Bagshawe Cavern - 28/02/2008

This trip for John Barnatt's Thursday group had been planned some time ago and would be one of the first organised groups to visit Bagshawe for some time. Since we expected too many cars for the car park the group had arranged to park in the village and share cars from there. I had heard from Bob D during the week that the area of ground next to the Cavern had been flattened but it wasn't until I arrived at 7:00 p.m. that it was obvious that our parking problems were solved. The car park is now huge and there's probably room for about 15 cars! John and group arrived and we changed and headed underground. They picked up many of the mine features that we're familiar with such as the Slickensides near the bottom of the entrance stope but also found some that we might not have noticed. We went through to the newly cleared mined section at the bottom of the steps and Terry pointed out a stemple high up in the roof that I'd not noticed before. From here we headed through the passage to Calypso's Cave. A group went to have a look in Calypso's Cave and we had a good look at the pick marks on the way in. When you look it's obvious that the pick has been swung from the inside out so it looks as though a small passage has been worked back towards the entrance at some stage either by lead miners or during the development of the showcave.

We headed upstream past the Cave of Worms and up to the Hippodrome where we stopped for Jon to take some photographs. There aren't that many good photographs of Bagshawe around so was nice to get someone in there who knows his way around a digital SLR! Continued on through the wet bit and into the Upper Stream Passage to have a look at the streamway before heading back to the Hippodrome. From here the group split with some coming straight back to the Dungeon with me whilst others went to explore down the Glory Hole passage. We arrived back at the Dungeon and rigged it for SRT and ladder. Just as people were abseiling down the pitch Sam and Dave arrived and Sam headed off into the Lower Series with the first group. Dave and I followed behind. We had a good look around the Lower Series before exiting back up the ladder and out.

An excellent trip and great to get a different perspective from various PDMHS members on a cave/mine that we know very well.

Click on the images above to enlarge.
1. On the way to The Dungeon. Photo by Jon Humble.
2. Matt and pickmarks at the entrance to Calypso's Cave. Photo by Jon Humble.
3. John Barnatt upstream of The Dungeon. Photo by Jon Humble.
4. John Barnatt and the pools upstream of The Dungeon. Photo by Jon Humble.
5. Jules Barrett in the Hippodrome. Photo by Jon Humble.
6. John Barnatt admiring flowstone upstream of the New Series Gate. Photo by Jon Humble.
7. Dave Cowley climbing down the ladder on The Dungeon pitch. Photo by Jon Humble.

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