Gothic in its suggestiveness. Two low arches at either side form
the portals, far above which a series of pointed arches spring to a
height of 70 feet, their summits converging in a polygonal cleft, like
the lantern of some cathedral dome. Then we make our way across the
sandbanks, between the pools, into the largest chamber of all, with a
roof of enormous span, whose breadth dwarfs its height, arching over
the sleeping river and the broad slopes of sand, whereon grotesque
Limestone monoliths take the likeness of prehistoric monsters sleeping
by the waterside. Through the clear water we can discern a submerged
arch communicating with more distant caverns. There is a tradition,
coming down from the mediæval historians, that unfathomable lakes lie
behind the barrier. This is probably true in so far as it points to the
existence of enormous reservoirs of water beyond the accessible parts
of Wookey Hole, the theory being confirmed by the behaviour of the silt
at flood time. Were the hatches belonging to the paper-mill opened,
and the water lowered a few feet, an attempt might be made to solve
these problems. Mr. Balch did, in fact, at a time when the water was
partially lowered, make his way into two unexplored chambers, fed by
tunnels submerged a foot or so below the surface.
[Illustration: SECOND GREAT CHAMBER, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Dawkes & Partridge, Wells._]
[Illustration: ENTRANCE OF THIRD CHAMBER, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Dawkes & Partridge, Wells._]
The older and the newer caves and passages of Wookey Hole lie at five
levels, one above the other like five storeys, the topmost of all
representing the oldest channel of the subterranean Axe, which has
in the course of ages forsaken first one and then the other, boring
fresh passages in the Conglomerate. Of these five storeys, one alone,
the nethermost, is known to the uninitiated visitor. Portions of the
other four had been explored from time to time by Mr. Balch, who in
1903 made such discoveries of unknown continuations as fill us with
hopes of penetrating deeply into the mysterious region beyond. Climbing
into the Upper Series from a spot near the threshold of the Witch's
Kitchen, we made our way eastward over dry rocks, and came speedily
to the junction with another passage from nearer the cave mouth.
Only a thin leaf of rock separates the two, for it is characteristic
of all these upper passages that they run almost parallel to each
other whilst rising to other levels. Altogether, we doubled back on
our original direction three or four times, creeping through holes
in the walls partitioning the corridors, and ascending to the top of
several lofty bridges, formed by fragments that have fallen from roof
and walls and wedged themselves securely. The construction of these
bridges is often marvellous to see. In one case a number of rocks form
an irregular arch, at the top of which a keystone wedges the whole
cluster together. Obviously they must have fallen and come together
practically at the same instant. This was what happened hard by with
two great boulders that fell down the rift and caught each other in
mid-air. Another impressive natural structure is known to explorers
of Wookey Hole as the Spur and the Wedge. The huge horizontal peak of
Limestone projecting into the chasm brings to mind a famous passage in
Mr. Rider Haggard's _She_. This spot was the scene of a droll adventure
that befell one of my companions years ago. With several other boys,
he wandered into these passages, when suddenly the one candle they
had with them went out. A boy had been commissioned to bring a supply
of matches, but it was ascertained that he had only one left, which
on being struck promptly went out. In this emergency, the lads could
do nothing but sit still until help arrived. They had no food, and
in trying to feel the time, they broke the hands of the only watch.
They computed that they had been in durance three days when the rescue
party reached the spot, but the protracted and hungry period of waiting
turned out to be only eight hours. Their resting-place was the flat
back of the pinnacle, with a 60-foot drop on one side and jagged rocks
on the other.
In two places in these galleries there are fine displays of stalagmite
on the wall, in the form of corrugated sheets, the ridges of which,
stained red with ferrous deposits, hang straight down like a series of
organ pipes. The walls glisten here and there with minute crystals.
But the most striking sight is where the Dolomitic Conglomerate, of
which the walls are composed, appears in clean-cut sections. One of
these, which has been successfully photographed, shows the differently
coloured pebbles, chiefly Mountain Limestone with a few of Old Red
Sandstone, embedded in the matrix, and surrounded with distinct layers
of cement, all as brilliantly defined as the concentric rings of an
agate. Hard by is a corner where Mr. Balch discovered the bones of
a man; they were mineralised, but it was impossible to tell their
period, or even whether they represented an interment, or were merely
the remains of some wanderer from his tribe who had perished in this
forlorn spot.
