So what's the news on...

[tony from suffolk]

After a "holiday" from caving of about ten years or so(!), thought I'd try & catch up on a few things, so I'd be grateful for the latest news on :-

Access to Lamb Leer. Used to love this cave, even after being stuck without a light on my own in a muddy passage above St Valentine's Landing during a dig. In the mid-sixties if I recall. Can't remember why they shut it, something to do with liability issues I think. Any change to its status?

The dig at the bottom of Morton's Pot in Eastwater. Did that come to anything?

Twin Titties dig. This was being dug by NHASA, looked very promising, given its location. Did it go?

And finally, is 12 still the end in Swildon's?

Sorry, I'm an old git in case you haven't guessed! :?

 

[andymorgan]

Access to Lamb Leer. Used to love this cave, even after being stuck without a light on my own in a muddy passage above St Valentine's Landing during a dig. In the mid-sixties if I recall. Can't remember why they shut it, something to do with liability issues I think. Any change to its status?

Access is denied by the land owner who wanted a large annual 'rent' to be paid for access. Shepton are currently trying to dig a way in from a field across the road.

The dig at the bottom of Morton's Pot in Eastwater. Did that come to anything?

Yes, it connects to Lambeth Walk (I think) in the West end series allowing a round trip.

Twin Titties dig. This was being dug by NHASA, looked very promising, given its location. Did it go??

Digging stopped, and there is no access, although I don't know much about it.

And finally, is 12 still the end in Swildon's??

Yes, although a lot of people are still trying to find a way on.

 

[tony from suffolk]

Thanks for the info. Andy. The Round Trip in Eastwater sounds really good. Shame I'm no longer fit enough to tackle something like that now.

Regarding Lamb Leer, I remember there was originally another shaft entrance, pretty dodgy if I recall. I suspect that's probably on the same land though.

 

[wallop]

Hi Tony
Did you do much of swildons back then, did you do any digging in swildons.
Would you do any caving now. 8)

 

[tony from suffolk]

Hi Tony
Did you do much of swildons back then, did you do any digging in swildons.
Would you do any caving now. 8)

Sorry Wallop, only just spotted this. Yes, Swildon's was our main interest in the sixties & seventies. We'd talk about doing something else but more often than not it was "Naa. Let's do the Round Trip again!" or something similar. Although I didn't get seriously involved in digging there, at the time there were various digs on the go & if we happened to be passing we'd stop and help out for the odd hour or so.

The big event for Swildon's was the flood of 1968 which caused huge changes to the system. We went down the following weekend & were amazed! Nearly drowned in sump one, which had become scoured out by the water & was somewhat deeper than before!

 

[whitelackington]

Hello Tony,
some people think Lamb Leer is a minute fragment of a once major system.
If so, would this likely mean the rest of the system was higher than that tiny remainder
and has eroded away
or would the main system still be beneath the known cave.
Which theory are The Gibbets Brow people working with?

At present there are two active digs  in the area of  Lamb leer,
Gibbets Brow &
Battery Swallet


not that either are necessarily part of the Lamb Leer System
What a pity we are no longer allowed into this cave,
that Prohibition can't last forever, surely?

 

[graham]

What a pity we are no longer allowed into this cave,
that Prohibition can't last forever, surely?

Tell you what, you go and chat with the farmer & try to negotiate access.

 

[cap n chris]

Even English Nature got given the bum's rush when CSCC was engaged in the local Cave SSSI audit.

Go on, try it!

 

[tony from suffolk]

It's a great pity. I think access has been denied for thirty-five years or so. One wonders how long the current incumbent will be around for. The daft thing is, he could have imposed a modest charge per person for access and made a tidy sum from what is a fairly useless bit of Gruffy Ground.

 

[droid]

It's a great pity. I think access has been denied for thirty-five years or so. One wonders how long the current incumbent will be around for. The daft thing is, he could have imposed a modest charge per person for access and made a tidy sum from what is a fairly useless bit of Gruffy Ground.

