Goatchurch Cavern,Dexion Extension And Orange Peel Passage

Oli Hill

New member
Wednesday 12th December Myself, Sam Walker and Dave Thorneywork went to Burrington Coombe to have a look at Pierre's pot and Goatchurch cavern. To start with we made are way down to the tight rift in Pierre's pot to see whether we felt up to visiting the lower series. However after some discussion none of us felt up for the rift so decided to head over to Goatchurch to have a look at the further reaches.
We headed up and entered through the show cave entrance and decended down the giants stairs until we reached orange peel passage. We then proceeded one at a time to make the gravelly crawl through to the small chamber to get some photos of the formations at the end. After having a look around we headed back out and continued on to Jacobs ladder. Upon reaching water chamber the stream could be heard running and after a closer inspection a small hole in the floor lead down to a squeeze in to a small chamber with the stream flowing over one side. After this we continued on to the drainpipe to reach the start of the dexion dig extensions. once we had all got through the drainpipe, we headed through the tight slot at the end of the drainpipe that lead on to the extension. Sam went first with myself and then Dave following behind. Having negotiated the first tight section that is visible from the end of drainpipe we all managed to twist around and head on through the second squeeze. This second squeeze was a fair bit tighter and involved crawling through the surprisingly cold puddle. Upon exiting the second squeeze we came out in a low crawl which lead on to a narrow crawl through a tight upwards climb. trying to avoid putting to much pressure on the supports we all made the climb up and in to the chamber. We were all surprised with how well decorated the chamber was and the variety of formations within. After getting some photos and having looked around we headed back. The return proved to be quit difficult as we decended the climb headfirst in order to be facing the the correct direction. Heading back through both squeezes we all made it back to the drainpipe and headed back to water chamber. After a quick crawl down the rabbit warren we headed back up Jacobs ladder and made are way out. This was a good trip with a surprisingly challenging extension to the cave. I have a couple of questions about the trip if anyone can help:
1)Who dug the dexion extension
2)There was a small passage heading of at the end of the final chamber in dexion. Does this go any further or is it just a dead end.
3)In the chamber at the end of dexion there was collection of yellowy brown crystals beneath a stalagmite. what is this?

I will try and attach some images later on of the trip.
 

Oli Hill

New member
Here is the link to the photos we managed to get.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=499856593839079&id=100014442288196
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
Watch the second part of this epic movie to see the Dexion series footage:

1st part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VayI2aeyS68&t
2nd part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfM44UExovo&t
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
Oli Hill said:
Wednesday 12th December Myself, Sam Walker and Dave Thorneywork went to Burrington Coombe to have a look at Pierre's pot and Goatchurch cavern. To start with we made are way down to the tight rift in Pierre's pot to see whether we felt up to visiting the lower series. However after some discussion none of us felt up for the rift so decided to head over to Goatchurch

The slot in Pierre's has been bypassed (though I believe it's still awkward; I didn't use it).
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I cannot remember who did the Dexion dig originally but it was opened up in the mid to late 70's. I first went there in '78 with my wife and there were some fine formations. I took by 8 or 9 year old daughter there probably in the late 80's and the formations were badly damaged. I took a non caving friend there and he couldn't pass the first squeeze - ended up featuring in Sally's what I did at the weekend story she wrote at school. It contains the classic line 'Barry got stuck'. While Barry was stuck I photographed him and the picture ended up in a geology guide. Pictures can be seen in the MCRA archive (of the before and after formations).
album-72157627645114948
album-72157627645114948
album-72157627645114948
album-72157627645114948
 

Fulk

Well-known member
Here is the link to the photos we managed to get.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=499856593839079&id=100014442288196
Like

Hi Oli, Sam.walker might like this, but I don't because you have to sign up to Facebook to see it.
 

JoshW

Well-known member
Fulk said:
Here is the link to the photos we managed to get.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=499856593839079&id=100014442288196
Like

Hi Oli, Sam.walker might like this, but I don't because you have to sign up to Facebook to see it.

Even having fb doesn't do the job, think the photo is set to private and therefore you'd need to be friends on fb to see it.. if you set the photo permissions to public oli, then everyone (fb user or not) should be able to see it  (y)
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
Sorry. Easier to do this and link you to the flickr page for MCRA, my album.  You will find before and after photos there if you flick through. These are the Mendip cave shots I have uploaded so far.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mendipcaveregistryarchive/albums/72157627645114948
 

Oli Hill

New member
After having issues with the photos being uploaded i have had them placed on this link if people would like to view them.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/167536749@N03/albums/72157701371412992
 
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