Pollatoomary is the deepest explored underwater

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It has been explored to an underwater depth of . The explored limit of Pollatoomary is also deeper underwater than that of the terminal

sump A sump is a low space that collects often undesirable liquids such as water or chemicals. A sump can also be an infiltration basin used to manage surface runoff water and recharge underground aquifers. Sump can also refer to an area in a cave ...

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 of ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

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 ...

, which previously held the record for the deepest underwater cave in Britain and Ireland.

Location

The cave is located in the

Partry Mountains The Partry Mountains ( ga, Sliabh Phartraí) is a mountain range in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland. Geography The highest peak in the Partry Mountains is Maumtrasna which rises to (682m / 2,238ft). The mountain range overlooks Lough M ...

in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

of Bellaburke near

Killavally Killawalla or Killavally () is a village located in County Mayo, Ireland, seven miles (10 km) from Westport on the R330 road to Ballinrobe. Saint Patrick is alleged to have passed this way en route to Croagh Patrick, and accordingly the lo ...

, Westport,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, where the Aille River reemerges, having gone underground at Aille caves some away. The cave entrance is on privately owned farmland.

Exploration

J. C. Coleman John Cristopher "Jack" Coleman (1914–1971) was a respected Irish geographer, archaeologist, speleologist and mountaineer. He devoted much of his life to the study of the caves of Ireland, the product of which were his many contributions to sc ...

's 1965 compendium, ''The Caves of Ireland'', states: "Pollatoomary Rising ... thought to be the rising of the Aille water. The water rises through fissures in the limestone." The cave was first explored in 1978 by

cave diver Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...

Martyn Farr Martyn Farr (born Crickhowell, Wales, March 3, 1951) is a leading exploratory cave diver and caver, known for his record-breaking cave dives and the exploration of many miles of previously undiscovered underground passages (e.g. in Ogof y Daren Ci ...

, who dived it to a depth of . At the time, this made it the deepest known

in Ireland, and by 1985 it still held second place. 30 years after Farr's first exploration, one of his students, Artur Kozłowski, began to concentrate his efforts on the cave. In May 2008 Kozłowski explored Pollatoomary to an underwater depth of , then on 5–6 July 2008, he reached underwater. This made it the deepest sump in Ireland by far, and additionally it surpassed the British cave diving depth record. Pollatoomary was entered again on 9 June 2018 by

Michał Marek Michał Marek (20 January 1983 – 12 May 2019) was a Polish cave diver who spent his last years in Ireland. As of May 2019, he holds the record for the deepest cave dive in Ireland at a depth of . Life and speleological career Marek was born in ...

, who explored the cave to underwater.

References

Caves of the Republic of Ireland {{mayo-geo-stub