3/1/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Fran Campbell.
2hrs
Fran slightly late and others all not available, so Estelle and Jonathan got on with digging - it was very hard work to dig and transport buckets and empty and ended up doing this in 2 stages until Fran arrived. Good digging, going down nicely, needs a boulder capped on the ledge at the top and will need a bolt soon too for hauling up from dig as it's starting to get out of reach. 

20/12/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Digging in the bottom dig, Mike started off, lots of clay & gravelly stuff coming out, continuing straight down. Estelle took over and removed a bit of rock as well. As you look into the dig, the right hand wall is closing off slightly, but appears the left hand wall is undercutting, so just keeping on digging down and removing everything! James took over for a bit until pub o clock! Said Merry Christmas to Kevin before heading to the pub. Next trip 2017!

13/12/16

James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Richardson, Duncan Simey

Digging bottom dig, continuing down. 

6/12/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Having confirmed dry enough to dig on Sunday, 3 of us digging in the lower dig. Few large boulders removed and digging gravelly corally spoil out now. Quite a reasonable sized hole - about a metre wide by 2 long going straight down pretty much with solid walls around it. James not feeling too good so didn't dig as long as usual. 

4/12/16

Estelle Sandford
1/2 hour
Estelle went down to check water levels. Top dig still had a little puddle in but had some subsidence on the way to the dig and tools mostly under water. Lower dig was driest and no sign of any subsidence. All good to dig on Tuesday. 

22/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
30mins
The rains had been torrential on Monday and Kevin had observed the dig so the spoil heap was 2ft underwater, so a lot of flooding and backing up. By Tuesday the digs were still very full of water, but the main spoil heap area had drained. Suspect it will take a couple of weeks of dry weather for the digs to drain. We only went down to look and take a few photos. 

15/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Jeremy Fry, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
No-one made last week, so clearing rubble from bottom dig - there was a lot, the bang did good! and also digging the top dig. Now needs 5 people as it's getting quite deep. Following a good solid roof and both left and right walls are solid too. Going down steadily around a metre wide and keeping good working space in height. Bottom dig cleared well and still going fairly well straight down. 

1/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jeremy Fry, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mike Richardson
2.5hours
Estelle & Stu prepared the bottom dig for a bang while the others worked on the top dig. Lots more spoil removed and the bang went off well. Will be interesting to see the damage!

25/10/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Mike Richardson, Andrew Horeckyj, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Jeremy Fry plus James Begley arrived late.
2.5hrs
7 of us to start and then James joined at 8ish. We split into 2 groups to dig both top and bottom digs. Bottom dig was Estelle, Jeremy and Andrew mostly and was very messy still and hard work going in and out for spoil emptying with the levels of clay trying to glue you down! Both digs made good progress and the spoil heap is getting larger and larger. Good to have so many keen and enthusiastic people there digging. 

18/10/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jeremy Fry, Mike Richardson (MCG)
2.5hrs
Gained Mike R this week and we hadn't scared Jeremy off. Mike M did the guided tour of the rest of the cave for them while Stu started digging and Estelle handling the buckets back. Soon the rest arrived from exploring and we started relaying the spoil. Mike R took over for a bit and pulled out a massive boulder and then swapped out for Jeremy who dug until pub o clock. Good session, getting deeper and still easy digging in mud/rocks. 

11/10/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jeremy Fry from Waldegrave
2.5hrs
Good digging session, lots cleared and dig getting bigger and bigger. Having met Jeremy last Friday in the Waldegrave, he experienced his first trip underground by going digging, we probably should take him caving sometime soon! He seemed to have a great time and managed to remove a pretty hefty boulder during his digging session. Mike dug first, Jeremy second and Estelle third. 

4/10/16

James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey

James to add detail... Estelle went to Brownsea Island instead and left the lads digging - think it was a bit too much hard work with only 3! 

27/9/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon
2hrs
When we arrived we decided that we'd try and move an RSJ to nearer the cave, but between 5 of us, this was still quite hard going. Kevin had provided an old trolley, which didn't look like it would take it, but was stronger than it looked. We got it across the lawn and down the slope but there is no way that will go across the field, so need to wait until Kevin is back and do it then with the digger.
Good digging session, James in first, Duncan in second and then Stu in to finish the session off. Is easy digging in mud and some water-worn rocks in the mud. The mountain of spoil heap is getting quite large now! 

6/9/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Mike set to work in the dig first and removed the two boulders in the floor, but these were too heavy for Estelle to move, so she set to trying to break them up a bit with the hammer. Noticed that another rock in the roof looked a little loose, so Mike came out and prodded a bit and brought more ceiling down. Mike did a little more digging while Estelle passed up to James and Stu the boulders that were small enough. Mike then took to beating boulders while Estelle had a dig. Mike did some then James had a go and finished them off. Dig itself is draughting well from the right, which probably links to the dig from the higher section and is digging very interesting colours of sediment layers to the level which is very squidgy on top, so probably where the water flowed. 

23/8/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mark Denning, Kevin Clinton
2.5hrs
Mark went in and saw all the cave and digs as he'd not been here since the big hole was dug, but the rest of us didn't really go far underground as the evening was spent putting a scaffold tower ready to start work putting an RSJ above and getting a staircase put in. Scaffold tower fitted nicely around the ladder, there can't be too many digs you can fit a scaff tower in apart from Templeton!

9/8/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey

2.5hrs

Estelle was late getting there down to work, but the others got stuck in and lots of progress made on the middle of the digs. Slight draught and easy digging in the mud and rocks. Duncan B had a dig, followed by Estelle and then James. The mountain outside is getting greater!

2/8/16

Estelle Sandford, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jackie Bishop, Anya Keatley, Mike Waterworth

2hours

After Mike M had shown Jackie around as her first trip, they joined in digging and we were digging from both digs and clearing the spoil - good progress in both cases. The spoil mountain is getting higher and higher! Ladder work for new staircase had to be delayed as too much rain and it would have been dangerous working near the edge. Hopefully next week... 

26/7/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay and Mike Moxon

2.5hrs

Mike had arrived earlier and gone in on his own to the top end dig at the very top. James and Estelle arrived and Kevin showed off the new staircase he has acquired for putting in there instead of the dodgy ladder - like a stairway to heaven or something... Anyway plan for as many as possible to arrive from 6pm next week to try and install it.

Stu arrived soon after and we headed down and removed all the ceiling rocks we could between the 3 of us that were on the floor from last week's effort. Stu then set to capping the last 3 big ones that were too big to move while Estelle and James dug in the bottom hole. Mike continued to dig the other dig on his own. Estelle removed 2 large boulders from the wall in the bottom dig also. We then joined Stu and assisted clearing the remaining broken up rocks before pub called. Quick look at the end seems to be draughting from the right... Mike thought the dig he was working on at the top was draughting from the left and it's very close to this dig as the survey showed.  

19th July 16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Sarah Payne

2hrs

digging in usual middle hole, starting to get drier mud in general and still pulling out reasonable sized water worn cobbles and rocks from the floor. About 2.rds of the way through the session started to look at a rock in the roof above the dig and thought perhaps it might not be so secure, so made the decision to gently bar it and see what happened - it came down rather easily! We then decided to have a go at a few more bits of the roof that appeared to have gaps or looked like they were being held up by mud cement! Quite a lot of the roof brought down. Cleared some of it and then Mike had a final go at it and we'll have a proper look next week for safety and remove what's there. 3 large rocks need capping. 