Sleeping bats hung from many a coign, and would not be awakened even
when lifted down. Big cave spiders crawled over the walls in the parts
adjoining the open air, where the breeze found its way in, although
we could not see through the narrowing crevices. Here and there the
cocoons of the spiders hung from the roof in white, woolly balls. At
the farthest point reached was a settlement of jackdaws, with a number
of untidy-looking nests, and there we could hear a thrush singing in
the trees outside; for we were close to the main cliff, and the river
was flowing out beneath our feet, under a great thickness of rock.
[Illustration: STALACTITE GROTTO: NEW CHAMBERS, WOOKEY HOLE CAVE.
_Photo by H. E. Balch._]
[Illustration: STALACTITE GROTTO, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Claude Blee._]
By the natural falling in of the roof, the first great chamber of
Wookey has broken through into the galleries above, and certain
passages of the Upper Series now open high up in the vault of the
Witch's Kitchen. One of these openings has been known for years;
another, which we reconnoitred carefully in March 1903, has now had
its barrier of cave earth cut through, with the result that a group
of stalactite chambers of wonderful beauty has been disclosed, with
untold possibilities of further advance. Boxing Day 1903 was spent in
an exploration of these new chambers. Climbing on my shoulders, Mr.
Balch got hand-hold in a chink of the Limestone, and pulled himself up
10 feet. Here a stalagmite peg held the rope ladder whilst we clambered
after, entering a cross gallery that gives access by another short
scramble to the loveliest of the new grottoes. When the discovery was
made, Mr. Balch and his assistants had to keep watch and ward day and
night, until a door had been fitted up, and every hole and crevice
securely blocked; for the entire village was quickly on the scene, and
irretrievable damage might have been committed.
The grotto is irregular in shape, and the incrustations are
disposed without order or system. From every nook and corner in the
superimpending rocks bundles of stalactite spears are thrust; bosses
and pillars spring from the floor, and sometimes meet the descending
shafts. Of all these frail pillars, the finest, rising on the very edge
of the rift we had ascended, seems to support the whole ponderous roof,
like the fragile column left by a dexterous architect, to cheat the
eye, in some cathedral vestibule. Certain of these hanging shafts are
shaped like the barbed head of a spear, a slanting stalactite having
intercepted and coalesced with the dripping calcite from an inch or
two away. A creamy, brownish yellow, with a golden lustre like that of
amber, is the prevailing tint; but, here and there, plaques of dazzling
white shine out against the burning magnesium.
Crawling in and out among the stalagmite pedestals, grievously afraid
of injuring the diaphanous fabric, we emerged in a very low chamber of
great area, right across which a grille of translucent rods, each a
foot high and ranged in regular line, fills the narrow space between
roof and floor. This extraordinary and strangely beautiful railing is
some 30 feet long, and only in one spot is it possible, by dint of
careful wriggling, to pass between the rods into the farther parts
of the chamber. Mr. Balch entreated me not to attempt this. When he
tried it, a fortnight ago, he had indeed got through to the series of
caves beyond, but, in returning, a projection had caught him at the
lowest spot, where the chamber is only nine inches high, and he had
struggled hard for twenty minutes before he could move an inch. Two
of us, notwithstanding this advice, ventured through. After draining
off a pool of water that was held back by a thin rim of dripstone, we
traversed the low chamber and a short tunnel beyond, climbed a vertical
cleft, and entered another low chamber of immense length and breadth,
whose various extensions we explored until the accumulated deposits
of boulders and cave earth stopped our advance for the time being.
In returning through the tunnel and the low chamber with the grille,
we tried successfully to dive under the archway and wriggle into the
opening head foremost, in spite of two opposing stumps of stalagmite.
By these tactics we escaped the worst of the squeeze.
[Illustration: STALACTITE PILLARS, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Claude Blee._]
[Illustration: NEW STALACTITE GROTTO, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Bamforth, Holmfirth._]
Whilst engaged in this excursion, we had heard the sound of hammering
somewhere away in the heart of the rock. It was our three friends
attempting to break into a promising gallery, which ought to cross
the vestibule of the main cavern and connect the two groups of upper
caves. We were not long in joining them; and now with pick, hammer,
and crowbar we attacked the barrier in force. The chief obstacle was
a great flat rock standing on end across the unexplored opening, and
propped up by a heap of boulders, which we gradually smashed up or
removed to one side. Still the big fellow would not budge, and we
had to sap his foundations by degrees. Yet this huge rock was but a
fragment that had fallen from the edge of a vast and threatening leaf
of rock, which now hung over our heads like a monstrous guillotine. The
upper caves are waterless, and it soon became desirable to send one
of our number to fetch us a drink. Presently we heard a plaintive cry
from the distance: his candle had gone out, and he had forgotten the
matches. Going to the rescue, I found him groping about on a shelf of
rock, 30 feet from the floor, hard by the Spur and Wedge; he had lost
his bearings altogether. On his return, we made another onslaught upon
our rocky adversary, the five of us sitting on his shoulder and pushing
against the wall, whilst our leader waxed grimly facetious as to what
would happen to us if the shock brought down the guillotine. Slowly
and painfully we tilted the mass of rock over, but only a few inches,
leaving just room enough for a thin man to crawl behind. Squirming
eagerly into the opening, I looked under, and was disappointed to see
that, if wide, it was still heaped right to the crown of the arch
by the rubbish flung there long ago by the river. Nevertheless, Mr.
Balch was not dissatisfied. Though parts of these ancient waterways
are choked with débris, it is unlikely, nay impossible, that the main
channels should not remain open. Our day's work had taken us on another
stage in our slow journey. The labour of removing the new obstacle will
be considerable, but the result is sure.
In 1904 we had the pleasure of escorting that veteran speleologist,
Monsieur E. A. Martel, through the old and the new caves at Wookey
Hole. About the same time efforts were made anew to force a way into
unexplored territory, with not uninteresting results. Many hours were
spent one day by three of us in a hole that we had discovered just
within the doorway of the cavern, a thing that had most unaccountably
escaped observation hitherto, though right under our noses. The opening
pointed in the direction of the lower cave mouth, where the Axe comes
out; but it certainly did not look very promising. Crawling in, we
found ourselves in a steeply descending passage, almost completely
choked by stones and cave earth. But at the end of the first portion it
was noticed that the floor dropped suddenly, indicating a chamber or
gallery below. An afternoon was spent in the laborious task of shifting
rocks, small stones, and earth, and passing up the fragments, great and
small, from hand to hand, until they could be placed in safe positions
near the mouth of the hole. Eventually, an ancient channel through the
solid rock was disclosed, and at the end of 60 feet or so a broad low
chamber appeared, floored with rocks and earth, and roofed in with
solid rock at a height of 12 or 14 inches. Pushing on, the leader
speedily found he was jammed between floor and ceiling, and could go
no farther without more engineering; but an elder wand was procured,
a candle tied to the end of it, and this rough-and-ready torch being
pushed forward, it was possible to see some 35 feet ahead into the low
chamber, in the depths of which a row of spiky stalactites stretched
across like an alabaster grating.
To explore this chamber thoroughly, it will be necessary to hollow out
a passage in the soft floor. In all likelihood, it crosses the present
river-course at a level only a few feet higher. Quantities of pottery,
bones, teeth, and fragments of charcoal were found in digging out the
obstacles. It seems most probable that the hole was stopped up by human
agency in prehistoric ages; perhaps it was a place of sepulture. The
obstacles were carefully wedged together, and their removal caused
much difficulty. It is not pleasant to lie on one's back in a hole,
whose roof is only a few inches above one's face, and have a block of
Limestone rolled from end to end of one's frame, without allowance for
projections in either. In all several tons of material were shifted and
carried out of the way. Much of the pottery had designs of a primitive
character worked on the surface; the more elaborate was Romano-British.
Considerable sections of amphoræ and other vessels have since been
pieced together.
