Ireby Fell Cavern

Last updated

Ireby Fell Cavern
Ireby cave entrance.jpg
Looking north across entrance sink hole
Yorkshire Dales NP map-pre-2016.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Leck Fell, Lancashire, England
OS grid SD 6737 7734
Coordinates 54°11′27″N2°30′05″W / 54.190825°N 2.50149°W / 54.190825; -2.50149 Coordinates: 54°11′27″N2°30′05″W / 54.190825°N 2.50149°W / 54.190825; -2.50149
Depth128 metres (420 ft)
Length4,600 metres (15,100 ft)
Discovery1949
Geology Limestone
Entrances1
AccessFree [1]
Cave survey cavemaps.org
BRAC grade 4

Ireby Fell Cavern is a cave system on Ireby Fell, Lancashire, England, near the border with North Yorkshire. [2] It is a segment of the Three Counties System, linking the Rift Pot system to the south with Notts Pot to the north. [3]

Contents

This popular cave starts with a pitch series that eventually opens out into a very large series of dry sandy passages.

The entrance is a vertical concrete pipe at the bottom of a shakehole that was last shored up in 2006. [4] The traditional route is down three pitches (Ding, Dong, and Bell), but there are several alternative routes. All may become impassable in wet weather. After many metres of rift passage is Well Pitch which accesses the main lower sandy passages known as Duke Street.

At the far end of Duke Street is Whirlpool chamber where a short sump (not free-diveable) gave access to cave divers into further passages known as Ireby II.

Helictites in Ireby Fell Cavern CrippleCreek Helictites1.jpg
Helictites in Ireby Fell Cavern

In early 2007, a system involving a primitive hand pump [5] and a mud dam to temporarily retain the water in an artificial lake in Duke Street allowed non-divers to enter this part of the cave. [6] This facilitated the digging out of a passage in the roof of Whirlpool Chamber previously blocked by sand, to be dug out from both ends hence creating a bypass to the sump. [7]

Digging has also forged a dry bypass to the sump via the aptly named Cripple Creek.

History

The prominent depression of Ireby Fell was marked as "The Cavern" on the first (1847) issue of the Ordnance Survey maps, though the early explorers could see little justification for the name. Various digs were undertaken from 1932 onwards until in 1949 a small scar on the NW side of the shakehole gave access to a passage that reached the first pitch. [8] Much of the cave was explored and surveyed down to the sump at the end of Duke Street. The cave entrance then became blocked in 1953 until it was reopened in 1963. [9]

Related Research Articles

Cave Diving Group UK based cave diver training and certification agency

The Cave Diving Group (CDG) is a United Kingdom-based diver training organisation specialising in cave diving.

Marble Arch Caves Limestone caves in Northern Ireland

The Marble Arch Caves are a series of natural limestone caves located near the village of Florencecourt in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The caves are named after the nearby Marble Arch, a natural limestone arch at the upstream end of Cladagh Glen under which the Cladagh River flows. The caves are formed from three rivers draining off the northern slopes of Cuilcagh mountain, which combine underground to form the Cladagh. On the surface, the river emerges from the largest karst resurgence in Ireland, and one of the largest in the United Kingdom. At 11.5 kilometres (7.1 mi) the Marble Arch Caves form the longest known cave system in Northern Ireland, and the karst is considered to be among the finest in the British Isles.

Great Douk Cave Cave in North Yorkshire, England

Great Douk Cave is a shallow cave system lying beneath the limestone bench of Ingleborough in Chapel-le-Dale, North Yorkshire, England. It is popular with beginners and escorted groups, as it offers straightforward caving, and it is possible to follow the cave from where a stream emerges at a small waterfall to a second entrance close to where it sinks 600 yards (549 m) further up the hill. It lies within the Ingleborough Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Lost Johns Cave Cave in Lancashire, England

Lost Johns' Cave is an extensive cave system on Leck Fell, Lancashire, England. With its three major vertical routes it is a popular place to practise single-rope technique (SRT) because of the opportunity for exchange trips. Also it can be safely visited on wet days because many of the pitches can be rigged out of the water. It is an important part of the Three Counties System.

Simpson Pot Cave in North Yorkshire, England

Named after Eli Simpson, Simpson Pot is a limestone cave in West Kingsdale, North Yorkshire, England. It leads into Swinsto Cave and thence into Kingsdale Master Cave, and it is popular with cavers as it is possible to descend it by abseiling down the pitches, retrieving the rope each time, and exiting through Valley Entrance of Kingsdale Master Cave at the base of the hill. It is part of a 27-kilometre (17 mi) long cave system that drains both flanks of Kingsdale.

Langcliffe Pot

Langcliffe Pot is a cave system on the slopes of Great Whernside in Upper Wharfedale, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) SSE of Kettlewell in North Yorkshire. It is part of the Black Keld Site of Special Scientific Interest where the "underground drainage system which feeds the stream resurgence at Black Keld is one of the largest and deepest in Britain, although only a small proportion of its cave passages are accessible at present." Mossdale Caverns is also part of the Black Keld SSSI. Although a considerable length of passage has been explored in Langcliffe Pot, the current end is over 170 metres (560 ft) above the resurgence, and over 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) in distance. A trip to the far end has been described as "one of the most serious undertakings in British Caving".

Shannon Cave Cave in the island of Ireland that feeds Shannon Pot

Shannon Cave is an active stream passage cave which straddles the border of County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland and County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland.