Tuesday 12th July

Present: James Begley, Duncan Butler, Mike Moxon (?) and special guest Jon Riley.

Estelle was away with the puffins at Skomer, so it was a reduced team to go digging at Cutlers, boosted by the arrival of a guest digger, Jonathan Riley. Whilst James gave Jon a guided tour of the dig sites, the others started to clear the spoil left over from the previous weeks session at the middle dig site. James and Jon then went to the lower dig site and moved some mud and rocks, whilst the others continued to work at the middle dig site until the call of the beer at the Waldegreave Arms became too strong and we left for some refreshment.

5/7/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Claire Havard and Kevin Clinton joined us to catch up with what we'd been doing.

2hrs

Claire's first visit so lifelined her down the ladder before showing her the digs and then letting her explore the top bit with Kevin who had been away for a few months and we've made a lot of progress on the lower digs, although he's still keen the top digs look interesting. The draught of the middle dig was good again and that is what makes it most interesting. James dug for a while then Claire had a go then we gave up and went to the pub. 

14/6/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, James Begley, Andrew Atkinson

2.5hrs

James and Andrew continued the survey, while Estelle, Duncan and Mike set to clearing out the bang debris in order to get a look at the way on in the floor. The bang debris was so great, it took most of the digging session to clear it, but eventually Duncan was able to squeeze in a little way and fire a camera around the corner at the end. The end doesn’t look greatly inspiring at the moment, but the site was draughting well at various stages of the evening. Our spoil heap is about 2m higher than it was when dug out now. The survey gave us 113m for the main hole, which was longer than expected and the lowest point is actually in one of the very top digs, but the whole thing trends towards Sherborne Springs/Cheddar sort of direction. 

7/6/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Anya Keatley, Duncan Butler, Duncan Simey, Andrew Atkinson
2.5hrs
Estelle and Stu headed into top dig to drill and set up the bang – 8 holes drilled and quite a few boulders included. Andrew and James set to surveying the other holes to start with and the rest worked on the bottom hole, with Mike Waterworth climbing up the opposite side and digging a bit up there. Once drilled and set up, we all headed up top while it was banged. It took longer than previous to clear, but was just about ok to go down and check. Nicely turned to gravel ready for clearing next week. 

4/6/16 digfest weekend

Estelle Sandford, Duncan Butler, Sam Goodyear, Pat Hillier, Olivia Dawson, Rostam Namaghi, Jonathan booth
3hrs 45mins
Part of the digfest weekend, we gained some extra diggers. Duncan set to work with Jonathan, Pat and Oli in the top dig while I worked with Rostam and Sam in the bottom dig. Soon the bottom dig was getting drier mud coming out and is looking really quite big. Jonathan went in after Sam and had a good go, while Oli did some capping with Duncan in the top dig. By the end of the session the top dig needs banging and the bottom dig is easy digging and drier. 

31/5/16

failed to access, gate failure with no electric supplied to it so couldn't get in the driveway!

24/5/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
James set to digging with Estelle in middle for haul and skip filling and Stu pulling from the end and dumping it, then Estelle and Stu swapped and eventually Estelle and James swapped. The hauling is really hard with only 3 of us there, we need more people next time as it’s quite backbreaking!
At the end of the digging, Estelle had exposed a second hole above the first one which gives a bit more visibility into the way on, but it is low and water worn and will need a lot of digging down still. At least we have a solid roof to follow though. 

17/5/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Duncan brought capping kit so set to work capping the big boulder in the way in the top dig first, then another in the dig, while Estelle dug. He then moved to capping the boulder in the bottom dig leaving the rest hauling out lots of spoil created by Estelle. By the end of the session it was possible to stand up in the chamber and there is a hole in the floor which is draughting and turning left and then right from what can be seen, as it’s not very big. 

3/5/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Lots of spoil and rocks continuing to be removed from the top of the two lower digs. Quite easy digging, so chamber getting bigger. Could do with capping 2 rocks next week that are slightly larger than moveable at the moment. 

26/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey
2hrs
arrive to find the place 'gated'! Fortunately we were able to get hold of Kevin for the access code as he'd forgotten about us coming!
Got to work with digging and removing all the bang debris from the top of the two bottom digs. Easy going, lots of spoil removed and opening up a bit of a chamber at the end in order to try and work out which way on to dig at the moment as it's not obvious, but there is a lot of mud and rocks... 

19/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey
2.5hrs
Stu drilled and banged the bottom dig and nicely demolished the right hand wall boulder and the one at the end. This now needs a lot of clearing and hopefully we now have plenty of space to haul as well. Estelle then drilled and banged in the top dig to finish off the available bang. That made a satisfactory sound which resonated around!

12/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Duncan Butler, Fran Campbell
2.5hrs
Mike and Leonie were already doing toad rescue from the other holes when everyone else started arriving. Stu set to capping a rock in the bottom dig while some of the others were continuing removing spoil and breaking rocks in the upper dig. After a few caps, the rock broke up a fair bit, but the right hand wall boulder showed signs of being unstable, so it was deemed to plan to bang that one next week. Duncan and Estelle continued removing rocks and mud from that side making it larger while being a little mindful of the slightly mobile rock.
Stu then went up to the upper dig and continued capping in there while the others dug and hauled. They managed to make a round trip in there and lots more spoil coming out making it bigger and bigger! Not so many toads this week, probably 30-40ish total. 

5/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Waterworth, Dave King, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
Stu got to work drilling for a bang and Dave started collecting toads from around the dig. When the rest of us arrived, Mike helped with the drilling as he had his own drill too and Estelle and James helped Dave collect toads and when we were confident we'd removed all we could find this week in that hole, we also cleared as many toads, frogs and newts from hole 1 as we could find too. Probably circa 40 in our current hole and 50+ with 3 newts in the first dig! All were dumped down by the pond in a hope they can find a new life there without being eaten too quick!
A bang was then done in the rocks at the higher of the two bottom digs and about 10mins later we went back. It was a little smelly, but not too bad and there was plenty of damage to the rock and lots of gravel. This was soon cleared and a few large fractured rocks then were easier to remove. Whole site looking a lot bigger now and realistically probably 3 weeks work in one session! Looking to repeat the process next week and maybe cap some rocks in the bottom muddy dig too. 

22/3/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave King
2.5hrs
started off with issues with electricity. Kevin's drill required it for us to cap in there. After a bit of fettling, the neutral wire was found to be off in the top extension lead, so once repaired, we took the drill down and Stu started capping while Mike went into the dig to dig.  Estelle and Dave initially went scouting for frogs and toads and removed some more to the pond before helping Stu. Bottom dig still wet and needs the rocks capped, but focused on capping the top rocks and have removed quite a lot more rock now. 

15/3/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey
2hrs
the bottom hole had clearly flooded again since the last time we were there, probably on the Tuesday night after we left as been dry most of the week since. We found quite a lot of frogs and toads, one of them a very heavily pregnant female frog and these were evacuated to the pond before settling in with hammers and chisel to beast the rocks in the upper of the two digs. Mike mostly digging in the dig and the rest of us taking turns with the hammer and chisel. Moved quite a lot of large rock out of the way, really does need capping to make life easier. 

8/3/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Duncan Simey
2hrs
Continued work digging in the bottom dig with Estelle digging first followed by Duncan. You can see a 'tide mark' of leaves about 6ft up from the entrance of the bottom dig where the dig had flooded during Storm Imogen last month. The top layer of clay in the dig was particularly slimy! Mike spent most of the evening trying to reduce a rock in size with a hammer to get it out of the way, but the rock won. 2 toads rescued and put into pond.
We really need to get some capping done next week, 5 rocks in lower dig and a couple in upper dig. 

