Peak Dale Cavern

ah147

New member
Hi All,

Was reading an old newsletter, mentioned a Peak Dale Cavern. I've searched around but can't drag any info up on it.

Anybody know anything?

Cheers,

Ash
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
If it's the one I'm thinking of it was last dived by Oliver Lloyd a very long time ago, the water is supposed to be quite caustic and the last I heard the entrance was sealed.

Have a look in the Peak District Sump Index 1994. There are two copies of this for sale incidentally - see a message on the (CDG password protected side of the) CDG website. If you've not got your password yet and you're interested in getting a long out of print index, send me a PM or normal email and I'll give you the gen.
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
ah147 said:
Pitlamp, just incase you're interested, I found it looking in the 1997 update.

Yes - it's certainly in the 1994 main index (at SK090770) - which the 97 update refers to.

Do you have this publication?. If not, send me a PM before the last one I have here goes.
 

bograt

Active member
---- And yet the acidic stuff keeps coming up from Wormhill Risings, --- enigmatic ain't it?

P.S., I have found the reference in C.O.D. 1964 (first edition) and compared it with C.O.P.D. 2010 (latest edition), the only difference is a reference to an article by Dave Gill in the DCA Newsletter No.17, page 3, reporting the 'Burial of Peak Dale Cave', 1973.
I will scan and release the guide book references when Flickr stops f*cking me around :mad: :mad:.

P.P.S. Pitlamps NGR matches both entries.
 

ah147

New member
Thanks Pitlamp but I have both copies. I'll check the forum when I can to see what else you've got going though!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Antwan said:
One is a cave, and the other is a railway tunnel

My understanding of the situation is as follows:

Peak Dale Cave: what this topic is about. SK090770 (but buried by landscaping).

Peak Dale Tunnel: what the other topic is about. Not a cave.

Peak Dale Cavern: an incorrect name for Peak Dale Cave which has crept into this topic.


Bograt - interesting that you mention Wormhill Risings being acidic; this surprised me. Can you tell us a bit more? Where does this information come from and what sort of pH are we talking about?
 

bograt

Active member
Not overly acidic, just the acid side of caustic, something I recall from Noel Christophers work in the 70's, alas I don't think it was published, a great shame.
 

Mark

Well-known member

bograt

Active member
Thanks for that link Mark, just spent a very entertaining 4 hours going through some very interesting research papers :sneaky:.

It is likely that I am remembering my information wrong since more recent testing seems to put the average pH for the springs in that area at about 7.3 (slightly alkali).
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks both to Mark for posting that information and to Bograt for going through stuff.

Just the alkaline side of pH7 is what I'd have expected for Wormhill. I've been scratching my head at work all day trying to think of a mechanism to produce low pH waters there; I failed - but now you've posted the above I can stop!
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
I am currently going through some of John Woolley's glass-mounted slides, and it includes over a hundred splendid photographs of Peak Dale Cave.  The entrance passage looks quite damp, but the formations are superb. The cave might be lost, but we have an excellent photographic record.
 

bograt

Active member
Any sign of a survey?, checking out NGR, it looks like it might have some development in the quarry where the kids have their moto-cross track.
 

mch

Member
Interesting to read Dave Gill's "obituary" of Peak Dale Cave. He makes the point that the cave is still there, it's just that the entrance has been buried, and observes that at some future time cavers may dig into it and "...discover for themselves a fine, well decorated grotto."
 
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