[Illustration: THE GRILLE: NEW CHAMBERS, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Bamforth, Holmfirth._]
[Illustration: THE SOURCE OF THE AXE, WOOKEY HOLE.
_Photo by Bamforth, Holmfirth._]
Next day I made a curious find at a point farther in. Where the path
from the entrance rises over a big accumulation of rocks, just before
it reaches the first great chamber, a hole in the floor had been
noticed. It had not been explored, but was waiting for someone capable
of standing an exceptionally hard squeeze. The depth being uncertain, I
had a rope tied on, and after a brief struggle managed to get through
the first hole, into a crooked passage of no great length, which
brought me down to a small bell chamber. This had simply been produced
by the piling up of huge quantities of rocks and stones on the floor of
the original cavern, the whole structure having since become thoroughly
cemented and solidified by the growth of stalagmite. There were many
teeth lying about, but the most interesting object was a wooden bowl,
slightly flattened out, and resembling the top of a man's skull in
shape and size. It felt soft, like a piece of cork, but was perfectly
sound. What its age would be one could not tell within a century or
two. It is now in the possession of Mr. Troup of Wells.
E. A. B.
STRENUOUS DAYS IN THE EASTWATER SWALLET
From two to three miles north of Wookey Hole, on the top of the Mendip
tableland, is a broad, shallow valley, surrounded on every side by
higher ground. It is a grey, desolate tract, with few trees dotted
over its surface, but a thick belt of wood on the south, the dark
green of which in summer, and the black stems in winter, make the grey
landscape seem the more arid, gaunt, and desolate. The ruined engine
house of a deserted lead mine does not add to the attractiveness
of the scenery. But that is soon lost to sight in the vastness of
the rolling tableland, which swells up in the distance to 1000 feet
above the sea on Pen Hill to the east, and again to the same height
at Priddy Nine Barrows on North Hill, the general brown tints of the
heather and bracken showing that the Old Red Sandstone comes to the
surface on these and the other saliences of the plateau. Within this
shallow basin the rock is Limestone, and the causes of the existence
of a valley without any visible outlet for its drainage are at once
manifest. In many places the surface of the ground is scored and pitted
by innumerable depressions of diverse shapes and sizes; roundish
basins, steep funnels, craggy troughs with streams running in and
disappearing, and mere dimples, grass-lined and perfectly dry. Through
these swallets, or swallow holes, the whole of the drainage finds a
vent, and all the material excavated by the forces of nature in the
process of hollowing out this valley, has been carried off in the
same way. The work is still going on. At Eastwater a little stream,
flowing down a long ravine, suddenly comes against a Limestone cliff,
and begins to burrow. Less than a mile away, another stream, big enough
to be called a brook, pours into a cleft in the ground and is seen no
more. This second swallow is known as Swildon's Hole, Swildon being a
corruption of Swithin. Years ago, in the course of a lawsuit, it was
proved that the waters about the village of Priddy, which stands on
the edge of this upland valley, find their way into the Axe, uniting
their streams somewhere in the heart of the hill between this point
and Wookey Hole. When there were storms on the hilltop, or the upland
waters were fouled artificially, the Axe came out turbid. That the
area drained by the underground Axe is a large one is proved by the
size of the river, which must be formed by the junction of a good many
streams of the volume of Eastwater and the Swildon brook. Probably that
area extends as far east as Hillgrove, where a series of swallets in a
woodland ravine are now being enlarged by Mr. Balch, with a view to an
exploration of the underlying caverns.
In 1901 Mr. Balch's party made a descent into Swildon's Hole, and got
to a depth of 300 feet below the point of absorption, which is at the
same level as the Eastwater Swallet and that at Hillgrove--that is, 780
feet above the sea. Difficulties having been put in the way of a more
complete exploration by the owner of the field in which the swallet
is situated, he turned his attention to the neighbouring stream of
Eastwater, which, unfortunately, runs away through holes impenetrable
to man, and therefore had not promised so easy a route into the
unknown. Undeterred by the obvious difficulties, Mr. Balch set to work
early in 1902, and, as he describes, made his way at last into the open
passages underneath the swallet. In the course of two or three visits
he reached a point nearly 500 feet below the cave mouth, and distant
about 2000 feet in horizontal measurement.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO GREAT CAVERN OF EASTWATER.
