YRC Caving Projects in the Yorkshire Dales

Ged Campion & Bruce Bensley

Over the last 12 months work has continued with enthusiasm.

Rosebay Pot, Newby Moss, was first descended on 23 April 1905, by the YRC (E.ABaker, H.Brodrick, J.H.Buckley, C.Hastings, C.A.Hill and P.Lamb), and more recently in the 1970’s the NPC extended the pot by enlarging the top of the 3rd pitch and descending to a sizeable fault chamber. Ged Campion and Alistair Reuton went to inspect the hole, the encouraging draft that appeared to ‘whistle’ around the top of the 3rd pitch. Further investigations by Shaun Penny and Ged revealed a narrow fissure at the bottom of the chamber descending to a squeeze and widening to a boulder choked chamber. At this point the draft became elusive, nevertheless, the boulder obstruction seemed worthy of further investigation. Could this be a way into the Newby Moss master cave? Compacted mud, sand and clay gave to a veiy large boulder that had to be removed by chemical persuasion. After a couple of weekends we were down 2m or so but in the process were undeiTnining a worrying looking hard packed mud wall. Discretion being the better part of valour we abandoned the site and pulled out the gear, including scaffold through the tight 3rd pitch opening. It was thought that the encouraging draft could have been disappearing in the direction of Cross Pot nearby.

Clapdale Dig Work has continued at the Clapdale dig, the large doline North of Clapdale Farm and west of Rayside Plantation. With considerable help from scaffold and shoring a depth of 10m has been reached. Unfortunately no outlet has been found yet despite the promise of a stream disappearing into the hillside from a considerable catchment area. The dig is directly in line with the Newby Moss fault. The stream has been positively tested to Moses Well. Work continues – any volunteers?

Catamite Hole

For a number of years members Ged, Brace, Graham Salmon, Alistair and Shaun have focused then attentions on the area between King Pot and Crescent Pot, in East Kingsdale. Despite a high concentration of shakeholes and various-digging attempts by clubs in the past, virtually no cave passage has been discovered. Approximately three years ago, Catamite Hole became the main focus of our efforts – a strong draught and the sound of a healthy stream beneath boulders seemed promising indicators. Much effort digging through loose boulders to a depth of eight metres was rewarded by a breakthrough into a fault chamber descending via two pitches to a small stream. The stream follows some low bedding to a large passage and eventually ends in an impenetrable slot – where the stream flows tantalisingly on.

The upstream of the cave is decorated and bifurcates to a number of inlets. The cave goes someway to explaining the drainage of the surrounding area. Short Cave, Little Demon Pot and Thunder Thighs Hole would appear to be feeder streams. Certain sections of the cave a number of dangerous loose boulders, and the lower passages have a potential to flood in wet weather. To date 200m of passage have been discovered and hopefully there is more. A full report on this discovery will follow.