blacknor hole

ianspaintpot

New member
i don't know if anyone is aware blacknor hole system is under threat as they have started quarrying at stonehill they have only a 100mtr buffer zone from cliff i am trying to get this extended to 140mtr min.
any thoughts on this would be great as i don't have a up to date survey i hope 140mtr buffer will miss the system
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
When you say up to date what do you mean.  As far as I know the early part of Blacknor has not been extended for many years with all the passage being in downstream Sandy Hole. As a matter of interest is the huge cliff collapse filmed earlier this year anywhere near the system?
 

dorsetcaver

New member
I will have a look at my survey - I did to finish drawing it up - I suspect that the cave is less than 100m from the cliff. Last I knew they were mining to extract the stone so levels will also be important.
 

Ed W

Member
Though being involved in the survey effort in Sandy Hole in the 90s, I have never seen the drawn up product so it is a little difficult to be certain.  My understanding is that the Stonehills development is an underground one rather like those at Bowers Quarry and Inmothsay Quarry.  I think it is very unlikely that such development will be deep enough to directly threaten the passages of Sandy Hole which are almost at the base of the Limestone, as the quarry will be after he quality dimension stone much higher up.  Certainly this is the case at Inmothsay (after having a guided tour of the workings a couple of years ago, I simply do not think it would be economic to quarry the poor quality cherty limestones deeper down).  The potential threat however is that quarry waste could find its way into the passages of Sandy Hole by one of the many rifts in this area.  Stone dust sludge from the cutting of dimension stone could easily make its way down these rifts and block the passages in Sandy Hole, which do run under the Stonehills area.

One way to monitor this would be to make regular trips into the far southern reaches of Sandy Hole to see what is happening - I won't be volunteering for that!  Out of interest, when was the last time anyone went to the bitter end of Sandy Hole...
 

Les W

Active member
Ed W said:
Out of interest, when was the last time anyone went to the bitter end of Sandy Hole...

Is there a bitter end. My understanding was that the at the limit of exploration the way on was wide open but that nobody wanted to go any further...
 

Ed W

Member
Les, whether its the definitive end or not, you still need at least a pit of bitter to get over the fact that you have been stupid enough to go there.  My recollection of my last trip down there (1999 I think) was that a way on was visible but it needed a bit of digging.
 
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