The Three Counties System Entrances

[JJ]

Whoops deleted my comment. My mistake, now found Howgill sink on your original list.

 

[graham]

The list compiled by Langcliffe of Three Counties System entrances got me looking closely at some of the names, and it transpires that several have over the years either changed or been shortened.
Iron Kiln Hole (Committee Pot) Notts Pot (Nottingham Pot) and Lancaster Hole, often described In Wilf Taylors diary - 1947 (RRCPC library) as Lancaster Pot.
Are there others?

Also of interest is where some of the names came from. Lancaster Hole (or Pot) is easy - George Cornes lived in Lancaster. Oxford Pot - well George when asked said " Well its close to Swindon Hole of course"
Where Swindon Hole came from remains a mystery to me.

'course if you guys had a proper cave registry and someone as anal committed as Wig to compile it, all these things would be properly recorded by now

 

[robjones]

Dunno why people go on about the Dales, seems to me that there's only actually one or two caves up there. 

Graham's comment raises an intriguing point: connecting caves reduces the number of systems so as the Three Counties System continues to grow, the number of systems Up North decreases... e.g. the number of 1km+ systems in Yorkshire may have reduced in recent years due to the number of connections being madebetween hitherto seperate caves outstripping new discoveries in other caves?  :-\

Thinking of the current Three Counties System, at what point in time did it comprise the greatest number of seperate caves - and how many seperate caves were there? I don't have a good enough caving library to begin to calculate the date and the number of seperate caves but surely some forumites do? 

 

[langcliffe]

Does not Howgill Sink connect (or used to connect) to the Silver Streamway in the Lone Ranger Series within Link Pot!

No 24 in the Leck Fell list.

 

[graham]

Thinking of the current Three Counties System, at what point in time did it comprise the greatest number of seperate caves - and how many seperate caves were there? I don't have a good enough caving library to begin to calculate the date and the number of seperate caves but surely some forumites do? 

Now that's a calculation I'm not taking on.

 

[langcliffe]

Graham's comment raises an intriguing point: connecting caves reduces the number of systems so as the Three Counties System continues to grow, the number of systems Up North decreases... e.g. the number of 1km+ systems in Yorkshire may have reduced in recent years due to the number of connections being madebetween hitherto seperate caves outstripping new discoveries in other caves?

I think that it's useful to differentiate between a cave and a system. Ingleborough Cave is part of the Gaping Gill System, as is Clapham Bottoms Pot.

The problem with The Three Counties System is that it is made up of a number of interconnected smaller (albeit large by Mendip standards) systems including Easegill, Link, Pippikin, Notts, Lost Johns, Gavel, Ireby, and Large / Rift.

There is obviously a degree of subjectivity about the divisions...

 

[graham]

As langcliffe describes it, this is similar to what happened in Kentucky as Mammoth Cave grew and turned into the mammoth Cave System by swallowing up some smaller - though huge by Dales standards - caves such as Collins Crystal Cave etc.

What strikes me, though is that you northern types had to join so many caves together in order to achieve the sort of depth you can get on Mendip in a single entrance cave. 

 

[langcliffe]

What strikes me, though is that you northern types had to join so many caves together in order to achieve the sort of depth you can get on Mendip in a single entrance cave.

Touch?e!

 

[Goydenman]

Hmmm....Goyden system has 16 entrances if I were to connect it to the Eglins system that would give me possibly another 10 entrances which would get me over the half way mark compared to the big TCS