Darnbrook Pot

[Zen Monkey]

Anyone know the ownership of the digs at the bottom of Darnbrook Pot? They look old and abandoned. Suspect CPC but so far no information found . Suspect they are from 1970s but would be interested in finding out.

[tamarmole]

The higher of the two  digs was a joint Airedale  CC Diggers / Yorkshire Ramblers project dating from 1999. The lower dig was well abandoned by that time.    The terminal choke is certainly worth a further poke.

If you are interested in digging on Darnbrook Fell it might be worth taking a look at Middle Stream Sink.  The ACC diggers had a look at it and always intended to come back for a more concerted look (but never did). 

[cfmwh]

Back in the early 80's, Watto, (the late) Terry Truman and Alison (?) were digging in the choke but were following the water.

I went with them on one trip. That was enough! The fresh scratch marks on the transit sized boulders that had moved since their previous session didn't endear the place to me! It's one of those sites that reminds you of an ant in a bowl of sugar cubes!

The dig crapped out a fair way in from memory.  Now that capping is an option it could be worth re-appraising the choke, but I'd take a change of shreds if I were you! 

[tamarmole]

Back in the early 80's, Watto, (the late) Terry Truman and Alison (?) were digging in the choke but were following the water.

I went with them on one trip. That was enough! The fresh scratch marks on the transit sized boulders that had moved since their previous session didn't endear the place to me! It's one of those sites that reminds you of an ant in a bowl of sugar cubes!

The dig crapped out a fair way in from memory.  Now that capping is an option it could be worth re-appraising the choke, but I'd take a change of shreds if I were you! 

We took a look at this route but thought it a little too sketchy which is why we attempted to go over the top.

[Alex]

I remember peering through a very narrow hole at what the stream 10ft below, I was thinking a few caps and you could get through that. Though getting there was loose I don't recall the end being that loose, but it was what half a decade or more since I have been there?

[Zen Monkey]

Thanks for the replies to my query. It looks like a place that still has some potentialj

[tamarmole]

Thanks for the replies to my query. It looks like a place that still has some potentialj

Go for it!

One thing that would be worth doing would be tying the survey in with surface mapping.  At the back of my mind I seem to recall (long time ago) that we had a suspicion that the collapse might have been the bottom of one of the big surface shakeholes.

[Pitlamp]

Yes, it's on a substantial fault, pretty much below the extraordinarily large collapse dolines called the Cockpits. It's a dangerous place. I don't know if it's been tested directly but it seems likely the water reappears from the big choke beyond all the sumps in upstream Robinsons' Pot, so not too sure just how much potential there is.   

[Inferus]

Yes, it's on a substantial fault, pretty much below the extraordinarily large collapse dolines called the Cockpits. It's a dangerous place. I don't know if it's been tested directly but it seems likely the water reappears from the big choke beyond all the sumps in upstream Robinsons' Pot, so not too sure just how much potential there is.   

I don't know the area but a glance at the overview survey of the Darnbrook area in Caves & Karst suggests a straight line gap of about half a mile, no idea what the depth difference is though