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)
An abrupt cliff walls in the hollow on the Limestone
side, only a few paces from which are naked patches of Yoredale rocks,
clearly defining the boundary of the two series.
We now came to one of the most interesting openings that we have met
with. It lies about 200 yards north of Bull Pit. As often happens,
immediately above the swallet, in the Limestone, is a deep chasm almost
perforating the escarpment. At the base of the escarpment is a rounded
archway with a turbulent stream running in. After securing a photograph
we enter, and make our way down stream easily for a little distance;
then the cave twists and narrows, and at a distance of 40 feet or so
we are disappointed to find the channel too confined for us to force
our way farther. Outside we had observed that the basin-shaped area
had been flooded not long ago, and inside the vegetable débris that
was plastered over the walls and roof showed that the swallet must
have been completely choked during the recent wet weather. But the
peculiarity of this swallet was that the solid mass of rock through
which the stream had carved its way was not ordinary Limestone, but
beautifully veined and crystalline like marble, and its surface smooth
and polished. It had very much the same appearance as the marmorised
Limestone found in the neighbourhood of intrusive lavas, such as those
near Tideswell. By the action of the water it had been sculptured into
fantastic shapes; in one place a corner had been cut through and a
small pillar left, joined to the rock at top and bottom. We scrambled
with some difficulty into the chasm behind the swallet. At the bottom,
on the same side as the existing swallet, was the broad and lofty arch
of a cave, which went only a few yards in, otherwise it would have
broken through the escarpment. Right above the keystone of the arch was
a weathered group of stalactites hanging from a ledge, and under them
the broken stalagmite floor of a tiny grotto. It is a rare thing to
find such deposits in the open air, and doubtless it indicates that the
chasm was formed by the destruction of a larger cave. A thick deposit
of earthy mud covered the floor, and at one side a big hole penetrated
this to a depth of six feet, the work of a stream that had perhaps not
run for ages. This deposit, though dry, was so soft that I nearly sank
through into the hole. We found four birds' nests in this cave mouth,
with eggs and young in them, and were disappointed not to come across
the egg of a cuckoo that flew out the moment before we entered. In the
wiry grass not far away from the top of the cavity we discovered a
lark's nest with two eggs in it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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