_Photo by Bamforth, Holmfirth._]
[Illustration: SECTION OF EASTWATER CAVERN.]
He invited a large party to descend with him on March 18th, 1903, for a
more elaborate exploration. Besides the leader, Mr. Balch, experienced
cave explorers came from Oxford, Derby, Holmfirth, Glastonbury, and
Wells. Driving up from Wells early in the morning, we donned our
overalls at the mouth of the swallet. Everything was in readiness
for the adventure, and at eleven o'clock or thereabouts the first
man descended the artificial hole, 20 feet deep, into the enormous
accumulation of loose rocks that extends for more than 100 feet into
the head of the cavern. The blocks forming the sides of this shaft,
and many of those beyond its foot, had been carefully underpinned with
timber. Everything bore witness to the labour and perseverance spent in
engineering an entrance. The baggage having been let down by a rope,
we pushed on through the confusion of rocks by a maze of passages
resembling the intricacies of the well-known Goatchurch Cavern, at
Burrington, although the rocks, instead of being huge rectangular
masses, were shattered into the most irregular forms and sizes,
leaving holes between scarce big enough for a human body to squeeze
through. The first explorers were two hours in finding a way through
this bewildering labyrinth. Some of our men went head foremost, others
crawled on their backs with feet in front. The rocks were water-worn
and jagged, and often so rotten with the action of water laden with
carbonic acid, that a finger could be thrust in up to the hilt, as into
clay. We formed ourselves into a chain to hand on the luggage; this was
a trying business, for we were taking down more than 500 feet of rope,
besides a pick, a shovel, a bucket, various steel pulleys, an ample
stock of candles, and provisions for three meals, to humour which
through these unaccommodating passages was worse than coaxing one's own
body along. Both horizontal and vertical openings occurred here and
there, and had to be avoided carefully, one of the most important of
these being a flood-way formed by the stream entering the swallet. It
was curious to find a withy stick making desperate efforts to put forth
leaves in the darkness, and succeeding in producing a long white sprout.
Suddenly the noise of falling water was heard, and the leading men
called for the rope ladder. The masses of loose rock end abruptly. To
the right a steep tunnel, called the 380-foot way, carries a small
stream down; to the left is a large, irregular chamber; and beyond it,
the main passages of the cavern. The ladder being secured, each man
resigned himself to the inevitable drenching, and descended into the
rugged cave at the head of the 380-foot way. A camera was got down so
far, but most of the apparatus was left at the parting of the ways. Our
road was now decidedly easier. The water-channel was rugged, but the
roof rose fairly high, and there were few boulders. A large tunnel,
cut in the solid rock, brought down a tributary stream on the right;
on the other side, a horizontal tunnel was marked down for further
investigation. The real termination of the 380-foot way has not been
discovered. At present there is no passing beyond a choke of stones
and gravel that fills it nearly to the roof; but Mr. Balch proposes to
remove this.
We returned to the horizontal tunnel. It led into an extensive sloping
chamber whose shape is peculiarly characteristic of this cavern.
Roof and floor, roughly parallel, are inclined at an angle of fifty
degrees. For a long distance there was space to creep along under
the roof, then the space grew less, and at length the leading men
shouted that they could get no farther. Being rather slighter in
build than those who were in front, I made an effort to pass them, and
succeeded by clambering along at a higher level. A hole between some
choke-stones and a stalactite gave me admittance to a continuation of
this extraordinary chamber. Then, dropping into a dry water-channel, I
wriggled downward and downward, following the noise of some dislodged
stones that rattled away to a considerable depth. At last I found it
impossible to get any farther, though two more feet would have led
me into a sudden widening that looked rather promising. The next man
behind was unable to get within 50 feet of this point.
[Illustration: THE DESCENT OF EASTWATER CAVERN, THE SECOND VERTICAL
DROP.
_From Sketch by H. E. Balch._]
[Illustration: THE GREAT CANYON, EASTWATER CAVERN.
_From Sketch by H. E. Balch._]