northernboggarts.org.uk
Home Page
Website last updated 12 April 2018
10 April 2018
Bog Brown in Thistle Cave
Meriel Woodward in Sand Cavern, Gaping Gill
20 May 2017
Graham Owens on the big pitch in Bar Pot
18 March 2017
Fred Rattray in Runsar Cave
3 March 2017
Well equipped cave diver/digger Kevin Gannon at the entrance of Dob Dale Cave on 3 March. Since Dave Ryall's successful dive into Dob Dale II in June 2009 the way through has been partly blocked with sediment. Kevin tried to clear it with a rake but the mud slumped back. Removing with a bucket while Bog raked it away was more successful but it needs a longer stint with more manpower and a warmer temperature.
February 23
We expected heavy rain but the forecast was wrong and Hull Pot was unspectacuar. John McKay's aerial video is worth watching though.
February 21 2017
Pete Monk with a novel tool for clearing mud from the inlet passage at the Mincemeat Aven rising sump. In the event we didn't use it. We spent the day trying to gain lost ground as nature tries to regain its hold on the passage we are digging out. We haven't actually made any progress for some time now
February 15 2017
Jacob Frankland in a well known cave in the Yorkshire Dales, but where?
December 31 2016
Jacob Frankland in Upper Long Churn
December 21 2016
Winter Solstice at Jubilee Cave
October 12 2016
Andy Farrow lifelining on the Dolly Tubs pitch, Lower Long Churn
May 25 2016
Wendy Thorp enjoying the weather at the Haggs Brow excavations
21 May 2016
Graham Owen at the top of the last pitch in Bar Pot.
23 April 2016
Pete Bann in Great Douk on the day of our AGM
13 January 2016
Richard Bendall at the start of Notts II Inlet 6.5¾ on January 6 2016. The excavated passages of Inlets 6.5¾ were inundated during the floods and the sides have collapsed dramatically. Both inlets are now blocked part way in. Click on the picture to see the video.
26 September 2015
Kevin Gannon in Dob Dale Cave after returning from the sump. Kevin is planning a dive in Dob Dale and wanted to check out a few things beforehand.
26 July 2015
Tim Sullivan wall repariing at Yordas Wood, Conservation Day, 1 July 2015
10 June 2015
BPC members Jimmy and Fred Rattray in radio contact between GG Sand Caverns and the surface. They've finally cracked it but there is more work before it becomes possible with affordalbe apparatus
30 April 2015
A broken millstone on the side of Ingelborough. Inspired by the work of the Ingleborough Archaeology Group's survey of the western flank of Ingleborough we went looking for millstones and signs of stone working.
See the pictures in the Photo Gallery
18 April 2015
John Dixon Memorial Walk
I got to know John Dixon after reading a very interesting little snippet in The Forest of Bowland, Ribchester & Hurst Green, Ribble Valley and Pendleside: “During recent [April/May 2004] pipe-laying operations, that necessitated boring under the river at Brungerley, a very large cave was discovered on the Clitheroe side of the Ribble below Moorlands School at a point known as ‘dangerous corner’. So large was the void that the pipeline had to be diverted for suspension reasons. Could this be the ‘lost’” Hermits Cave where once King Henry hid?”.
The Boggarts went to great lengths to discover where this cave had actually been found, but whatever opening had once been unearthed was now well and truly filled in.
I subsequently talked to John on a number of occasions about other caves and mines in the area and he was always most generous with his information. He knew obscure little places he had noted in his wanderings and was always willing to share. His writings are full of local history with a smattering of archaeology but mainly it was the people interest and not the sites themselves that he wanted to capture.
John died in 2012 and, today, upwards of 80 people came to walk round Houghton Bottoms – close to where he spent his youth – to remember John and pay tribute to him for the wealth of information he shared with us on his walks and in his books.
See the photos in the photo gallery
http://northernboggarts.org.uk/gallery/category/239-2015-04-18-dixon-memorial-walk
Bog
29 March 2015
Draining a sump somewhere in the Dales on March 25
1 March 2015
Graham Owen, a blind caver in Yordas Pot on 6 February. Click on the picture to see the video
12 January 2015
Latest Boggarts newsletter now available in the newsletter archive.