The ground isn't useless. It was (a few years back, at least) used for Off-Road trials. I suspect that an offroad club will pay a lot more for a weekends trial than cavers would pay for access to LL.

From my experience, the guy isn't an ogre, he just doesn't want cavers using Lamb Leer. He knows what's down there, and that it isn't going to go away, so it's not as if he's dynamited the entrance.

 

[tony from suffolk]

The ground isn't useless. It was (a few years back, at least) used for Off-Road trials. I suspect that an offroad club will pay a lot more for a weekends trial than cavers would pay for access to LL.

I confess I've not been to the area since last I caved there. Why not allow both off-roaders and cavers to use the land? (Not at the same time...)

One wonders why the farmer has developed such a dislike of cavers. Someone doing something irresponsible no doubt.

 

[Elaine]

Back to Twin T's for a mo - NHASA now dig at Templeton with me and Hughie. They've told us about TT's, if I remember right it was looking very promising when access suddenly got denied. However, I expect they all say that!!

 

[droid]

One wonders why the farmer has developed such a dislike of cavers. Someone doing something irresponsible no doubt.

Possibly.

I met the owner (several years ago admittedly, not sure if the present owner is the same chap) and he didn't seem to be hostile towards cavers in the slightest.

Just didn't want them using LL. The two are not the same thing.

 

[nickwilliams]

It's a great pity. I think access has been denied for thirty-five years or so

Can't be that long. I've been down it and I started caving in 1983.

Nick.

 

[tony from suffolk]

Sorry Nick, I'm sure you're correct, it's just at my age time has no meaning.

I can't help getting rather angry at the thought that cavers have been denied access to one of the great Mendip caves for so long, all on the whim of the landowner who apparently doesn't want cavers to go down Lamb Leer, but for no apparent reason. Unless they pay of course...

Time might have slid the odd bit of rose-coloured glass in front of my eyes but the view from the top of the winch platform across the Great Chamber is pretty awesome and I really believe there's lots more to discover up in the St Valentine's series and elsewhere. I do hope the Gibbet's Brow diggers manage to break through before I'm too decrepit to go down there again.

 

[droid]

Getting angry is understandable but rather pointless.

It's the landowners' perogative to choose how he uses the land and who he allows to use it. We don't have a God-given right to cave wherever we like.

 

[Laurie]

I've just been lurking in the background for ages. This is my first post.

Apart from caving, I'm also into offroad motor sport. The access to Lamb Leer is over an industrial, not agricultural site.
Being industrial it does not have the usual restrictions on the amount of motor sport usage that many farmers have imposed on them. The landowner can earn ?300-?500 per weekend letting the land for this purpose. He'd be lucky to make ?20 from a few cavers. The land access is closed to cavers on safety grounds because of competition motors.
What would you do under the same circumstances?

PS  I've been down Lamb Leer many times in the seventies and eighties.

 

[tony from suffolk]

Getting angry is understandable but rather pointless.

Thank you droid, I did not consider that...

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Hi Tony. Maybe we met up years ago. I also did Lamb Leer and Twin Titties. We also did Swildons in July 1968 on the day it flooded. For no reason we abandoned the trip at the Forty or else I would not be here. The bottom of Twin Titties was looking very promising. A draughting choke at the bottom of a pitch. Very loose looking but the diggers seemed to be more interested in a side passage. May drop into Swildons 13 !
Here are a couple of Lamb Leer photos I took way back.

Nick Chipchase.

 

[tony from suffolk]

Hi Nick, I'm sure we must have brushed shoulders around that time. We did Swildon's the weekend after The Flood - a memorable trip!

Here's a Lamb Leer photo, probably from the same place as yours but not as good -

Twin Titties definitely had promise. I never managed to get down to the end & from what I recall the draft in there was quite elusive. A little gaggle of us turned up there one day intending to offer our help but were told we weren't welcome; it was jealously guarded. I understand it's now more or less filled in.