The netherworld of Mendip : $b explorations in the great caverns of Somerset, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and elsewhereBaker, Ernest A. (Ernest Albert)
Science
The netherworld of Mendip : $b explorations in the great caverns of Somerset, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and elsewhere
Baker, Ernest A. (Ernest Albert)
Caves; Mendip Hills (England)
It was now past three in the morning. Tired and battered to the point
of exhaustion, but delighted with an exploration that far exceeded
in interest all we had looked for, we returned to the cave mouth. An
unpleasant-looking bull which had with great suspicion watched us
make our nocturnal entry into the regions below had, greatly to our
relief, got tired of waiting, and the coast was clear. Out of the
everlasting silence and the shadows, lit so rarely by the glare of the
magnesium and the beams of the limelight, we returned again, with the
surprise that never fails, to the light of the heavens. Dusk was on
the far-extending moors and hills, daylight was creeping on over the
sky, a pair of larks saluted us with a hilarious song. Our driver was
soon awake at the little inn, two furlongs away, and in the freshness
of the morning we crawled down the break-neck road to Appletreewick,
Bolton Woods and the Wharfe growing in light before us; and then at an
exhilarating pace rolled up the dale to the Red Lion at Burnsall.
SWALLET-HUNTING IN DERBYSHIRE
"GIANT'S HOLE" AND "MANIFOLD"
Between Sparrowpit and the head of the Winnats the old road from
Chapel-en-le-Frith to Castleton skirts what is, geologically, one of
the most important localities in Derbyshire. It runs along the side
of a shallow upland valley, about 1200 feet above tide-level and two
miles long, which is bounded on two sides by the curve of Rushup Edge
and on the other two by Elden Hill, Windy Knoll, and other Limestone
acclivities. One of the great faults of the Pennine chain traverses
this valley longitudinally, the Yoredale strata having been thrown
down to the level of the Limestone, so that the middle of the valley
is the boundary between the Yoredale rocks, shale grits, and milestone
grit on the north, and the Limestone plateau of Mid-Derbyshire on the
south. The valley is completely encircled by higher ground; there
is no egress for streams on the surface. Accordingly other modes
of drainage are to be looked for, and they will be discovered in a
numerous series of swallets situated along the line of the fault, the
water that runs over the impervious shales perforating the Limestone
as soon as it comes in contact with it. This shallow valley, in fact,
is the gathering ground for the waters that pour into the abyss of
the Speedwell Cavern, traverse Peak Cavern, and make their way to the
open air at Russet Well and other springs at Castleton. That such is
the case has long been proved by observations of the temperature and
colour of the waters, and by tracing chaff and other things thrown into
the upland streams. But there exist hardly enough data to establish the
theory of the French speleologist, M. Martel, that Peak's Hole Water
comes from Perryfoot, and the water of Russet Well from Coalpit Mine,
near Sparrowpit. All that is definitely known is that these waters run
through the massive Limestone for distances varying from two to three
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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