Peak Dale Cavern

[T pot 2]

Now that I have digested this topic fully afaik Peak Dale Cave is along the road from Peak Dale heading towards Dove Holes it is situated on the left hand side opposite a gate on the right(approx)
I went in here in 1974 with the Pegasus. Peak Dale Cavern afaik is under the quarry settling pond at the back of the signal box at the side of the bridge in Peakdale. We looked at these at around the same time as Peak Dale Tunnel.

T

 

[mch]

Still worth asking the farmer/landowner - of all people he's possibly the one who may know where it is, depending on how long he's been around.

According to the Land Registry the present owner bought the land from ICI in 1992, long after the landscaping buried the entrance

 

[davewgill]

Chances are slim, NGR not accurate. There are lots of lime kilns in the area so formations grow rapid. Peak Dale Tunnel which is an SSSI controlled by Natural England is a case in point. Prof John Gunn is conducting research at present. I have seen photo's from Steve Dalgliesh who got his legs smacked for illegal entry, not sure if this is the Peak Dale Railway Tunnel as last time I was dodging trains in the tunnel, there where few formations, but that was a long time ago when I was working with John Beck on the Caves of the Peak District. Still in Sarawak but back in the UK 24th March. I will contact John for further details.

 

[Rob]

Dave, PM Sent. 

 

[richardg]

WOW! davewgill !

 

[davewgill]

Chances are slim, NGR not accurate. There are lots of lime kilns in the area so formations grow rapid. Peak Dale Tunnel which is an SSSI controlled by Natural England is a case in point. Prof John Gunn is conducting research at present. I have seen photo's from Steve Dalgliesh who got his legs smacked for illegal entry, not sure if this is the Peak Dale Railway Tunnel as last time I was dodging trains in the tunnel, there where few formations, but that was a long time ago when I was working with John Beck on the Caves of the Peak District. Still in Sarawak but back in the UK 24th March. I will contact John for further details.

Dave, PM Sent. 

I meant check with John Gunn sorry for the confusion as I did hear the bad news about John Beck. Found out from Steve that it is the Peak Dale Railway Tunnel that he photographed. The reason there were few formations was that when we checked it out the trains were still running.

 

[davewgill]

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.

any chance of posting on FB. I never managed to see Johns slides

 

[davewgill]

WOW! davewgill !

why WOW did you think I was dead?

 

[Badlad]

....or just a leg end

 

[martinm]

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.

any chance of posting on FB. I never managed to see Johns slides

If it is the same as 'Peak Dale Tunnel' (not it's proper name btw)  then it isn't landscaped or lost. I should be going in there with a member of the BGS in April. There are still some photos on his FB page. I also have copies to email you if you want. It looks beautiful.

 

[SamT]

Not the same mel. They are talking about a different site.

 

[Pitlamp]

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.

any chance of posting on FB. I never managed to see Johns slides

If it is the same as 'Peak Dale Tunnel' (not it's proper name btw)  then it isn't landscaped or lost. I should be going in there with a member of the BGS in April. There are still some photos on his FB page. I also have copies to email you if you want. It looks beautiful.

Mel - see my post of 16th January on page 1 of this topic, where I tried to clarify the situation.

I think I went to a lecture by a cave photographer called Woolley back in the day when I was a young teenage caver (in the 70s). I seem to remember a lot of images of a nicely decorated cave lit with candles using time exposures. (I also have a vague memory that the bloke worked as a chemist designing camera film.) Is this the same bloke?

 

[Jenny P]

Yes, it is.

The British Caving Library was given 5 cartons containing literally thousands of uncatalogued photos by John Woolley: 35mm slides, strips of film negative, glass-mounted slides, strips of b/w negative, prints, etc. (not all are caving subjects). Langcliffe is very kindly attempting to go through the collection to sort it for us.  I'm delighted to hear that that he has already found there are some recognisable photos of Peak Dale Cave in amongst the heap!

Bill Whitehouse has already been through and identified and catalogued for us a collection of hundreds of 35mm slides of the 1964 Berger expedition.  It's a massive job to sort and identify this collection so we're immensely grateful for any help we can get.

Jenny Potts,
Library Co-ordinator

 

[mikem]

Bograt

Pegasus and J Rats diarys may be more fruitful.

T

JRat's volume 1 only briefly mentions pumping the sump, however, it does include helping Sulo from the Pegasus photograph the Tunnel in 1972, at which time it was already profusely decorated (so who was Sulo?):
http://www.mcra.org.uk/logbooks/index.php?dir=jrat

Was it John Woolley?:
http://caving-library.org.uk/collections/woolley.shtml

Mike

 

[mikem]

Obviously it was Sulo Sulonen (Rat Arse was Pete Webb) - anyone know what happened to his photos?

The 1972 Pegasus log only repeats JRat's write up, but 15th Nov 1970 describes James Cobbett's dive & gives the location as "under an old stone bridge near the road" - so contemporary OS map might help:
https://www.pegasuscavingclub.org/pegasus-caving-club-1970-logs

Mike

 

[alastairgott]

Off topic but.
I was sure as soon as I read Sulo that I'd read about his fatal accident in 1973 down Eldon Hole.
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/cpc/century.html

I think maybe this is written up in Jrats logbooks.

 

[mikem]

It is indeed, in the same logbook.

Mike

 

[alastairgott]

It is indeed, in the same logbook.

Mike

End of September '73 or beginning of October '73.

He was one of the best blokes you could ever wish to meet