Cave Exploration

New Ground In Reyfad, Co. Fermanagh

by T. W. Salmon

Reyfad Pot was discovered and named by E. E. Roberts in 1939, but no descent was made in that year.

“On the first Friday I drove up to Noon’s Hole, walked to Pollanaffrin, and outside the intake above the upper farm found a definite possibility, a stream cave close under the surface. Then I climbed on to the main platform to the south and viewed a shallow basin where a swallet was marked on the map. There was no stream into it, but rocks and bushes spoke at once of a pot-hole. As I was rejoicing over my discovery one of the men busy all round cutting peat came to look at a stranger. He had no name for it, so being just inside Reyfad townland, Reyfad Pot it must be.”
E.E.Roberts, Y.R.C.J.,Vol.VII,No.24,p. 151.

The Y.R.C. Irish meet at Whitsuntide 1948 made Reyfad their first objective; an attack in 1947 had been repelled by heavy surface water (Y.R.C.J., Vol. VII, No. 25, pp. 236 and 266). In 1948 Godley, Marsden and J. A. Holmes descended the main shaft to a boulder floor 230 ft. below moor level; they left unexplored a rat-hole in this floor which descended for 6 ft. and where there were indications of a possible further 50 ft. Reyfad was thus established as the second really deep pot-hole found in Ireland.

At the Club’s Whitsuntide meet in 1959 a party went down Noon’s Hole to a depth of 322 ft., and as the tackle was being withdrawn and laid out to dry, hints were dropped about another pot quite near, having an equally large shaft which had only been bottomed once. But it was too late to find Reyfad then, let alone bottom it.

1960. Whitsuntide saw a small party festooned with tackle toiling upwards towards what their guide, a young Irishman from the nearby farm, described as a very large sumera. On arrival one of the party immediately recognised the hole as Reyfad. There were two possible entrances, but it was doubtful as to which was the safer one to use. A cursory examination of the northern entrance was made but it was found to be terribly loose and quite unsafe. One man went into the southern entrance (marked ‘A’ on the section) and decided that, although it was not ideal, gardening would produce a reasonable stance for a lifeline party.

Work now began in earnest with men joining ladders, hammering in stakes and preparing lifelines. When everything was ready two men went down to a large ledge, ‘B’, to handle the lifelines. A third man, on reaching the ledge, tied on to the main lifeline and started down; at 100 ft. he found all the ladders piled on to a ledge, ‘C, but after that there were no more hold-ups until the bottom, ‘D’. The first 30 ft. below the ledge ‘B’ was rather trying due to large pieces of rough sharp rock protruding from the limestone walls; these snagged clothes and were generally unpleasant. At the 100 ft. ledge ‘C the shaft begins to narrow and for about 20 ft. the ladder can be climbed with one’s back against the wall. The last 70 ft. is without ledges and the shaft opens out again to between 12 and 15 ft.

Stones loosened by the second man down were seen to disappear through the boulder-jammed floor and were heard coming to rest at a lower level. Huge boulders on the floor were moved and piled into a convenient recess and after about 20 minutes of hard work a triangular shaped slot 18 inches long and 12 inches wide at one end was opened up at ‘D’. Was this the key to a new system?

Although nothing could be seen below, there was quite a draught. A man was lowered head first and his groping hands dislodged a rock which fell over a lower ledge and went banging and booming down a shaft, ‘E’. He was hauled back and a message sent to the surface that more ladders and lifeline were needed.

A third man came down with the tackle which was attached to the end of the main ladder. To get through the slot meant twisting one’s legs to an angle of 90° to the right. The first man through found himself sitting on the lip of an almost circular shaft. An easy 30 ft. finished at a ledge, ‘E’, from which it was possible to look out into a huge cavern; it was difficult to estimate its size as the headlamp was far too small for its light to penetrate far into the gloom.

One man, Lovett, reached the floor, 80 ft. below the slot at ‘D’, and untied for 10 minutes to reconnoitre. After what seemed an eternity to those waiting at ‘D’, two whistle blasts sounded, the lifeline was taken in and a face appeared at the slot with a grin which obviously spoke of an unexplored system to be tackled and the need for more men. It was an excited party that drove back to Killesher and spent the evening making plans for an early start the next day. It was decided to put two men into the new cavern, two on the 200 ft. ledge at ‘D’ another two at the 20 ft. ledge, ‘B’, while the remaining two stayed on the surface. The party was scarcely large enough.

In spite of an early start it was 11 o’clock before the descent could be started. The first man took the telephone down to the 200 ft. ledge and was soon joined by three others. Two remained at the ledge while the other two went down into the new cavern. To the north the cavern was blocked by a series of gigantic cascades; to the south absolute darkness hid the route to be followed.

The time below was very limited, the party of two started out heading southwards from the point ‘F’ on the plan. The route ran along the cavern between huge boulders and over high banks of crevassed mud, climbing high into the roof in places, then down again following a little stream which meandered along the cavern floor. At one point was a high bank of age-old mud which in drying had cracked into deep crevasses, some of which were as much as 6 inches wide. Looking back from the top of this bank a marker candle could be seen burning in the far distance.

From this point a high bowl of sand was entered at the point marked ‘G’ on the plan. The stream passage went out from this bowl and it was decided to leave the main cavern and follow this. The reason for this was that it was known that the party had come down through 300 ft. of limestone and that there could still be 300 ft. more of it below. If it were possible to get into the system of lower passages which might exist, it would be necessary to follow the water down and the stream offered a likely outlet. Unfortunately, after following the stream passage for about 120 yards, it was blocked by an impenetrable boulder jam. This was the limit of the 1960 exploration of Reyfad.

It was obvious that this pot had to be visited again. Reyfad lies in a deep band of limestone and it is quite possible that Reyfad, Pollanaffrin and Noon’s Hole could all lie in the same fault and together join into a huge system whose water debouches at Arch Cave. The engulfment of Reyfad is on the f,000 ft. contour, Noon’s Hole on the 700 ft. contour and Arch Cave on the 400 ft. contour, the total difference in level being 600 ft. What a superb system it would be if these three could be linked up.

1962. On Whit Sunday a party of eighteen arrived at the camp site on Mr. Barbour’s land by the River Cladagh, ready for a forceful assault on Reyfad. Tackle was taken up to the pot that evening and all ladders joined. The plan was for 4 men to go down into the main cavern, two more would stay at the 200 ft. ledge while the remainder stayed on the surface, ready to go to the 20 ft. ledge ‘B’ to help with the lifelines.

Although the weather was not too good, everybody was away to an early start on the Monday. At the pot all went smoothly and a man was lowered to the 200 ft. ledge running out the telephone wire as he went. On getting there he found that the next pitch, the slot at ‘D\ was once again blocked. The telephone makes pot-holing much more simple; soon a second man was down to help in excavation and two more followed, still leaving two at the 200 ft. ledge.

The exploration party went straight on past ‘G’, the furthest point reached in the main cavern in 1960, climbed to a high point between ‘G’ and ‘H’ and went on towards point ‘J’. On the way, at T, they noticed the passage on their right which was later named the “North West”. Here they split into two parties, two men exploring the holes in the floor at T while the other two went along the North West as far as point ‘M’. On reaching ‘M’ they returned to the others and it was decided that they would explore a stream passage ‘W’, found that morning whilst waiting for the full complement to descend the main pitch.

The stream passage was quite narrow for the first few yards, then it opened out to 10 ft. wide and a considerable height. After about 100 yards came a boulder choke, quite easy to pass, but then the passage became narrow and the water deepened to 3 ft. Some distance on came another boulder jam; at this point two men waited while the other two went on. Through the boulder jam was a large chamber full of fallen rocks, beyond this, still following the stream, the passage became quite low for a time and then widened into another large chamber. Once again this was not examined but the stream was followed through a mass of fallen boulders until it ran into a passage very similar to the main stream passage in Oxford Pot, Easegill. It was then time to go back, the last man arrived on the moor at 10 p.m.

On the Wednesday six men went down to the main cavern where they split into two parties of three, one to survey, the other to try and push through downstream from point ‘J’ and get past the boulder choke. The method of survey was to run out a 100 ft. chain, take a compass reading and sketch the section of the passage, then on another 100 ft. and repeat. The two parties joined up for lunch at ‘H’ and the survey party then worked along the North West passage and into new ground. The terrain varied between mud banks and long sand slopes. At point ‘M’ the passage was quite high and wide but by point ‘O’ it had changed into a sloping rift some 2 ft. wide and at an angle of about 30° to the horizontal. If anything was sent rolling down it could be heard splashing into deep water. At point ‘N’ the survey ended and the party went back to join the others who had been laddering deep holes all over the area marked ‘K’, but without a break through. A hole at ‘J’ was laddered but only went down into the stream passage explored in 1960.

Meanwhile two men went to have another look along the North West passage. At point ‘L’ they noticed footprints, left by the surveyors, going up a steep sandbank. The footprints stopped at the top but the two men went on, now on mud with the roof getting rapidly lower. After crawling quite a long way they reached the chamber ‘R’ and there turned back for support. It was getting late so it was decided that two men should start back towards the surface and if possible be up the first pitch by the time the others returned. The rest, now getting the feel of the place, took only a few minutes to get from point T to point ‘Q’, whence they again crawled over the smooth black mud to the chamber ‘R’, after which it was possible to walk upright.

It was difficult to assess the width and length of the chamber but it may have been 100 ft. or more; it had quite a low roof, perhaps 10 to 15 ft. above the floor of hard mud. There was a channel through the mud, leading to point ‘S’ where the walls closed in and the floor dropped away rather steeply; after this it levelled off and the walls opened again to form another wide chamber, ‘T’. The passage beyond ‘T’ once again started to narrow and climb upwards. By point ‘U’ the mud had changed to a grey colour and had become very glutinous. Finally the passage narrowed right down until it was only about 3 ft. wide at ‘V where it ended in a shaft going upwards. This was climbed for about 20 ft. but the route then became rather difficult. The survey of this section of Reyfad shows quite large chambers; the lengths of these were measured by counting strides, the direction by compass bearing; the widths, however, were simple estimates and are thus not very reliable.

From here the story is of orderly withdrawal with everything going smoothly. The telephones were of tremendous value throughout the exploration and a great morale booster. Four telephones were in the circuit and four-way conversations were often in progress. It was good to know on starting to climb the 200 ft. pitch that water for tea would be boiling and that the sky had cleared for a pleasant evening.

Reyfad has by no means revealed all, but has only opened up new avenues for speculation and exploration. The main cavern does not in fact run towards Noon’s Hole which is due north of Reyfad, but in the opposite direction. If it is possible to by-pass the huge boulder jam and cascade which blocks the northern end of the cavern a route to Noon’s Hole may yet be found. Roberts was convinced that the area around Reyfad and Noon’s Hole was one where large systems would be found and in Reyfad the exploration has seen only a small part of a large system. The way to Noon’s Hole may well be up the stream passage marked ‘W on the plan, but the possibilities are endless and must remain speculative until the next visit which, if the enthusiasm shown bears fruit, will not be far into the future.

La Speleologie En France En 1961

by Robert de Joly

[Monsieur Robert de Joly, Founder President of the Societe Speleologique de France and an Honorary Member of the Y.R.C. has sent the Editor the following resume of cave exploration in France in 1961]

In our country more than 500 pot-holers are devoting themselves to research underground. Some of them show remarkable persistence in carrying out, under difficult conditions, delicate exploration requiring removal of obstructions or dangerous diving. Some holes are thus found to be much more important than had been thought and complex hydrological systems are being discovered.

