem...