Reasons why it's called that...

[Fulk]

Hi langcliffe, I've wondered about that one, and figured that as they were exploring the cave a rock came crashing down somewhere near where the explorers were standing, and someone said something on the lines of 'Christ, I thought that was a Pistol Shot' but in his somewhat agitated state it came out as 'Christ, I thought that was a Shistol Pot' (so in my scenario, no firearms were actually involved).

[langcliffe]

No, I wasn't implying that firearms were involved - only that such things as pistol shots were not unfamiliar to the gentleman caver of the day. Your theory is a credible one, though.

[langcliffe]

..."Shistol Pot",...I always assumed it was a malapropism...

A Spoonerism perhaps?

Absolutely - I stand corrected.

[Flotsam]

All Fools Passage in New Rift Pot is called that because the breakthrough of the dig happened on the 1st April. The team went to the pub and with a straight face told everyone that the dig had gone and there were "Caverns Measureless to Man etc" (Coates Cavern/Route 66). As the dig had gone on for about five years the reaction was "oh sure" and general disbelief. They were all fools of course and the un-descended pitch was untouched until the week after.

[Pitlamp]

 

[droid]

Best thread for ages this one. Genuinely informative and entertaining.

Thank you.

[psychocrawler]

Eerie Pot in Penyghent Pot because it is a strange place, not because it is like a eagle’s nest on a cliff (eyrie).

[al]

I'm still waiting for Scud to fess up about the name EMT Aven. 

[Scud]

I’m sure Dan Sullivan will let you know when he sees the post.

[Pitlamp]

Eerie Pot in Penyghent Pot because it is a strange place, not because it is like a eagle’s nest on a cliff (eyrie).

Isn't Myers' Leap pitch in Penyghent Pot so named because the late Jack Myers fell off it during the original NPC explorations?

[danthecavingman]

EMT Aven was discovered the day after a bruising night out in Buxton involving an Ex-Marine Tw*t who took it upon himself to knock several shades of crap out of me. We made the breakthrough with me sporting a black eye, broken nose and quite severe bruising to my body. I'll decline to go into too much detail about the circumstances that lead to the beating but the bloke involved was an Ex Marine. And a Tw*t. EMT. Suffice to say I didn't deserve what was done to me.

[Ian Ball]

  

[PeteHall]

We named the Erratum Extensions in Rod's Pot, after breaking through just after the final edit of Mendip Underground 5 had been approved, but before it had returned from the printers...

[Badlad]

Dan - did you have anything to do with 'no shreddies til Sheffield'.  I always loved that name.

[danthecavingman]

Yes indeed! After we broke through the choke we realised we needed climbing gear so headed back to the Chapel to fetch more kit and I think we might have had a brew. We got changed out of caving kit and then kitted back up for a return visit later the same day. Stuart Carter announced at some point that we would be heading home commando as we'd used all our dry grots and the subsequent pitch climbed by Glyn Roberts became 'No Shreddies 'til Sheffield' in memory of our lack of undies....

[SamT]

I'm sure every name of every bit of every cave has a back story.

I keep meaning to annotate a Bagshawe survey with all the bits I know about, and perhaps reference it to a document with all the explanations.

I wonder how many names are lost over time too.  In many of our digs, each corner, lump and bump was usually named, just to help with the debrief in the pub afterwards, but these are lost once the dig has gone and it becomes just another section of passage.

"Finns pot" is at the end of "Moose's revenge", and was named after John Taylors first born, who had broken his arm that day, and was now sporting a pot on that arm.  Its all but back filled now with the spoil from the dig that became 'The French Connection' between the "Full Moon" Series, and the Bottom of "Madame Guillotine"in the "Hollywood Bowl" Series.  (which is situated between "The Bastille" and "Frogs Legs and Cognac".)

The Bastille was a squeeze that imprisoned Tony Revell for about an hour apparently as he fought his way through, Madame Guillotine is a large deep hole in the floor that was named as I understand one of the original explorers nearly fell down, (easy done as you stomp along the passage and there is a bit of a 'step' around its left hand edge to continue.   Thus the deadly name.
Not sure about Frogs Legs and Cognac. Probably just continuing the French theme.

The Hollywood Bowl is a large cavern that does look a lot like its name sake.

There's loads more.

[Mark]

"Elbons Kram" in Hunger Hill Swallet, named by the late John Beck, in honour of it being pushed feet first by yours truly

[psychocrawler]

Eerie Pot in Penyghent Pot because it is a strange place, not because it is like a eagle’s nest on a cliff (eyrie).

Isn't Myers' Leap pitch in Penyghent Pot so named because the late Jack Myers fell off it during the original NPC explorations?

Reputedly but I’ve never seen any written evidence.

[caving_fox]

Eerie Pot in Penyghent Pot because it is a strange place, not because it is like a eagle’s nest on a cliff (eyrie).

Isn't Myers' Leap pitch in Penyghent Pot so named because the late Jack Myers fell off it during the original NPC explorations?

And President's leap in OFD for a similar reason?

[Blitz]

We explored a massive chamber in the Ban Dong Xinu - Chu Yan Dong system in China on the 1988 Bob Lewis expedition.  Roo Walters and team measured it in 2014 and it currently sits as the tenth largest chamber in the world.

From memory it was something like 1.6 kms around the walls and the access into and out of the chamber wasn't obvious.  Everyone got lost in the chamber at some point and as a result it was called Tit Chamber as you felt a real tit  when you realised how close to the exit passage you were, when you found it.  Unfortunately Roo was forced to rename the chamber by the Chinese as 'Tit Chamber' was politically unacceptable.  It is now known as Titan Chamber.

[al]

I'm really enjoying reading these, and many thanks to Scud and Dan for the background to some of the Peak Cavern discoveries. I'm sure that there are a load more stories yet to be told.

I remember, way back, when I bought Iain Barker's excellent "Classic Caves of the Peak District" - what really had me enthralled was not so much the guide book part, but the really descriptive historical notes.

[Badlad]

It's a Cracker - on Leck Fell.  Broke through just after the death of comedian Frank Carson.  It's a cracking way in to the Lost Johns system and it was his favourite saying.  Still looking for, 'it's the way I tell em' pot though 

[martinb]

Marbles - One of the recently discovered chambers in Treak Cliff Cavern, mainly 'cos the 'floor' of the chamber was bloodly difficult to walk over!

And 'Kerplunk' the squeeze between the above Marbles and the next chamber 'Measureless to Man', as it was a downward squeeze, at an angle of 45deg, with little rocks rolling down from Marbles as you went through 

Incidently, 'Measureless to Man' is measurable! It was named as Vicky Turner - owner of TCC, instructed us to find cave 'Measureless to Man'!

[bograt]

"Dead Dog Hole", Litton, Peak District, back in the early 1980's TSG started digging a rabbit hole where a terrier had disappeared a few years earlier, a lovely little vadose trench heading into high potential no mans land. Named by myself after hearing the story from Andy Broadbent (RIP).
 Don't think the terriers been found yet 

[Pitlamp]

Mitochondrion Pot on Widdale Fell (circa 1974, CPC); a small shaft with flutes so pronounced it looked just like an electron microscope image of a mitochondrion in a cell. (Biologists will immediately understand this - otherwise Google it.)