Hut opposite the Hill Inn

[Prof. Warthog]

I remember there being a small hut/doss in the car park opposite the Hill Inn - mid-late 80s ( I think) which may have been occupied by the Leeds and District Speleological Association. Can anyone provide any details? What was there, when was it open and which/what clubs occupied it.
Thanks

[Pitlamp]

I think you're right about the L&DSA; I have vague memories from a long time ago of Big Roy (Roy Mundy) telling me about staying there. Phil Smyth may also have mentioned this a long time ago (as he was associated with the L&DSA for a time).

For what it's worth, I think they may have occupied in in the first half of the 1970s. It was derelict in the 1980s and I think it was demolished within the last 20 years.

All of the above relies on distant memory though; others can probably give you a better answer.

Wasn't there also a Black Rose PC hut on Storrs Common at some stage in the 1950s / early 60s (before they got accommodation somewhere up at Beezleys)? I think this is referred to in the BRPC Explorations Journal 1976-77. (I have this so, if you want further info, email me directly.)

[droid]

I can confirm LDSA.

It had 3 layers of bunks and was very basic. But it kept the weather out and was rather handy for The Hill. We called it the Goat Barn.

Sorry to hear it's gone. It formed a big part of my early caving career...

[Prof. Warthog]

Hi Droid
When was this?

[psychocrawler]

I had the pleasure of the odd overnight in the L&DSA hut following slight over-indulgence in the Hill Inn - must have been in the 80s (pre-NPC/Greenclose). Location, location, location!

[andys]

Isn't it still there? I'm sure the present owners use it as a shed for their home-reared pigs/pork supply.

[droid]

Hi Droid
When was this?

it would be between 1978 and the early 80's.

[Pitlamp]

You could be right andys. I really ought to be more observant!

Mind you, when passing the Hill Inn one tends to be focussed on the road as folk have a habit of suddenly jumping out from nowhere.

I'll make a point of looking next time I pass.
Goodness knows when that'll be though . . . .

[droid]

Still there according to Google Streetview. 

[2xw]

There's a train carriage in the back that suss used to use.

[Pitlamp]

I remember seeing it falling down ages ago. Maybe it was partially dismantled and rebuilt?

There was a characteristic small window with small vertical & horizontal supports holding (originally) small squares of glass. If that's still there then it's the original building.

[Fatman]

I was part of Sheff Poly caving club in the 80's and we shared accommodation and permits with SUSS. I've stayed in the SUSS hut behind the Hill Inn many times including the whole of 1987 summer whilst signing on in Sheffield. It was extremely well designed, I think by the legend Norman Flux. I've also stayed in the 'Goat Barn'; I was dossing in my car next to the barn, very drunk!! the night a car slammed into the side of it. I still think the impression on the barn wall is still visible. It's a shame the current owners of The Hill Inn have turned their backs on cavers; it was certainly a moment in time with big characters including Greenbanks dog-Jake the jack russell, John and Sue of mendip origin. Many many great nights in that pub which I will cherish.

[andys]

Still there according to Google Streetview. 

Totally off-topic but reminds me of an incident from my last place of work. We had a team of engineers up and down the country, all managed/controlled from the office in Leeds. One particular engineer was renowned for always being late picking up his first job of the day, so one day the team's manager had the team in the office use Streetview to check if he had set off on his rounds yet.............................   

[Duck ditch]

Recently the area around the Hill Inn looks rather sad to me.   
It would be great if someone could write the history of the Hill Inn, intertwined with the caving discoveries throughout the decades, and the celebrations that followed.  It would be a great read. 
Other pubs or caving hostels too.  The Belfry being the obvious choice.

[PeteHall]

Back in the 60's or 70's (way before my time at any rate), DUSA used to camp outside the Hill Inn, but would charge their lamps inside. On one particular occasion, so the story goes, there wasn't a free socket for the charger, so they borrowed one that was already in use.

The next morning, when the landlord discovered all the stock in his freezer ruined, the club were barred for life!

They were next barred from the caravan site in Ingleton, after regularly booking the smallest cheapest caravan for the whole club to stay...

[Pitlamp]

Recently the area around the Hill Inn looks rather sad to me.   
It would be great if someone could write the history of the Hill Inn, intertwined with the caving discoveries throughout the decades, and the celebrations that followed.  It would be a great read. 
Other pubs or caving hostels too.  The Belfry being the obvious choice.

Yes, good point; it'd be an interesting history, closely associated with cavers for a very long time. Isn't there something in one of the Kendal journals (maybe the 50th anniversary one) about a major fire there when one of the KCC was running it, in the 60s? There's also that P/U that was filmed there in 1979 when the Keld Head documentary was being made.

A year or two ago I pulled together what I could of the NPC's first hostel's history; Crow Nest, near Austwick, on the minor road past the former Falconry Centre / present day cheese shop; Crow Nest is labelled on the 1:25,000 O.S. map. It was in a state of collapse and some heavy plant had been moved in - obviously it was about to be demolished. I managed to get some photographs and talked to very senior NPC members. The results are in an article in an NPC Newsletter (around January 2019, from memory, in case anyone's interested to look it up). Sadly, the building occupied by the wartime greats who were founder NPC members at Crow Nest is no more.

[Duck ditch]

‘stomps’ in the barn.  Drunken attempts to get through the cartwheel.  SUSS in the railway carriage? 
I meant to say the hunters as the obvious choice

[droid]

‘stomps’ in the barn.  Drunken attempts to get through the cartwheel.  SUSS in the railway carriage? 
I meant to say the hunters as the obvious choice

Tony getting ratty when he had to get the cooking oil out to rescue people from the cartwheel.
Jake biting walkers

Tony getting rid of drunken students by illegal and noisy methods...I was kipping in a car the other side of the road and near soiled my pantaloons....

You couldn't make it up....

[oldfart]

 Pitlamp asked > Isn't there something in one of the Kendal journals (maybe the 50th anniversary one) about a major fire there when one of the KCC was running it, in the 60s?

Chris Shepard.

[mikem]

As an aside, the wookey hole book includes a note by Raymond nunwick that during WWII: "I and my friends had a hut on a farm at westhouse near ingleton."

[ZombieCake]

I guess most pub landlords and others see cavers a bit like this when they're approaching the bar after a long trip....  "we are here to drink your beer..." ....