16/2/16 - logging on behalf of Mike Moxon

Last Tuesday Stu L & I arrived at the dig to find a lot of leaves plastered around the walls & the slope between both entrances had slumped, burying the extension cable. The mud was everywhere slick & we realised the hole had flooded to about 2 foot above the lower entrance (just as well we gave the previous Tuesday a miss!). We cleared a lot of mud out of / away from the lower entrance to prevent it getting washed in again, but guess the mud we are chucking into the bottom is reducing the drainage. When Dave King arrived we tirfored the big boulder further out of the way & took the winch out to the surface so it can be washed (along with the drill for drying). There was a large frog in the corner dig, who must have been woken up by the water - we left him down there.

2/2/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth
2.5hrs
Continuing digging in both higher and lower of the two bottom digs. Lots of mud removed, lots still to come out! 

12/1/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Mike Butcher, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler and Kevin Clinton joined us too.
2.5hrs
Kevin has got a turfer winch to remove large boulders, so Stu, Duncan and Kevin were drilling and bolting a bit boulder to move it while Estelle, Mike Butcher and James were digging in the lower dig and other Mikes x2 were digging behind where the big boulder was being attempted to be removed. For safety, when they were working on that we had to exit the lower dig and it was bitterly cold waiting for the attempts before being able to get back in and did. By the end of the session a very large (circa 5 tonne(?)) boulder had been moved a few feet and rotated out of the mud, but not quite exited so we left for the pub! 

5/1/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Mike Waterworth, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler
2hrs
Estelle, James and Duncan set to work on the bottom dig with Estelle in the bottom digging to start and then Duncan taking over while the rest of us helped clear spoil out as it needs 3 people now it's round the corner. Looks quite interesting and the clay is certainly very good quality.
Mike x2, Stu and Leonie worked on the dig above with lots of rock splitting and digging out in the end of it. All looking a lot bigger when we'd finished.

Additional note, Kevin sent Estelle a couple of photos the next day showing that he had removed some of the larger boulders from the front of the digs with a new winch he has got and will join us next Tues to work out what else needs removing. 

15/12/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler

2.5hrs

Continued digging in the bottom dig making it larger so it's easier to get into the new bit and carry on digging. The 'aven' looks like just it might go to the type of shafts we already have as it's not really that far below the surface, but it is quite wet and washed clean. Loads of clay and rock removed from there by Estelle, Fran and Mike W. Duncan, Mike M and James focused on the one blocked with boulders and removed quite a few more. Much easier when they are capped though when Stu is back!

8/12/15

James Begley, Mike Waterworth, Lee Knight & John Boulton

2 hours

We met up to show Lee & John around the site and for them to gather a couple of samples of the biological mats that have been puzzling us. They were shown around the upper dig first, including down into the chamber first explored a couple of weeks earlier, and they collected a couple of samples to be sent off for analysis, but are almost certainly bacterial based. We then went to the lower dig site, where a bit of enthusiastic digging allowed first Mike then the rest of us to extend the lowest dig and get round the corner to a point where there is an aven going upwards for a couple of metres and a trench in the floor full of silt and clay. Digging it out will require making the floor deeper all the way along, but should only take a couple of sessions. Mike also pushed on to the right from the higher dig, to a  low chamber with another aven and what appears to be a connection back to the upper dig – yet to be confirmed.

1/12/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay and Kevin Clinton

2.5hrs

Capping is the way forwards! Stu soon released the stuck plug and feathers and broke up a number of rocks to moveable size. Estelle and James continued digging in the bottom dig and that’s starting to go around the corner and has a channel below which looks interesting, but can’t get into it yet… Kevin joined us and helped with the rock removal as well. Duncan went and had a look at the previous week’s finds and then came back to help manhandle the rocks. 

24/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Mike Butcher

2.5hours

Stu brought along a drill and Estelle some plug and feathers. The attempt didn’t work well and they ended up stuck in the rock, capping is likely to be the way forward as most of the rocks are nicely accessible. Estelle carried on digging in the dig below where Stu was working and the rest of the lads headed down into the bottom of the top dig where they dug their way into the bit down the hole at the end, retrieved Kevin’s drain rod and continued on into a bit more passage which had a bit of a chamber as well. 

17/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Duncan Butler

2.5hrs

Took a couple of old hammers from HLIS over and while Mike W and Duncan did the tourist trip into the top bit of cave, the rest of us started on trying to move boulders and mud from the lower digs. Duncan came back and joined in helping and Mike W decided to dig in the end of the top dig. Mike M joined him after a while. Estelle carried on digging out of the lowest dig while James and Duncan got ‘personal’ with a few boulders and beat them up and got them out. A drill and either caps or P&F would be more productive, but we do need more tools in general in there – couple of decent hammers, a small shovel or 2 and maybe another bar or 2 wouldn’t go amiss. A few of the cable ties on the ladder are starting to come loose and we really should look at getting a better ladder to make it safer. While we were digging we could hear storm Barney blowing a hoolie over the top of the digsite! 

10/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Evening spend attacking boulders and digging in the lower digs – broke the hammer so need another one and boulders too big to extract. We decided then to start at the entrance and make it all bigger so a few big boulders dragged out before exiting to the pub. 

4/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon

1.5hrs

Estelle forgot gloves so had to race back home for them, but James made a start and then Mike turned up as Estelle got back. Got down to digging in the lower hole where there is dark space beyond boulders. Moved a fair bit of rock and spoil between us. Really needs drilling and plug and feathering to deal with the rocks. We also need to work on tidying the surface by the top of the ladder as it is quite slippery up there. 

20/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Price
2.5hrs
Mike arrived earlier and put a rope down to do a bit of clearing on the fence side above the digs and then we all went down and did some digging. Duncan turned up and went into the top dig and looked at the cave as he grew up locally and there was never cave this side of Mendip! He seemed reasonably impressed and came and joined us digging at the bottom after. Going at 2 separate holes at the bottom at the moment, Stu and i digging at one from two sides and Mike, James and Duncan on the other which is going down well. 

13/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Liz Wire, Dave King
2hrs
Mike collected a couple of ladders from the Belfry and brought them over so we could look to access the top dig. This worked with just the one longer ladder and Mike then cleared the shelf of all loose rubble to make it accessible safely. Leonie and Dave went in with Mike to have a look as they hadn't seen it before and also had a dig up there. Stu's leg was too sore so he continued with path building while Estelle, James and Liz took it in turns to dig the bottom dig bringing out quite a bit. Now need a skip in the dig as we're far enough in. 

11/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay.
4hrs
Estelle went down to the bottom to try and work on digging a connection to the old dig. It soon became apparent that the dig wasn't going the right way and was going straight on/more left. James came down and joined Estelle as it got deeper. Stu remained on surface doing path. Joan Goddard visited with her professor from uni Professor Desmond who was 92 years old and chatted to Kevin for a while. He was quite interested and amazing for a bloke his age. Kevin also came down and had a look at the digging. Now at a point where we consider it safe enough to dig when dry on evenings going forwards and it's quite easy digging and draughting well. Need a ladder to get to top dig - will need to grab from Belfry. 