Ardèche. A Franco-Belgian group continued its exploration of the Goule de Fossoubie, where Martel did some work years ago and where in 1934 I got as far as a lake making a tangent with the roof and where a draught allowed one to presume a continuation. After several years of pushing forward, a system 11 Km. long has been opened up. Erosion is very active; the water issues upstream from the Pont d’Arc.

At Vallon, in this Department, a school of speleology has been set up by the Commissariat des Sports with the object of training leaders qualified to take charge of parties and so to protect people from the dangers normally met with on underground excursions. A large number of pupils attend each year.

Isère. The opening up by Pierre Chevalier of the huge Trou du Glaz system is a recent memory^[1] Martel had also been into it. We ourselves in 1933 made some progress in this great cavity and found, by using fluorescein, the point at which the water came out of Guyers Mort. The Lyon Speleo Club have just discovered new passages intersected by pot-holes. The sub-glacial effluent water, probably in the ‘Wurmian’, has perforated these secondary limestones at all depths and in all directions.
 
Alpes Mantimes. On Mont Marguareis, near the Italian frontier, a new ice cave has been discovered, again the result of sub-glacial erosion. The water flows towards the Italian valleys 600 to 700 metres lower down.

Pyrenées. Norbert Casteret has been directing groups of young people towards the hydrological openings which he prospected some time ago, with the object of rounding off these explorations.

An attempt was made at Gouffre Pierre to join up the resurgence of the Goueil di Her, which we prospected together in 1931. As yet no connection has ever been made between the upper feed system and the resurgence, despite a descent of 550 metres.

In the Massif du Marbore there has been a noticeable diminution in the quantity of ice in the caves, in spite of the altitude. We are in a period of glacial regression which affects the whole of Europe. I found the same thing in the Eisriesen-welt, Tennengebirge, Austria, in 1955.^[2]

A Franco-Spanish team has made a new incursion into Pierre St. Martin and after a laddered descent of 110 metres has found descending passages, one of which was active. Elec-tricite de France have driven an access tunnel in this cave to capture water, this avoids an almost vertical descent of 340 metres.

Basses Pyrenées. The Speleo Club of Perigueux has continued its study of Quebe de Cotche, near Eaux Bonnes. Having put in dye at 2,100 metres they were surprised to find that two risings were coloured, one at 1,200 metres and the other at 1,550 metres, thus 900 m. and 550 m. difference in level. This shows once again that it is impossible to guess where water seen in a cave is going to come out. Some incredible percolations exist; a proof of this is a recent colouring of the Gard near Pompignan, which reappeared in the Lez (the water supply for the town of Montpellier) more than 25 Km. away as the crow flies. The geology of the district indicated such a course to be virtually impossible.

Meurthe et Moselle. The Speleological Association of Haute Marne, after squeezing through a fissure in a quarry, found a succession of passages crossing and recrossing in all directions, of total length 1,200 metres, and with 30 metres difference between the highest and lowest points. This was the Grotte de Chaos, it must be an old swallow hole in the right bank of the Moselle. According to certain writers there may be a connection between these swallow holes and the capture of the Moselle by the Meurthe.

Sport and Science.  Some think that speleology is just a sport; that is a mistake. The Sport is subservient to the Science, it is but a means, not an end.

Scientific Research, thanks to the initiative of Professor Jeannel, has provided searchers in all branches of the science with the means of working under excellent conditions by installing an underground laboratory at Moulis, directed by Professor Vandel of the University of Toulouse. It is actually an Institute of Karstology, with facilities for the study of fauna, meteorology and seismology. The assistant director is Monsieur V. Caumartin of the University of Lille who, with an electron microscope, discovered the bacteria, Perabacterium Spelei, which live in clays and concretions and which assimilate ferric salts transforming them into ferrous compounds, thereby giving the red colour to ‘dead’ concretions, that is, those which receive no water.

