Caving in the United Kingdom

The four major caving areas of the United Kingdom are in North Yorkshire, South Wales, Derbyshire, and Mendips. Minor areas include Devon, North Wales, and Grampian.

One of the oldest established clubs, Yorkshire Ramblers' Club, was founded in 1892.^[1]

Probably the first cave diving explorations in the world took place in Wookey Hole Caves in the 1930s using standard diving dress.

Due to the long and active history of caving, almost every entrance with surface access has been fully explored, so the majority of new discoveries take place underground after months and sometimes years of cave digging.

Notable recent discoveries since 1995 include Titan, the largest shaft in Britain, and Ogof Draenen, the second longest cave in Britain.

Many clubs run expeditions abroad, often to particular territories such as Matienzo or Picos.

Information resources

Many clubs hold extensive libraries recording decades of exploration in terms of surveys and logbooks, as well as newsletters, reports and books detailing the history of cave explorations both within their nearby areas and abroad on expeditions. Other information is in the form of extensive personal archives that have been bequeathed to the community.

Periodicals

• Descent (caving magazine which produces bimonthly issues
• Speleology (formerly Caves and Caving) the magazine of the BCRA.
• Some clubs publish journals which include details of their new explorations.

Libraries

The following libraries are open to club members as well as outside interested visitors.

• British Caving Library - funded by the BCRA and currently employing a part-time librarian
• Red Rose Caving and Pothole Club Library
• Craven Pothole Club
• UBSS library including museum
• South Wales Caving Club newsletters 1952-present
• Grampian Speleological Group library catalogue
• Northern Penine Club - archive material
• Cave Diving Group newsletters - (1950-present)
• Bradford Pothole Club
• Bristol Exploration Club bulletin (1953-present)
• Wessex Cave Club journals published since 1950
• U.C.E.T. - United Cavers Exploration Team (Also covers Mine Exploration - UK)
• Yorkshire Subterranean Society

Surveys

Cave surveys have historically been kept by the person who drew them (with the measurement data often lost), or deposited in a club library. They are not often published (except in reduced form in a guidebook) and can be difficult to obtain because there is no central catalogue listing who holds what.

There are a few projects which are attempting to assemble on-line maps and catalogues from repositories of surveys by overlaying them on satellite imagery:

• cavemaps.org - Yorkshire based
• BDCC Mendip map - Bracknell District Caving Club map

Guidebooks

The most widely referenced guidebooks for caving the UK are:

• "Northern Caves" in three volumes, most recent edition published 1998
• "Mendip Underground" published 1999

See also

• List of caves in the United Kingdom
• List of UK Caving fatalities
• British Caving Association
• Speleological Union of Ireland

References