29/9/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Has been quite dry for the last week and the access to the entrance is much better. Plan was for Estelle and Mike to take a look at the bottom as not seen it since Kevin put a makeshift ladder in and for us to build a stone path from the top platform down towards the entrance to make it safer when wet and easier (and tidier). Estelle went down the ladder (3 ladders held together with scaffolding and cable ties and ropes!), which felt perfectly stable surprisingly! Looking at the bottom, tucked under the entrance shelf where there was previously lots of frost shattering, this is much better as it has slipped off down to the fault and is beautifully red and flat now. Above it at dig level on both sides are a couple of rocks that would be nice to knock down to bottom as they don't look safe. Looking around before it got dark, about 5m to the left the dig on the right wall (as you look towards hedge), it looks like a couple of hours digging would give us access back into the dig we were working on as you can sort of see through to there and it is easy mud and rocks digging to clear it. Mike arrived and went down also. Estelle and Mike both had a bit of a go at making a start with no tools (as they are stuck in the dig!). Looking around the rest, there's a couple of rocks and muddy areas that might subside which we need to take care of, but generally it is looking like it has mostly stabilised itself with the recent rains. Going downwards is unlikely to be an easy option going forwards without major engineering works, so is looking to be abandoned for now. Stu arrived and then we all spent the rest of the evening doing the path, which is mostly complete, just needs more rock added, but we need some tools to dig out some more of the suitable flat rocks. 

25/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Liz Wire, Dave Morrison (Tuska) and his girlfriend, Martin Grass, Joan and Simon Goddard
1.5hrs
Arrived at 7 and met with Tuska who came over to advise as large hole like this is similar to what they had to deal with at Templeton and he is probably the most expert at dealing with large excavations. Since the weekend and a lot of rain, a couple of large boulders had fallen into the bottom. Tuska advised on suspending any workings and platforms from RSJs and also clearing the areas around the edges of the site to ensure no rocks would wash in. He suggested one idea of rolling turf down the right hand slope and then pinning netting to it to allow it to naturally grow over whilst secured. The back edge by the hedge probably needs shuttering. The approach to the dig needs tidying and a path creating as there is a lot of mud and clay to stick to your feet. Martin came across and took photos for Descent. 

22/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley
2hrs
The digger having finished and gone, Estelle and James visited to look at the final result. The sides are fairly even now and the digger has done a pretty good job of cleaning out the edges making it look a lot safer. Need to sort out rigging and also work out how to get some sort of platform and hauling system in place to assist with this. Estelle contacting Templeton diggers to help out Tuesday, particularly Tuska if about. Chatted to Kevin over a glass of wine about ideas for how to access and dig. 

18/8/15 Big Digger!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Kevin Clinton
3hrs
Estelle got a text from Kevin while over at Vurley Swallet saying that he had an 18m arm digger there digging the big hole out deeper. Estelle called in on way home from Cheddar to gauge what might be required for the evening and took a few photos and a bit of video. As soon as James got back from work, Estelle and James headed to dig armed with ropes, ladder, SRT kits, etc. to work out best method of getting down. The digger was still in situ and the arm had been left in a good position to act as a belay point, so this was used to attach the ladder via a length of rope to the edge and the lifeline. Estelle went down first and it is around 11m to the very bottom, but a 10m ladder suffices as you can come off easily enough on the slope. A couple more holes have been exposed on both the left and right, but a lot of loose stuff was falling in. Estelle came out and James went in and shortly after James came up from having a look Stu, Mike and Leonie arrived and Kevin came over in caving kit. Kevin started going down the ladder and as he got a few rungs down there was some movement and a couple of large rocks decided to come out of the right hand wall. He decided not to descend after that and came back up. Mike and Leonie both went down and had a look but Stu declined the ladder, although he was very keen for someone to get his shovel out of the dig that he needed to take for his holiday. Estelle went down for another look and took Kevin’s gopro down and then Mike went in again and managed to climb up to the dig using the longer ladder which was lowered down to use to get back up and also removed some rocks from the shelf that were perched and retrieved the shovel. De-rigged and went to pub. Digger planning on clearing out some more and also levelling off the right hand side and clearing all around the edges to hopefully make it all a bit safer.

11/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Liz Wire, Stu Lindsay, Kevin Clinton
2.5hrs
James brought up the survey on laptop to show Kevin and the others in survex. Total cave length between all holes currently at 107m and new cave at 61m.
Mike, Stu and Estelle started digging/hauling as James forgot his undersuit and had to pop back home, but was soon back and came in to dig and Liz also turned up too. It worked easiest to have one person loosening the spoil and one person filling the skip while a couple of people outside hauled and emptied. The mud is a particularly sticky consistency and stuck very well to the hauling skips making them heavier and harder to move as the evening went on and the heightening of the passage. Diggers swapped so everyone got a chance and it's easy digging with a lot of spoil coming out, hence 70 kibbles in one evening. Hauling got tiring and Kevin came down and assisted with hauling and emptying later in the session
Kevin is looking at getting an 18m digger in to have a go at making it deeper and safer, probably over a weekend soon, so the digger works Friday, we visit over the weekend and he does more on Monday. Await news on dates...

Left for pub just after 9:15, but Waldegrave shut so went to Ring o' Bells at Hinton instead - we need to plan letting Derek know and getting sarnies booked so he stays open! 

4/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Martin Grass, Liz Wire
2.5hrs
James and Estelle arrived first and soon after Mike and Stu and we went down into the dig to start digging the entrance spoil out to continue the enlargement. Martin arrived and soon after Liz and both Martin and Liz were given the guided tour and Martin took photos for Descent. He left soon after and we all carried on working on the dig. For a little while James and Estelle worked on the other side dig but didn’t really have enough digging tools there yet. Will need to bring more next week. 

2/8/15 surveying

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Andrew Horeckyj (MCG & geologist)
3.5hrs
Primary function for this trip was to survey the entire site. We used the large rock Kevin had pulled out from the big hole as a centrepoint and James and Estelle surveyed from it to each of the holes in turn and then into the holes to their ends, starting with the one nearest to the gate first and going anti-clockwise and ending up with the big one after we'd done all the others. It was quite hard work doing the surface surveying with the laser on the distoX disappearing into the sunlight! The new cave section is roughly 35m, not including the shaft and passage the other side. Noticeable that there is some instability at the hedge side with a trickle of soil as it was drying the whole time we were down there. Andy had a good look around to analyse his thoughts on the place geologically. He seemed to find it very interesting. Took a few photos using proper camera rather than mobile phone. Mike and Andy did some digging in the entrance continuing to remove rocks and mud to make it larger for getting in to start hauling from lower and reducing the amount of mud in there. Survey complete, we packed up and went home. Back Tuesday to dig... 