Aquamole Pot Cave in North Yorkshire, England

Aquamole Pot is a limestone cave in West Kingsdale, North Yorkshire, England. It was originally discovered by cave divers who negotiated 168 metres (551 ft) of sump passage from Rowten Pot in 1974, to enter a high aven above the river passage. All subsequent major explorations were undertaken from below before an entrance was opened up from the surface. It is part of a 27-kilometre (17 mi) long cave system that drains both flanks of Kingsdale.

Ogof Dydd Byraf

Ogof Dydd Byraf is a cave which extends under Esclusham Mountain in north-east Wales from its entrance in the south face of the Minera Limeworks quarry. It was originally discovered and explored in 1964 by the Wrexham Caving Club, before they were merged into the North Wales Caving Club.

The Nidderdale Caves are a series of caves in Upper Nidderdale in North Yorkshire, England. There are two cave systems and most of the caves are in some way linked with one or the other. The smaller system is the Eglin cave system in the valley of How Stean Beck, a tributary of the River Nidd, associated with How Stean Gorge. The larger system is the Goyden cave system under the valley of the River Nidd, which flows east from Scar House Reservoir, then south, and shortly after disappears underground down several sink holes to reappear at the rising just beyond the village of Lofthouse. Cavers are able to access several sections of this system via the different entrances.

Short Drop Cave - Gavel Pot System

Short Drop Cave and Gavel Pot are different entrances into the same cave system on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. The main top entrance, Short Drop Cave, is a small hole in a fenced off shakehole near the main stream sink; Gavel Pot, a window into the system, is a large fenced shakehole some 40-metre (130 ft) deep requiring tackle to descend. There are two other smaller entrances into Short Drop Cave. At its base the system links via a sump with Lost Johns' Cave, and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87 kilometres (54 mi) cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Disappointment Pot

Disappointment Pot is one of the entrances to the Gaping Gill cave system, located in a steep grassy shakehole some 120 metres (130 yd) south-east of Gaping Gill Main Shaft. Its mainly narrow stream passage descends a number of small shafts to enter the main system as a major inlet of Hensler's Master Cave. It lies within the designated Ingleborough Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Stream Passage Pot

Stream Passage Pot is one of the entrances to the Gaping Gill system being located about 320 metres (350 yd) ESE of Gaping Gill Main Shaft. It is a popular and sporting entrance into the system, featuring three well-watered big shafts. It is the highest entrance of the Gaping Gill system, so the full depth of the system, 198 metres (650 ft), is measured from its entrance. It lies within the designated Ingleborough Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Deaths Head Hole Cave in Lancashire, England

Death's Head Hole is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. Its entrance is a 64-metre (210 ft) deep shaft. It leads into Lost Johns' Cave and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87-kilometre (54 mi) cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Lost Pot is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. It leads into the top end of Lost Johns' Cave, and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87 kilometres (54 mi) cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Boxhead Pot Cave in Lancashire, England

Boxhead Pot is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. It leads into the top end of Lost Johns' Cave, and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87 kilometres (54 mi) cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Long Drop Cave is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. It leads into Death's Head Hole, and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87-kilometre (54 mi) cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Three Counties System

The Three Counties System is a set of inter-connected limestone solutional cave systems spanning the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire in the north of England. The possibility of connecting a number of discrete cave systems in the area to create a single super-system that spans the county borders was first proposed by Dave Brook in 1968, and it was achieved in 2011. The system is currently over 86 kilometres (53 mi) long, making it the longest in the UK and the thirtieth longest in the world, and there continues to be scope for considerably extending the system.

Long Kin East Cave - Rift Pot System Cave system in North Yorkshire, England

The Long Kin East Cave - Rift Pot system is a limestone cave system on the southern flanks of Ingleborough, North Yorkshire in England lying within the designated Ingleborough Site of Special Scientific Interest. Long Kin East Cave starts as a long meandering stream passage but then plummets down a 58-metre (190 ft) deep shaft when it meets a shattered fault into which Rift Pot also descends. At the bottom, the stream flows through some low canals and sumps, to eventually emerge at Austwick Beck Head in Crummackdale.

References

  1. ↑ "CNCC Website – Caving Access: Three Counties System" . Retrieved 4 March 2008.
  2. ↑ Marshal, Des; Rust, Donald (1997). Selected Caves of Britain and Ireland. Leicester: Cordee. ISBN   1-871890-43-8.
  3. ↑ Pacey, Neil (August–September 2010). "Closing the Gap". Descent (215): 23–27. ISSN   0046-0036.
  4. ↑ Pickup, Jack (April–May 2006). "Ireby's rumoured collapse". Descent (189): 11. ISSN   0046-0036.
  5. ↑ Todd, Julian (12 July 2008). "Pumping the Sump in Ireby Fell Cavern (Video)".
  6. ↑ Wilson, Simon (April–May 2007). "Plumbing know-how breaks Ireby sump". Descent (195): 13. ISSN   0046-0036.
  7. ↑ anon (2008). "Sump 1 Bypass Opened – Ireby Fell".
  8. ↑ Atkinson, F. (1949). "The Cavern. Ireby Fell. Lancashire". Cave Science – A Quarterly Review of Speleology. Settle, BSA. II (9): 21–27.
  9. ↑ Reynolds, T. (1963). "Reopening the cavern – Ireby Fell". Northern Pennine Club.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.