Hollandtwine Mine...

[Pitlamp]

The classic dye test from Hollandtwine Mine to Peak Cavern is decribed in:

Kitchen G, 1972, "Dye Testing - Hollandtwine Mine - Ink Sump". BSA Bulletin (New Series) 6, p12.

This was done before Ink Sump was passed to discover Doom's Retreat.  Unfortunately Hollandtwine Mine was lost before Doom's Retreat was discovered, so we can be confident that no dye test from within Hollandtwine Mine to Doom's Retreat has ever been done.

John Gunn has since done various traces from parts of Dirtlow Rake which have also emerged from Ink Sump but to my knowledge there were never detectors placed in Doom's Retreat beyond Ink Sump.  So the water emerging in Doom's Retreat has never been successfully dye traced from anywhere - although it is extremely likely it comes from Dirtlow Rake.

Hope this helps . . . .

 

[SamT]

Pitlamp - I've heard tell of the fact that the same dye traces from the same regions of Dirtlow have also shown up in Bagshawe. I personally find this hard to get my head round. Not impossible - just improbable. I assume they were part of either Kitchens or Gunns work. Can you confirm this. (Ive been meaning to get hold of John Gunns work on the area for ages - but dont really know how to go about it - bar emailing - which I haven't gotten round to doing yet).

 

[Pitlamp]

Hello Sam - I don't think the BSA (Garry Kitchen) tests ever showed up in Bagshawe but I seem to remember John Gunn ending a talk he gave many years ago with a speculative comment about inconclusive results suggesting some dye may have turned up at Bradwell.  No doubt he followed this up with further work to confirm or otherwise . . . . . .

The trouble is there are plenty of reasons for detectors being "positive" other than a successful dye trace.  It's probably worth speaking to JG directly.  Not all of the dye tracing he has done over the years has been published (within caving circles at least).