29/7/15 The big hole!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Kevin Clinton
2hrs 15mins
Kevin emailed Estelle 28/7/15 with 2 images and that he had used a larger digger to dig out the big hole nearer to the hedge. We agreed to visit Wednesday evening for a look and dig.
On arrival, we were shown the large amount of spoil that had been removed which was filling in the top pond that had dried up but been too wet to level it since. We then went down to the newly dug out hole. To the bottom was about 5m or so with a bit of a ledge at the top and a metal ladder to climb down into it. There had been some infill down to recent rains and there is a section near the hedge which does look like it needs securing as rains may cause it to subside. To the right of the metal ladder (pond side) was a bedding plane going down dip with beautifully brownish/yellow (from lead probably) scalloped roof and the floor was several inches of sedimented mud over rock. Estelle clambered in and where it got a little tighter, gardened a few rocks to make it more passable and then carried on down following the solid roof. Looking forwards, to the right it carried on curved around with the floor being sloped  with rocks covered in mud and looking like they would head updip towards the holes we were digging previously. There was a couple of places at the very bottom on the left that had space between muddy rocks that could potentially be dug out. Going back to the left was a little bit of a climb down into a muddy small chamber which had a hole in the floor between muddy boulders, of which there was another hole below it that was about 18"x12" and currently too awkward to access safely. This needs some digging to access. Took a few photos on mobile phone as forgot camera and then headed back up, The amount of mud in there is incredible and the weight on the oversuit climbing back out was hard work. The passage continued some 40m in there. Kevin and James came in as far as above the last chamber before heading back out. Mike had been focussing on the driveway side of the dug out shaft and this appears to go in towards the original hole and others and he got in a few metres there as well. Kevin said the middle of the floor had slumped since digging out, but hadn't hit solid and was the yellow mud we'd been digging out of the holes previously.
We started digging out the entrance boulders and mud from the hole i went in while Mike went in and took some photos and had a look and by the end of the session had made it considerably more accessible. With the depth of the shaft down and the side passages off, reckon approximately 50m in there so far.
First thing we really need to do is survey the lot so we can see where everything is and where it's going and then clear a good route down to the dig as suspect we will have to haul out to surface as while there is quite a bit of space in there, it's on a slope so wouldn't make easy storage for spoil. 

Link to Estelle's images https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fxn6l8yi9cpbvpi/AADy5R5CqK58wga8CL9HNQCZa?dl=0

13/12/14 Winch removal

Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Matthew Wire
1.5hrs
removed tripod and winch and all digging tools from site and back to Belfry or home to clean and store until next needed.

27/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning
1.5hrs
Mark went in first to dig and broke off some more rock and carried on the gravel mining to fill about 8 skips. Estelle went in to have a look and we decided we would be better drilling more holes for bang now as most of the accessible gravel is gone. James went in and filled one last skip with gravel. Mark will communicate with Kevin to arrange electric for drilling more holes. We also took a look at the biggest hole near the hedge with a view to maybe drilling several holes in the bottom of that to see if a bang in there exposes anything - will do the one we're working on first though.

20/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Clearing bang debris - Estelle went in first and quickly filled about 15 skips which the lads hauled out, then swapped with James who did about the same number again. Mostly gravel coming out, but some bigger chunks as well and James pulled out a large rock from the floor towards the end of his session too. Estelle went back in for a final couple of skips - we have gone down a good 2.5ft into an approximately 2ft x 2.5ft hole and there is probably another hour or so worth of gravel clearing to go. To the left as you look at the ladder is solid rock and will probably need banging again to make it bigger. To the right is still quite a lot of gravel going down, but quite narrow and there is a slot in the floor heading in the direction of the ladder that is a couple of inches wide by about a foot deep - can't really see clearly on as the gravel keeps backfilling it at the moment but ideally we need to employ a dwarf orangutan! Took a few photos at the end of the session.

10/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley
20mins
Popped over between showers to check the results of the bang last Thursday. Estelle went down the hole and noted it was gravel at the bottom and everything completely blocked up and needing a serious clearing session. Need to plan a clearing session.

7/8/14 - Nigel & Martin banging Cutlers

James and Mike went along to assist Nigel Taylor and Martin Grass. large bang 2x 600mm deep 20mm holes and 1x 1m deep 20mm holes

5/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Kevin Clinton
45mins
Nigel Taylor couldn’t make it last minute to bang, but Kevin had sent over some photos from where he had been landscaping the area a bit and had dug open another hole next to the first one we dug out. Looks interesting, but probably not interesting enough to pursue. Hoping to bang either later this week or next.

14/5/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mark Denning
1.5hrs
With an absence of haulers for Reservoir, we decided to go and clear the bang debris from Cutlers and drill holes for the next one. Clearing only took about 6 skips worth and hadn’t really done enough damage, so looking at the big guns and Mark drilled 3 x 16mm holes and 600m deep and then started trying to extend these to 20mm holes, but the generator was struggling with that and then ran out of fuel. Going to ask Kevin if we can have electric again for next time to make the drill work better.

6/5/14 - bang trip

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning, Martin Grass
1.5hrs
Mark drilled several 12mm holes in what looked like a shelf. 1 went right through, but the rest were ok, so Estelle and Martin then went in to place the bang, we used 3 of the holes and 20gm and 5gm to join them. Once set, it let off a healthy bang, but no real breeze outside so air didn’t show signs of clearing particularly quickly so we left for another day.

Kevin emailed photos next day to say he had had a look and cleared some of the spoil out of the way, but hadn’t done much damage, so need more bang.

14/4/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
1.5hrs
Estelle went into the dig and started digging – funnily enough, no-one else seemed keen tonight... Quite a lot of skips full of vegetative matter and slimy mud and rocks were removed and it didn’t smell overly pleasant down there, but basically after a dozen or so skips, we’re down to rock all around and it needs a dose of chemical persuasion to proceed. Removed 12 toads (including mating pairs!) and 5 newts from the dig site and a further 3 from one of the other holes and relocated them to the lake. Kevin had been tidying up a bit and there is now a fence and gate to the site.

Wednesday 13th November

Mike Moxon and Leonie Woodward clearing and hauling spoil from the end.
From Mike:

Hole in floor cleared of debris, the slot below is about 3 inches wide & the depth of the steel bar, still plenty more to pull out of the bottom but it's mostly out of the way of getting washed further in. Spent about an hour there.

Monday 4th November

Estelle Sandford, Stu Lindsay, James Begley

1.5hrs

Estelle and Stu turned up earlier and drilled and prepped for banging the dig with Estelle drilling the holes and setting it up under Stu’s direction. 5 holes drilled around the hole in the base and then James turned up to help haul and also after setting off the bang, we sorted out the rope on the tripod which had come off the pulley. Gave the bang about 10mins to clear and went and had a look. Lots to clear, rock is very layered so bang has loosened a lot but not actually made as much progress has hoped. Hopefully attacking with a hammer after clearing on next bang will get rid of a bit more rock, but getting far too cold now to be outside hauling so heading towards putting to bed for the winter months. 

Tuesday 29th October

Estelle Sandford, James Begley

1hr

Has been quite wet over the last few days and the dig had clearly had a good wash. There was some slumped spoil in a pile plus the hole in the floor directly below the hole in the floor we created has a small way on now, probably caused by water backing up on it and pushing the mud through. Estelle went in and cleared the slump and had a good go at clearing any mud around the hole and a bit of rock from smacking with a hammer, to a point where you can put your arm in with a crowbar and wave it about and drop stones and they sound like they are dropping maybe 2-3ft. The holes at the end are also interesting and can put bar in a far way and see on a bit horizontally. Both holes need banging, there is nothing else to do without bang now. The hole directly below looks like it is another ‘shelf’ or false floor like above. Some water in the other two that still need digging. 

Monday 14th October

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon and Kevin Clinton

2hrs

Arrived and had a look and is looking much larger post bang. James went in and started work on clearing while Estelle hauled and Mike emptied as hole 6 is a puddle at present so no digging there tonight. Rope really slippery so beneficial to have two on surface, until James got below ledge and needed someone at the bottom to help, so Mike went in and assisted leaving Estelle hauling and emptying! Kevin turned up around half way through and assisted with emptying the skips. Mike and James swapped and Mike continued digging out the hole in the floor. The two holes seen by Estelle last week can see water worn beyond, but there is a hole in the floor following the back wall down that also looks interesting. May need more Dr Nobels next time, but also need to do a bit more digging around the floor hole. Good evenings work, some 30+ skips removed of rock and spoil. 

