Redhouse Lane on U Tube
- Thread starter The Old Ruminator
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The Old Ruminator
Well-known member
Its BIG !
Lankyman
Member
That really is impressive! It's something a lot of cavers dream of but relatively few get to experience. I know next to nothing of FoD caves so have no understanding of how this relates to other caves or surface features. Was anything like this ever suspected and has it been pushed to any sort of conclusion?
PeteHall
Moderator
The various presentations on the Forest of Dean at Hidden Earth showed the relationship between the nearby caves.
In a nutshell, there is a prospect of connecting several caves together, including Wet Sink (the longest cave in the region). In fact, the very naming of "Wet Sink", being the entrance to "Slaughter Stream Cave", shows this ambition (or foresight?), that one day, Wet Sink will be just one entrance to the cave system.
The discovery in Redhouse brings this prospect much closer to reality.
I expect that a lot more will be said on this in forthcoming issues of Descent and the GSS journal.
Tritim230
Active member
Thanks Pete. Hi Lankyman. Extensive passage was always suspected but getting to the dig is a challenge. The cave floods to the roof regularly and is pretty much closed from now until May/June. The dig was a chaos of large boulders and took some getting through. We eventually emerged in the huge passages. Exploration is on-going. Huge effort has gone into slowly, but systematically taping, surveying and photography and filming. We have also made sure the core diggers, who including me, spent lots of miserable trips getting to this point, were present to push into new ground. We are hoping for a connection with Slaughter Strean Cave, as Pete says, and maybe even a fossil exit to the Wye Valley. A full article, with survey, will (subject to Chris giving the space 😉) be in Descent 301. Mark Tringham gave an excellent presentation at HE on the geology and prospects and considers the find evidence for an ancient Symonds Yat Master Cave.
Lankyman
Member
Thanks for that. It's going on 20 years since I was an active caver but I do recall finding the Forest news in Descent intriguing back in the day. Even the new stuff being found and discussed up here is often a mystery to me!
Chris Scaife
Well-known member
I think we'll make space for this find.
PeteHall
Moderator
A subtle understatement there from a man who has traversed that cave more than most!
As a little context for the uninitiated, the downstream sump, which carries a decent stream, was discovered in 1992. Yet despite the (now proven) significant potential, it wasn't until 2023 that anyone could be convinced to drag diving kit down to the end. Martyn Farr had dived what is known as Farr Duck, about half way down the streamway and Andrew Ward looked at an upstream inlet not far into the cave, passing a short sump with potential continuation. But despite Paul Taylor's enthusiasm for the site, nobody could be persuaded to have a go at the end.
Having never visited the cave before, I was easily convinced to take a look, but unfortunately the sump became too tight after only a few metres. At the time, I thought to myself, "no wonder nobody bothered before", but with hindsight it could easily have been very different.
The dig is not far from the sump, so that commute, that had put off a couple of generations of divers from going just once, had to be made again and again. And that's before even starting to dig; at least with diving, the hard work is done by the time you get to the water!
It's a massive credit to Tim and the other core digging team that they persisted with this project, and the dig is a testament to Tim's constant enthusiasm.
The reward is very well earned and it's been a huge privilege to be part of the team exploring, surveying and protecting this amazing site, but my knees, shoulders, and everything else (including my wife) would probably disagree!
forestdweller
New member
Worth saying that, although we did expect to find passage beyond the dig, I don't think any of us could have predicted the scale and size of what we ultimately found 😁
PeteHall
Moderator
I'm speaking way above my own expertise here, so I'll apologise now if I've got it all wrong!
It has been suggested that the cave formation is shallow enough that it would have been within the permafrost during the last ice age and the breakdown would therefore have been caused by ice. This theory is evidenced by the extensive presence of cryogenic calcite and mud deposits/formations characteristic of permafrost influence.
I'm sure @Tritim230 or @forestdweller will be along soon enough to correct me if I'm wrong!
Lankyman
Member
Forgive my ignorance but what is cryogenic calcite and mud? From the initial video it seems that the cave is largely devoid of formations but has plenty of boulders.
The Old Ruminator
Well-known member
During permafrost conditions near the edge of the glacial sheets water in caves froze solid to become a mass. The movement within the solid mass created breakdown and fracturing of formations clearly seen in Reservoir Hole and Shatter Cave on the Mendips. Over time many fractured formations were covered with more calcite to leave formations like The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Shatter
Tritim230
Active member
Cryogenic Calcite is a very small crystal of calcite that is left behind by the receding ice. There are excellent deposits in Redhouse and also Draenen. The mud looks like wormcasts, I believe created by the same process. The large passages are formed in dolomite. What we haven't shown are the extensive passages in Crease limestone that have the mud and Cryogenic Calcite floors in abundance - took an age to tape a path! There are also gypsum crystals and we have found calcite flows and areas of straws. Most unusual as much of the area is overlaid by a coal seam.