In brief, hundreds of explorations were made last year, speleology is by no means dead! If the pioneers, Boegan and Martel were to come back now, they would be proud to see how the Science has expanded.

(Translated from the French by the Editor.)

Cave Abstracts

by The Editor

GREAT BRITAIN

Cave Study Centre in Devon. The Pengelly Cave Research Centre, named after William Pengelly, the excavator of Kent’s Cavern, is to be set up at Higher Kiln Quarry, Buckfastleigh. Two stone barns at the quarry are to be converted into a museum, lecture theatre and sleeping quarters; new buildings are to house research laboratories, kitchen and dining room. This is an amateur venture, thus differing from similar labora-ties on the Continent, and an appeal for funds and amateur labour has been launched. The Centre will be actively concerned with conservation and education, aiming to check the rate of wanton destruction by thoughtless pot-holers, with the teaching of the principles of good caving to the younger generation, as well as with research on the flora and fauna, past and present, to be found in caves.

BELGIUM

Grottes de Han, Ardennes. Underground Laboratory, 1961. At the beginning of 1960 the Federation Speleologique de Belgique installed an underground laboratory in the Galerie de la Grande Fontaine of the Grotte de Han-sur-Lesse, in the Ardennes, for the study of all phenomena, biological and geological, occurring in caves. The results of two years’ work have been published in well produced and well illustrated Annates, Tome I, 1960 and Tome II, Part I, 1961. The papers deal with fungi, spiders, concretions on slime, snails, the speed of growth of straw stalactites, modern methods used in prehistoric archaeology, and a detailed account of the survey of the Grotte de Hotton. Copies of Annales are in the Y.R.C. library.

Grotte Wuinant, Liege Province, 1961. A stone dropped at a venture through a fissure at the bottom of this 10 metre deep cave was heard to ricochet again and again and finally to splash. Investigation revealed a system descending a further 35 metres to a stream and containing some fine concretions and layers of coloured calcite.

Grotte Bebronne, Andrimont, 1959. New sections, about 1,000 metres in extent were surveyed and mapped by the Institut Vervietois de Speleologie.

Trous des Nutons—Bois de Villers, 1959. Several hundred metres of new passages discovered by Les Fourmis of Verviers and the Speleo Club d’Andenne. Originally thought to be uninteresting, wet and muddy, removal of a clay plug opened up more than 300 metres of new passages with stalactite formations and a magnificent organ. A very high chamber was climbed and at 145 ft. above floor level a passage was found too narrow to be followed.

Grottes de Han, 1960. The Brussels Diving Group, after penetrating a second siphon, discovered f,000 metres of new passages to the south, but were not able to determine the actual underground course of the Lesse.

FRANCE

Grotte de St. Marcel, Ardèche, 1960/61. This cave was originally discovered in 1838 by a hunter looking for a lost ferret. It was first explored in 1892 by E. A. Martel (Hon. Member Y.R.C. 1905—1938) who found 4,000 metres of passages, and again in 1933 by R. de Joly who added another 1,000 metres and found further progress blocked by a large concretion. In 1947 de Joly, with the help of French Sappers, blew up the concretion and penetrated to a total distance of about 7,500 metres. L’Equipe Speleo de Bruxelles visited the cave for a fortnight in 1960; they found a new small chamber at 4,000 metres from the entrance, they noted many cracks where air currents indicated possible new systems and they surveyed some 1,000 metres of passages at the bottom of the cave. In July 1961 the E.S.B. sent in assault groups equipped with a boring machine to enlarge a crack where they had carried out soundings. With the help of this machine and a quantity of dynamite they made a tunnel five metres long at a downward angle of 45° and discovered three pot-holes about 15 metres deep. They intend to go back in 1962 and try to break the secret of an unknown but suspected lower system.

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