Sunday 13th October

Stu Lindsay, Estelle Sandford & James Begley

1hr

In between showers, Stu had some Dr Nobel’s for which he drilled holes in the false floor level around the small hole that Estelle had enlarged last week to make it passable just in hole 5. A quick glance after the smoke had cleared indicates that the shelf is no more and it now needs clearing. 

Tuesday 8th October

Estelle Sandford, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon
1.5hrs
Estelle cleared the debris from the last bang which hadn’t been as effective as the first bang last week in that one hole hadn’t done much but the other appears to have shattered a channel going towards the pond side. Much of the rest of the time was spent beating the rock around the hole in the floor with a hammer and bar while Mike digging hole 6 and Stu hauling for both digs. After about an hour or so, the hole was big enough to get her lower body in, but not quite to pass the arms/shoulders, so Stu had a little go at bashing it before Estelle had one final go and then managed to get into the hole. There is a shelf covered in debris about 2.5ft own which makes it not too bad to get out of the hole, but basically you can drop down about 3ft to the floor and sit down. To the left is floor pendant that is very sharp and attacked oversuit and in front slightly right in the roof is another pendant that should come away with a hammer. To the right again is a channel in the floor continuing to two holes in the floor and the roof above is where the shattered channel is heading. The two holes are about 4” and 6” diameter respectively but with the floor and roof pendants, it’s not possible to get access to it yet. The entrance hole needs Dr Nobel to enlarge it to make it so we can work in there and it is basically a shelf which is about a foot or so deep of solid rock. Some photos taken by Estelle.

Monday 30th September

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay – joined by Kevin and Chris Clinton a little later when we were about to blow it!

2.5hrs

Arrived at site and immediately started drilling 3 long shot-holes on the left (facing towards house), one higher and 2 lower to take off the left hand wall. I laid the cord under Stu’s instructions and then we exited the cave and let it off. Waited around 20mins before descending to take a look at what had happened as it had cleared the worst of the fumes by then. Worked very well, dig considerably wider now and a large amount of gravel and rocks blocking the way out. Cleared about a dozen skips from the hole before drilling two further holes in the lower ledge by the hole with the way on. Left and behind you can feel quite a long way under, so had to be careful not to just drill through this and went on an angle. The hole in the floor has about 3-4ft of drop, draughts pretty well and going away from the house direction seems to be looking like the way on. Chris flicked the switch for the second bang and it was considerably louder than before! Left for the pub without checking as pub ‘o’ clock!

Report from Kevin the morning after – ‘been down and cleared out rock but hole is same size, need a bigger bang!!’

Planning to clear it again before more of Dr Nobel’s though. 

Tuesday 24th September

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
1.5hrs
6 skips out of deeper hole 5 and 21 very muddy skips out of the adjacent one (6) using both ends of the rope. Deeper hole has an interesting void below the false floor but the sides need banging now to widen it to make it accessible. We need to do that next trip, hopefully next week. Hole 6 is very muddy and clay and got to a point where the hauling rope so muddy it was impossible to haul anymore, so gave up and went to pub!

Monday 18th September

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon and Henry Dawson.
2hrs
Arrived to find the digger not in usual location, but based on previous discussions about struggling to use it now down to depth and the jaggedness of the rocks at the bottom catching the bags and having less space to keep a 1 tonne bag while digging, we had decided to use the tripod anyway to finish this dig off. We moved the tripod to over that hole first job from the other hole it had been resident over since last year and put the rope back into place. (The hole we have removed it from we want to use the digger on anyway when we do dig that one.) James went in first and started filling buckets with slop and mud as there was a little puddling above the holes in the floor. Estelle on hauling all evening down to a injured foot and then Mike went down to relieve James and realised soon that digging in just old clothes rather than using an oversuit wasn’t the best idea. Henry then went down for the last 1/2hour and broke a larger hole in the false floor and we can see some space below going to about 3ft. Next session needs a decent hammer and chisel but probably the session after will be looking at Dr Nobels best!

Monday 19th August

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Arrived to find a double length of ladder left for us by Kevin. 6 bags removed between the two holes, 3 from each. Bigger hole now getting really hard to fill the bags and is below the reach of the digger arm, so we may have to consider moving the a frame and using buckets now. Is heading away from house direction into what looks like a rift. Other hole still got a lot to come out!

Monday 12th August

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon and Alex Gee
2hrs
Working on both digs on holes 5 and 6 again. 5 is getting quite hard to fill the bag without it jamming in the rocks now so we’ve had to bash a few bits off, but still going down and still plenty of mud to clear. 6 is still quite a way above 5 in depth and going down nicely, was slightly puddled at start. Alex came for a look and gave us a hand with the digging for the evening and also had a look at the finds bins. Digger still needing manual switch off.

Wednesday 7th August

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
1.5hrs
We were going to go down HLIS, but as no bags at the Belfry and no drill/plug and feathers sorted, we left Mark and Stu to go and take some photos and retrieve the ladders and rope from down there and headed over to Cutlers as we’d not managed to get over there since Kevin back from holidays. Arrived and met Kevin and he went and fixed the pump wire that he thought was the problem with the digger and we started digging. Got 2 bags out of each of the two holes, but digger not stopping still so we called Kevin back and he had a look and showed us how to turn it off manually as the electric part of the pump isn’t actually working! Main dig draining, but the mud was quite wet, other dig not draining yet. Pond even lower with little rain but Little Grebe’s have chicks now!

Monday 22nd July

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Henry Dawson, Mike Moxon and Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
As there was more of us this week, we got to work with the 1 tonne bags in the hole nearest the house where we’ve been digging and also the hole next to it as we figured we had enough skill to retrieve the bags using the digger. Removed 8 bags all in, 4 from each hole and the first one is starting to get quite sandy now and pinching out so reckon we might get some answers sooner rather than later on that one. Only problem with today’s digging was that the digger wouldn’t stop easily so we had to stall it at the end, which isn’t the easiest thing to do!

Kevin back now so digger issue will be sorted by next Monday. :-)

Monday 15th July

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning and Henry Dawson.
2hrs

Removed 6 bags and 1 boulder. Floor lowered by another foot or so and is starting to pinch in slightly making it harder for more than 1 person to be filling the 1 tonne bag. Had some problems with the digger starting, but worked out that the battery connection was loose so we sorted that and now starting perfectly.

Monday 8th July

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay & Joan Goddard came across for a look and took some photos
2hrs
Digging in shaft 5 again using digger to remove spoil and rocks. Removed 4 bags of spoil and 3 rocks and a small hole had appeared just under where one of the rocks was. Hopefully this will give us some answers next week, but if not it should help drain the little bit of water that seems to remain puddled on the pond liner clay.

Mon 24th June 2013

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning with Mike Moxon turning up a little later.
2hrs
With Kevin not around, we still had use of the digger with having to drive it ourselves again.
5 bags filled and emptied and 4 large rocks removed, amazed the ancient 20+ year old tape held…. (and yes we did stay well out of the way when lifting rocks). Nice dry evening and water levels of lake still dropping although rain over the earlier part of the week had meant the dig itself was a bit more claggy than last week. Next week we are going to have to dig under where the ladder is making it more interesting getting in and out!

