Who found the Sewer in Winnats Head

[Goydenman]

Anyone know who discovered the Sewer in Winnats Head cave and also Wigwam aven in the same place as I am just writing up a history of the cave. Oh yes and also who found the Harper Hill Series. Thanks

[Cavedrone]

Isn't Winnats Head in Derbyshire not Yorkshire 

If so then the references in the 1991 version of Caves of the Peak District refer you to
DW Gill 1978 DCA Newsletter No 36 page 9
DW Gill 1978 BCRA Caves and Caving no 1 page 14
R Skorupka 1988 CDG Newsletter no 86 page 8

Actually there is more information in Iain Barker's Classic Caves of the Peak District.
Looks like Ben Bentham and others from Orpheus CC are the mainstays of the exploration.
There is even a reference to B Bentham - " Winnats Head Cave - Discovery and Exploration".
Crib the thing and save yourself loads of work.

[Goydenman]

Isn't Winnats Head in Derbyshire not Yorkshire 

Ooops yes it is 
Thanks for the refs

[SamT]

Writing up the history for what ??

Oh - and moved to derbyshire section.

[Goydenman]

Was writing up some of the history for the Cave Wiki site

[Goydenman]

Thanks Sam for moving the question to the Derbys

[SamT]

Brilliant - good work.

Ive got some recent (Last 2/3 years)info on the current exploration of the Wigwam aven area.

[Goydenman]

Brilliant - good work.

Ive got some recent (Last 2/3 years)info on the current exploration of the Wigwam aven area.

Thanks. Would love to hear about the explorations. Still think there is lot of potential in there, just gets a bit dodgy!

[Mark]

Wasnt it Mark Loftus and co, (Disley Underground) who were the first through the sewer?

[Armchair]

For what it's worth, the initial breakthough into Winnats Head was made by Stuart Smith and yrs truly. We'd been digging the entrance crawl with Mr. Bentham but he wasn't there when it happened and was consequently as pissed off as only Ben could be on such an occasion, rest his soul.

[Goydenman]

Interesting. Was the next crawl behind the vertical slab and letter box blocked at the start or further down?
Winnats Head was my third trip into a cave and we sent a guy called Duncan (he was the thinnest) down the second crawl attached to a rope. The rope went slack and we pulled it back with no Duncan on the end . He called us to come through. We were all excited  thinking we were the first in there and then on leaving we found a clipboard!

[Cavemanjack]

Yes it was Mark Loftus (lofty) who was first through the sewer (I belive named after a Stranglers track /song). If you want further info get in touch.

[Armchair]

Goyd: if we're talking about the initial entrance bits of the cave, then the second crawl was indeed blocked part way and made for a very uncomfortable and wallowy dig, until it went. Hope this helps: it's a long time ago. Not my clipboard incidentally.

[Goydenman]

Thanks everyone I will update the history of Winnats Head soon using the info provided. Armchair: I bet it was a right wallow of a dig because I remember a slight trickle of water flows through the second crawl but nice when you saw main chamber eh!

[Armchair]

True on both counts. To quote from Mr. Smith: "Shit - you'd better come through, I can't see the walls!".

[Steve_T]

Tsk tsk tsk, shame on you armchair. Fancy forgetting about the other 50% of the main chamber breakthrough team.
I don't think it was a dream? No in fact I remember Roy Sendor gallantly helping widen it for me to get through and did not
let exploration fever get the better of him, unlike the other two  Chortle chortle

[Armchair]

Sorry Mr.T, but your ageing, drug-crazed memory is obviously getting a tad misty - that was the second trip in.
No more mud-slinging, now...

[Steve_T]

hmmm, well I am sure your memory is better than mine, but I was talking about the first entry into the main chamber which was a four man team, perhaps you are talking about somewhere nearer the entrance.

[Armchair]

Sorry, old chap, but you're still wrong, not that it's of any real consequence. All that matters is that a rather interesting cave - which will hopefully one day extend much further - was discovered by some people (one or two of whom are no longer with us) sometime in the dim and distant past after a bit of a dig.
They say that Gingko Biloba helps...