History of caving in the Dales

thehungrytroglobite

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
Does anyone know when & what the earliest record of caving (as a sport as we know it today) in the Dales is? If not the earliest, if people could fire some early facts / records / instances at me that would be great. Feel free to reference to resources, libraries or anyone else I might be able to ask too :)
 
Some very early caving done by lead miners - but I suspect you wanted documented accounts.
One example is Joss Pounder's natural caverns ("large, with a great amount of water in it") in the Burhill Mines east from Trollers Gill. Good account of that in Gemmell & Myers' book "Underground Adventure" (1952). There will be others (such as the lost caverns of Grassington Moor (for which a survey exists) but, from memory, that wasn't especially early - Victorian I think). I'd talk to folk with a particular interest in our mining heritage - or folk who are clued up on the Swaledale mining scene (as many significant natural caverns were explored there during the lead mining boom).
 
thehungrytroglobite said:
Does anyone know when & what the earliest record of caving (as a sport as we know it today) in the Dales is? If not the earliest, if people could fire some early facts / records / instances at me that would be great. Feel free to reference to resources, libraries or anyone else I might be able to ask too :)
Click to expand...
When does caving as a 'sport' actually begin? John Hutton was investigating caves for leisure over two hundred years ago long before navvies being lowered into Alum Pot or Birkbeck into GG. I'm sure he wasn't the first.
wildplaces.co.uk

A Tour to the Caves

A Tour to the Caves by John Hutton
wildplaces.co.uk wildplaces.co.uk
 
Lankyman said:
When does caving as a 'sport' actually begin? John Hutton was investigating caves for leisure over two hundred years ago long before navvies being lowered into Alum Pot or Birkbeck into GG. I'm sure he wasn't the first.
wildplaces.co.uk

A Tour to the Caves

A Tour to the Caves by John Hutton
wildplaces.co.uk wildplaces.co.uk
Click to expand...
“A Tour to the Caves” first published in 1780. A 2nd edition was published in 1781. Aimed at the English gentry who wanted something different to the tours of the Lake District, popular at the time.
 
Try the Yorkshire Ramblers Club library room at Leeds Central library. Last time I was there, which was, admittedly over twelfty years ago, you only need to ask to be let in.
 
@Goydenman is the one to ask about Nidderdale. The Yorkshire Ramblers were exploring Goyden early in the twentieth century and slightly later the Harrogate General Post Office outdoor club, hence some of the names such as Telegraph Aven. There were some quite early dives there too.
 
That'll be 4 votes for the YRC then 😉

This blog also has some great snippets:
"Cow Pot, surrounded by a wall, is a fearful place, swallowing a stream at its northern end. It consists of three main shafts - this one having a hood of alder catkins softening the horrific drop into total blackness. First descended in the late 19th century ... or so we believe. Early explorers reported the signature of a Mr Moorhouse at the bottom of the main shaft dated 1736! Mr Moorhouse may well have been one of the very earliest cave explorers ... if his signature is genuine!!"
oldfieldslimestone.blogspot.com

A Three Peaks Up and Under

Ease Gill: Heavy Rock With No Sound Part One Tucked away on the wild expanse of Casterton Fell , near Kirkby Lonsdale , is the ...
oldfieldslimestone.blogspot.com oldfieldslimestone.blogspot.com

Some of the miners and archaeologists also did it for fun, but harder to find records of that
 
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