Monday 17th June 2013

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Henry Dawson, Mike Moxon and Leonie Woodward.
2.5hrs

Arrived to find Mark had dropped off 3x 1 tonne bags ready for digging, but was unable to stay himself tonight and dig. The rest of us started digging in the bigger hole filling the 1 tonne bags and also removing some rocks and wood debris from the slightly smaller hole next to that one that we'd not touched to date. Kevin had left us access to the digger, so Mike lifted the first one out and didn't quite get the accuracy to perfection and caught the bag on the side putting a tear into it. Kevin popped over to watch and chat and we continued filling, doing a total of 6 bags. Mike's accuracy got much better after the first one and he successfully avoided touching the side again with the bags! Spoil is quite clay filled and claggy, but thankfully not as wet as it had got to last year. Few rocks removed as well.

Hopefully we'll have a bigger team for next Monday to make it easier to dig more than one hole at a time. We need to bring over some krabs, slings and more tools, only 2 spades and a pick there at present.

Wednesday 28th November

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon & Ben Wetherill

2hrs

4x 1 tonne bags filled in the freezing cold evening while Kevin drove the digger on the hole nearest the house/pond. Making steady downwards progress with no signs of hitting anything solid as yet and might need a longer ladder soon. Also require replacement 1 tonne bags as one died and the second looking quite badly worn out now.

Getting to be too cold and wet on some Wednesday evenings, so we may need to plan another daytime visit on a weekend soon and go somewhere warmer and drier on Wednesday evenings! 

Wednesday 21st November

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Ben Wetherill

2.5hrs

Kevin unable to stay and help, so he gave us digger driving lessons so we could empty the bags ourselves. The hole with the tripod and pulley over was too wet to dig as we appear to have puddled the clay nicely at the bottom and we had very heavy rainfall overnight and early part of the day. We filled 4 x 1 tonne bags over the evening and then each had a go on the digger removing it from the hole. Ben didn't dig as he had no kit with Henry not about and was lurking awaiting AA recovery to fix his flat tyre that he couldn't get the wheel nut off of. 

Sunday 18th November

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, James Begley. Also Joan Goddard and Roy Vranch also came over and Kevin drove the digger.

Had a look at the middle hole and gave up on that, then went to the other hole with the tripod over and started on that. Very heavy clay and some of us weren’t feeling too special after the diggers award last night! Dug for about an hour or so, struggling to haul as it was very wet and hard to get a grip. Kevin then appeared and got to work with clearing the spoil heaps with the digger and removed the 2x 1 tonne bags from the other hole. We then went for a walk across the fields opposite his house and only found the one water filled depression of interest in a field owned by Waldegrave from the ones shown on the old geology map. 

Wednesday 14th November

Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward

2.5hrs

Mark originally forgot his undersuit and socks and had to pop home and get them so we were a bit late starting. Bit lean on the ground on numbers tonight and Kevin also not around, so we focussed on the middle hole and carried on digging that. Leonie started out, but was having light failure and it was easier for 2 being at the bottom now, so Estelle went and helped hold the bucket and give her light to dig, then Estelle took over for a bit and gave the rocks a good beasting with the hammer to remove some of the shelves in there and some jagged rocks. It looks like we have hit a 30 degree bedding plane and that the clay from the pond indicates that the pond drained at this level. Below is very jagged rocks and muddy floor and smallish drain hole. Mark and Mike continued beasting rocks and making it bigger so we can get at the drain holes and see whether they are big enough to warrant following or not. Getting very cold digging now in the evenings, so we may consider heading underground somewhere else for a bit… 

Wednesday 7th November

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning, Jo Denning, Mike Moxon, Henry Dawson, Stu Lindsay and Kevin Clinton

2hrs

After watching the Chewton Mendip firework display from the dig site, we got to work with putting the tripod up over the hole nearest the driveway to start digging that. Henry helpfully turned up and suggested we could use the digger instead to haul out of the hole, so we suggested we also do the hole nearest the pond/house and do that one with the digger instead, despatching Henry to the bottom to fill a 1 tonne bag – unfortunately digger had flat battery so while the bag was filled, it wasn’t removed! Digging got underway in new hole and continued in middle hole (which is looking the most interesting so far and can hear water noises below the hole. New hole has a lot of thick pond clay, the black stuff is like rubber! James and Estelle had a dig until fingers getting tired from digging and then Mark had a go. Mark and Henry had a good go also at clearing some rocks from the middle hole – still mud and rocks coming out and looking very interesting. 

Wednesday 31st October

too wet to dig...

Wednesday 24th October

Estelle Sandford (turned up late), James Begley, Mark Denning, Mike Moxon, Elsie Brooks (RUCC), Henry Dawson, Ben Wetherill, Kevin Clinton (on the digger duty)
3hrs for most, 2 hrs for ES.
Continued working on the big hole filling 1 tonne bags and using the digger to haul and by the end of the evening, this has hit solid rock on all sides with just a rift hole that needs investigating left. We also continued with the middle hole and that is still progressing well and lots of mud coming out and some rocks. Moved the tripod to the nearest  hedge hole and this needs to be erected next week. Mark bringing tools to move pulleys, etc.

Wednesday 17th October 2012

Mark Denning, Mike Moxon, Henry Dawson,  & Kevin Clinton on digger duty.
3 hours.
With Estelle & James on a secret mission, Mark was there first and cleared out the bottom of the original hole which didn't make it look any more hopeful, but we'd better check again in daylight! Mike then arrived with the scaffolding and set up a tripod over the middle hole which allowed Mark & myself to clear most of the mud out, plus the boulder that we dropped in on the first week. A sudden downpour demonstrated that the water in this hole is disappearing down the slot that Leonie opened up under the ladder and down the hole at the back, which after a bit of clearance is currently body-sized but choked with mud and small rocks. (Couple more frogs still require rescue).
After Henry arrived Kevin came over and whilst Henry started digging the big hole Kevin used the digger to lift bags out, proving he's getting the hang of this operation by hauling about 6 tonnes of material out (as well as giving a hand emptying them) - still plenty more to go though.
Everyone got thoroughly soaked in the downpour, but at least it made the bags easier to empty as we could pour the mud out and our suits easier to clean!

Wednesday 10th October 2012

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Henry Dawson and Pete Hellier with Kevin Clinton driving the digger.
3hrs
Had a message from Kevin just before Estelle left work saying he’d put electric to the digsite and also moved the digger to be next to the hole to trial the idea of filling 1 tonne bags. Mark stopped by to drop off 2 of the 1 tonne bags and we got started. Initially both Henry and Estelle had a look at the bottom of the 1st hole where we’d banged it at the weekend and it really doesn’t look very promising as it’s closed off to quite a small hole below in awkward digging space which would need quite a bit of work to remove the rock, so as we’ve got plenty more to dig, that one is basically ready to be abandoned. We then got on and filled the first 1 tonne bag and a second one on top before getting Kevin to come and move them with the digger. This proved to be a very workable method with lifting and then emptying on the spoil heap by tipping them and letting them roll off, hence emptying with a bit of assistance. We filled 8 bags worth of approx. ½ tonne per load – if they are overfilled, they don’t empty as well! Took quite a few photos and video as well. Probably gained about 1m depth across the big hole.