18 December
John Cooper in Gunnerfleet Cave (Lower) on 17 December. The large soft red stalactite in Gunnerfleet Upper is all but gone. The trouble with removing rubbish and making caves accessible is that people go in and destroy the formations.
Little Green Men widening and deeping the stream as part of the Natural England/CNCC conservation exercise to restore the entrance to Providence Pot.
25 November
Hauling a dead sheep out of Marble Steps Pot on 6 November. The sheep was well down the gulley and threatening to make things very unpleasnt for cavers if not removed quickly.
6 November
James Hillsdon in Upper Long Churn Cave on October 29
9 October
Rachel Harper in Kingsdale last Tuesday after an interesting filming session in Yordas Cave
20 September
Bog Brown in Goyden Pot on September 20. It is still possible to get into the Goyden streamway but avoid the Main Chamber route which is still very dangerous and liable to collapse.
10 September
Natural England volunteers clearing rubbish from Daimler Hole on 5 September
3 September
Pete Monk near the top of Stac Pollaidh on 28 August
7 August
Fred Rattray's selfie in Crackpot Cave on 31 July
28 July
Sue Martin and Kath Rigg in Selside Cave on Saturday 26th July. Selside is one of a number of very interesting, if little visited caves, in the Alum Pot area. Selside Cave is a little gem.
19 July
Boggarts in Porters Gate Coal Levels on 16 July
28 June
Tim Sullivan admires the hoppers in Carrock Mine on 24 June. The mine was an important source of tungsten in the early years of the 20th century and was also worked more recenlty until the 1980s.
16 June
Pete Metcalfe nar the top of the magnificent last pitch in Aquamole Pot last Saturday.
2 June
Gerry Myers exiting the top of the first pitch in Wades Entrance on 23 May. It was Gerry's first caving trip in 2 years and he thought that Stream Passage Pot to Wades Entrance would be a good reintroduction.
17 May, BPC at GG
Fred knows the sun has come out at last but Tim thinks it's still raining
7 May
A pipistrelle rescued from a stream at Malham Cove on Bank Holiday Monday and taken to the RSPB people protecting the peregrine falcons. A bat expert was called in who took it away to try and nurture it back to health.
28 April
Pete Metcalfe at Bull Pot on April 26
22 April
Kay Easton in Scoska Cave, Sunday 20 April
1 April
See Tim Allen’s article about Open Access in the latest edition of Descent. Do we really want Open Access for cavers? The permit system works well and CNCC are improving communication about it. Do we want a bigger tangle of ropes on Lancaster Hole, more erosion on the fells with more cavers using the quickest and most vulnerable routes to the caves, more damage to delicate formations and sediments, more secret caves because the finders fear for what will happen if access isn’t controlled? Who would actually benefit from Open Access? Responsible cavers already have as much access as they want.
March 28
Ged Benn digging a new lead in Notts II today
March 26
Andy Farrow at the start of the Manchester Bypass in County Pot, Saturday 15 March
16 March 2014
Northern Boggarts held its 32nd AGM last night.
Times have changed since then and the picture above was taken at an early family meet to Calf Holes on 2 October 1982.
2 March 2014
Andy Farrow at Inlet 5.1 Notts II. Both Inlet 5.1 are Inlet 8 are getting problematic but still we carry on. Look in Digs in Boggart Youtubes for the latest videos
22 February 2014
Boggarts have been down at Box Mine near Bath - all easy walking and scrambling but interesting with many artifacts, ex MOD areas and a nice picture of a donkey. Ken Geddes’s picture above nearly won a prize in a local photographic competition. There is the chance of another trip down there on 8 March. Follow the link to see what it is like down there.
http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/box-mine/
6 February 2014
Pete Monk in Ashnott mine on July 6th 1963 and in the same place more recently - well not that recently - July 16th 2009. At long last the description and survey of our 2009 explorations are complete. Follow the link.
http://northernboggarts.org.uk/images/stories/Newsletters/Ashnottdescriptionwithphotos.pdf
18 January 2014
When we arrived at Inlet 5.1 in Notts II yesterday the collapse was even bigger. Are we digging underneath a surface shaft?
9 January 2014
Descending a mine shaft near Ben Scar on 8 January. See more pictures in the Photo Gallery