Another Jug Holes cry for help

Gritstone

Member
So first time into the upper series went well, 3 hours of finding dead ends and false leads and finding the stream running the opposite way to the survey. The question is can a route be found into the main chamber through the boulder choke and if so where is it. Also I assume that the stream I came across was bue to the large amount of rain at the weekend if this was the case where is the emergence of the stream proper? The fact that I didn't find the main chamber was made better by the amount of fun I had navigating in and out of the boulders and first part of the Cavern, it would however be nice to find the main chamber when I go back this weekend. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
 

Jenny P

Active member
Why don't you have a look at the DCA website:  theDCA.org.uk and go to the Cave Registry section where you will find details of Jug Holes and a route description plus a rigging guide.

If you need more information there is a book about Jug Holes which is available from DCA and this includes a survey.  If you need further information about the book, PM me as I deal with DCA publications sales.
 

Gritstone

Member
Cheers Jenny P, I'll take a look and PM you. I know I'll find my way in eventually, by asking for help I'm just cutting down the times I have to drive there 😜
 

Fishes

New member
If you are heading into the system in wet weather then you will probably encounter a stream quite quickly but this will disappear under boulders. There are several routes to the right and down dip that will lead you to the main stream and part of the cave.
 

Gritstone

Member
Cheers Fishes, I saw the streem flowing the opposite way to the survey diapering under the floor in the down dip chamber and followed a muddy passage for a while but it ended at a blockage. When I checked the survey with a compass I was on the wrong side of the cave so had to crawl back out. I couldn't find any way on the other side of the chamber that headed in the direction of the main chamber. As far as I'm aware I was as far down dip as I could get. Don't get me wrong it was a great day caving but I'm at a loss as to where the entrances are. I'm loving the place though.
 

2xw

Active member
I'm not sure the surveys are all that helpful to be honest - especially in terms of getting in. I seem to recall a rescue there where someone got lost and we searched 3 times, it took ages.
 

Tripod

Member
There is a lot more to Jugholes than the survey shows. I first visited in the 1960s and it changed then from the description of a decade earlier. What was lost through the 1950s  quarrying?. Places within Jugholes had changed again when I took up caving again almost thirty years later but it then promised connections to other mines and other entrances. An enduring mystery has to be what lies at the bottom of Hut Shaft and who actually saw the "caverns" down there. Myths and legends, along with some facts abound and I would like to know more, even if I am unlikely to visit the place again.
 

caving_fox

Active member
Gritstone said:
Cheers Fishes, I saw the streem flowing the opposite way to the survey diapering under the floor in the down dip chamber and followed a muddy passage for a while but it ended at a blockage. When I checked the survey with a compass I was on the wrong side of the cave so had to crawl back out. I couldn't find any way on the other side of the chamber that headed in the direction of the main chamber. As far as I'm aware I was as far down dip as I could get. Don't get me wrong it was a great day caving but I'm at a loss as to where the entrances are. I'm loving the place though.

The best advise I can give, from memory after spending more than 6 hours playing (there's a trip report form me on here somewhere) is that from the top in daylight heading downhill you enter a large chamber by climbing down a slot on the left. From this chamber the Main Chamber is gained by turning right behind a flake. It's not as obvious as you might expect. If you reach a hole in the floor leading to a clearly mined section you've gone to far and the Main Chamber entrance is behind you. The Main chamber starts with a traverse along a boulder, I seem to remember it had pbolts for a handline, but we didn't think that was necessary.
 

Gritstone

Member
Thanks for all that guys. As it turns out I went back the following Saturday dropped down the shaft, went down dip and crawled straight into the main chamber through a sizable passage I'd totally missed the week before. I'm going back to work the boulder pile though, it was too much fun not to try again.
 

Fishes

New member
Hi Tripod

Most of Jug Holes is much the same as it was surveyed and described by Op Mole back in the 1950'S. The survey published by Worley and Nash is based on these but has some of the detail missing. A few things have changed however.

The Beehive Slopes were once white and really quite spectacular. They seem to have been damaged by a combination of too many muddy cavers travelling over them and the diversion of much of the water that once flowed over them by some of the later open cast working that took place at the back of Jug Holes Wood.

Some of the mine workings at the back of the 2nd water cavern were also damaged/destroyed by later fluorspar working.

I understand that the pitch down to the lower series was also once a properly ginged shaft with some now lost workings also heading up dip.

The lower end of the adit and the cutting that once ran too it has also collapsed.

The workings at the bottom of Hut Shaft are not a complete mystery. Some of us have been there in relatively recent times and we did a survey of them in the 1980's and 90's which is not yet in the public domain.

Fishes

 

Tripod

Member
Hi Fishes,

I will look forward to reading about what is at the bottom of Hut Shaft when it gets into the public domain. The only "survey" I have seen so far has a vague drawing of "caverns", suggesting that there is much down there. In the 1960s the area around the sump appeared to be very different, with more water as I recall. Back then I entered some rather loose, old workings from the lower series which were heading towards the upper series. There must have been much more at one time, as you say, lost to quarrying and fluorspar working. A story from the 1950s of a connection with Oxclose Mine corresponded with another I was told in the 1990s. Another story I was told in the 1960s sent Jugholes connections literally miles in a southerly direction. Since I last visited Jugholes I have heard of another entrance being found and more systems to explore. Jugholes Sough must have its name through some sort of link, in language or passages with the Jugholes we know. Back in the 1960s there were tales of Matlock area connections, enticing, actual and some dismissed as impossible but now, through more recent research looking to be more realistic. The Matlock/Matlock Bath area is fascinating and I only regret that I missed as much as I did when I might have had a chance to explore more.
 
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