Eastwater Cavern is a cave near
Priddy in the limestone of the
Mendip Hills, in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
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, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
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England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is also known as Eastwater
Swallet.
It was first excavated in April 1902 by a team led by
Herbert E. Balch composed of paid labourers and volunteers from the
Wells Natural History Society. Progress was initially slow, but by February 1903 Balch and Willcox had discovered substantial passage, following the streamway down to the bottom of the cave. Dolphin Pot was dug in 1940 by the
Wessex Cave Club, with Primrose Pot following in 1950. West End series was the most recent significant discovery, in 1983.
On 28 August 1910 severe flooding rendered the boulder ruckles unstable, and the bottom of the cave was not reached again for another three years. The cavern was the site of a
fatal accident in 1960, when Alan Hartnell was hit by rock-fall. Several areas of the boulder chokes remain unstable.
Dolphin ladder pitch also suffered a rock fall and was blocked by a sofa-sized boulder in 1959, but the route was re-opened in 1966.
The water resurges at
Wookey Hole Caves
Wookey is a village and civil parish west of Wells, on the River Axe in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Henton and the nearby hamlets of Yarley and Bleadney where the River Axe travels the length ...
to the south, and below the cave entrance.
Description
The entrance proceeds through boulders towards the upper traverse, a wide bedding-plane angled 40 degrees downwards.
Further passage takes the caver downwards towards the canyon. The lower levels are accessed via pitches and climbs, including Primrose Pot, which at is one of the deepest vertical pitches on the Mendips.
See also
*
Caves of the Mendip Hills
The caves of the Mendip Hills are formed by the particular geology of the Mendip Hills: large areas of limestone worn away by water makes it a national centre for caving. The hills conceal the largest underground river system in Britain.
Geology ...
References
{{Mendip Hills
Caves of the Mendip Hills
Limestone caves