Sunday 7th October

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning, Stu Gardiner, Stu Lindsay, Ben Wetherill, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, plus visit from Lucy Greenwood (BEC/archaeologist), Joan Goddard (MCG & Wells Museum) and Roy Vranch (local geologist friend of Andy Farrant) to chat with Kevin about the finds, etc.
6hrs

First job of the day was to drill and bang the main dig. The lower ledge proved to be about 6in deep shelf, so only the top ledge was worth drilling and nice long holes were drilled there and subsequently banged by Stu & Stu. During this time, Mike & Leonie continued with the middle hole ‘MCG dig’ and Estelle, James, Mark and Ben continued digging and hauling from the largest hole. This is an awkward haul as we currently have no form of frame, so having to drag it up the side of the shaft. There is also an awful lot of mud to come out! After giving about 1/2hr to clear fumes, the main dig was accessible again and Stu x 2 went back in to clear it. The hole is now larger and it is visible that there is a clean-washed water worn route heading back underneath which doesn’t look like it is very deep or overly promising, but not clear what else is going on. Stu L & Estelle put a second charge into the ledge above which was left for about another half hour before we checked that. Now needs hammer and chisel action to make it larger so we can see what is going on. In the meantime the middle hole mostly cleared of mud and now at a point where beating rock and we hauled out quite a lot from the biggest hole too. Joan and Roy had lengthy discussion with Kevin and were shown all the finds – likely conclusion was that  the fossilised vertebrae are ichthyosaur (the bigger ones inside) and plesiosaur (the one in the ‘bin’) and the bones are almost certainly horse, but no idea of age of them. Geology sounds quite interesting too with the idea that the caves arelikely to have been formed over two periods, Jurassic and Triassic and hopefully we’ll have more information when Roy has had a chance to chat to Andy more as well.

Wednesday 3rd October

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning, Mike Moxon, Stu Gardiner, Henry Dawson, Ben Wetherill
2.5hrs
Stu and Mark got stuck in clearing the last of the mud out of the main hole – didn’t take long before it was clear there is no other way on apart from our letterbox type hole under where the ladder end is. This needs some of Dr Nobel’s best linctus to continue.
Mike and Ben continued with the middle hole and that is going down nicely, although bucket died!
Once we’d given up on the main hole, we decided to have a go at the big hole as it was a bit early for pub o clock. This has quite a lot of very red mud in containing barites. Within quite a short time we had a rift sort of hole going off towards the middle hole.

Wednesday 26th September

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon and Joan Goddard (MCG/Wells Museum volunteer)

Persistent torrential rain during a fair bit of the day and late afternoon meant we made the decision not to dig, despite after about 15mins of arriving blue skies appearing for the rest of the evening until it went dark!
Went and took a look at the holes and all bar the middle one Mike & Leonie were digging last week, were draining well and no puddling at all. Even the middle one only had a puddle on the clay and when you consider the local flooding, it's pretty impressive they have all drained this well. Climbed down into our main dig on Mark's shiny new stemples and had a look at the drain hole and can hear water dropping away. Last 6 pics from tonight on https://plus.google.com/photos/104708662744792505290/albums/5773157977179467425 showing the current end and the drainage being good. Kevin said one was taking a fairly reasonable waterfall for a time through the worst of the rain and it was very noticeable the pond had grown!

Joan had a look at some of the finds and also the holes with interest and we arranged with Kevin to dig Sunday 7th October for a longer day session in addition to usual Wednesday eve, which may give us more answers...

Wednesday 19th September

Estelle Sandford, Mark & Jo Denning, James Begley, Neil Walmsley, Henry Dawson, Ben Wetherill, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward
2.5hrs

Kevin back from his holidays and seemed quite impressed with our progress in the dig and has moved our spoil heap so we've clear space to dump again. Provided us with coffee again as well. :-)
Mark got there early to make a start on getting the stemples resined in for our fixed ladder. Once he was far enough down to not risk dropping the hammer on anyone's head, Henry and Ben made a start digging while the rest of us hauled and dumped the spoil. Too many tonight really so Mike and Leonie took bucket and spare rope and started digging out the middle hole (the last one to be opened a few weeks back). Good progress in main dig still with lots of mud coming up. James and Neil took over for their half hour stint and were starting to hit more rock at the bottom and then Mark and Estelle took over for the last stint. Rock has now been hit on the hedge side with a small gap under which we can throw a small stone down and it drops a few feet, indicating some cavity below although this is currently inaccessible with rock in the way. Any mud at the level of the rock is very wet. On the nearer side to the hauling, there is still quite a bit of yellow clay (probably from pond lining) to come out before we make a decision on whether we need to consider some Dr Nobel's linctus to adjust the rock! Probably one more session to decide that. There is a large rock that needs breaking up to remove anyway from the main dig and Mike and Leonie after removing quite a bit of spoil also have a rock requiring extraction.
We are considering setting up another tripod frame over another of the holes so we don't waste resources when we have a good sized team turning up most weeks and while we suspect they all join up, who knows unless we try!

More photos added to album from tonight - https://plus.google.com/photos/104708662744792505290/albums/5773157977179467425

Wednesday 12th September

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning, Henry Dawson, Mike Moxon, Henry Bennett, Pete Hellier, Richard Webber

Mark brought generator and drill over to start putting the stemples in to create a fixed ladder, over the course of evening he drilled down as far as where the mud ledge was - 6 or 7, can't remember.

Using a wire ladder now for accessing the dig, which meant after Mark had finished drilling the holes, the short ladder was removed and so was the mud ledge we'd had to keep in order to be able to get in and out. Henry D started digging and Pete joined him soon after while the rest of is hauled and emptied. Estelle and Mike did a session at the bottom and then Henry B & Mark until we gave up at pub 'o' clock. We're down approximately 12 feet or so from where we started now and have a pretty good sized spoil heap building up.

3hrs total

Wednesday 5th September

Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Henry Dawson, Henry Bennett, Ben Wetherill, Michael Butcher

Estelle and Mark turned up early and made a start on loosening up some spoil, but until a 3rd arrived, no hauling. Rest turned up at 7pm and hauling commenced. Estelle and Mark in the dig initially followed by Henry B & Ben, then Henry D and Mike. Lowered dig by approximately another 4-5ft and approximately 2 tonne of spoil removed. Having to leave a bit of a ledge by our 'fixed' ladder at the moment as we haven't got a longer one in place yet. Next week need temporary electron, although hopefully will get the stemple ladder in place as soon as resin dries.  Spoil getting very gloopy and sticky towards the end, hopefully if the weather remains dry, this will be easier to handle next week!

3hrs total

Wednesday 29th August

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark and Jo Denning, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward and Henry Dawson.
2.5hrs
Mark & Jo in first, removed quite a few skips – using 2 people hauling as skips getting heavy! Then Leonie and Mike took over for a while and then Henry and Mark. Rest of us hauling and moving the spoil heap around for the evening. Probably moved a good 1.5tonnes, if not more from the dig and down by another 2-3ft. Now need a longer ladder as really at a point where we won’t get out easily if it gets levelled off completely at the bottom… Also need to work out how we deal with the hauling as currently 2 people walk away from the pulley but any further and they will fall down another hole!

Wednesday 22nd August

Mark Denning, Stu Lindsay and Tim Large arrived at 6pm and put a pulley and bolt in place on the floor to make hauling easier and stop the risk of pulling the A frame over and Mark also secured the legs better. The 3 of them did about 20 odd skips of spoil using Stu's new digging skip until Mark broke his spade. Shortly after than Estelle Sandford & James Begley arrived (fortunately with another spade which Estelle left in the car from last week) and digging recommenced. Trevor Hughes turned up with a freebie wheelbarrow he'd rescued from a skip and repaired and took Stu with him to Caine Hill while the rest of us carried on digging and hauling. Similar amount of spoil removed, guess around 80 buckets but with only 4 people, it really is relentless on the work involved! Lowered the dig by approx another 3ft and rescued a baby newt which was relocated to nearer the pond for safety.
Dig time 3hrs.