Early Exploration of the Black Rose - Section 1

Click here for Early Exploration of the Black Rose - Section 2

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Putting the record straight

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Furness Area 1958

Henning Wood Bone Cave

Near Urswick in Furness, Cumbria.
September 19th 1958 - by Ged Dodd

Don't ever take anything for gospel that is in the newspapers.

 

    It was on the Sunday I entered this cave and found the Neolithic bones, and Eric Holland took my photo emerging from the cave, and it was in the Monday Evening's paper, 24 hours later, that I read this account ....... eerr..

 

    The caption on the photo "A member of the Furness Speleological Group complete with miner's helmet and lamp takes his last breath of fresh country air before descending into the depths of the pothole where a fragment of a bronze age burial urn was found." From North West Evening Mail courtesy of Pete Cumpsty's diary with apologies for a very faded 52-year-old newspaper clipping.

    For a start the photo should be vertical not horizontal and it shows Ged of the Black Rose Pothole Club exiting a very tight vertical cave on the very first exploration of the Bone Cave, and carrying human leg bones, with which to beat Eric Holland over the head. The photo was taken by Eric G. Holland who couldn't get in to the cave as he was too big, and we were on our own at the time - no one else was there.  Eric always called me in for anything tight with promises of giving full credit. "I'm a Buddhist, I can't tell lies," and there was never anyone else there to contradict him. I was naive, OK?

 

    The commentary read - A fragment of a Middle Age burial urn and some bone skeletons have been discovered by members of the Furness Speleological Group in an underground cave in the Urswick Area.
    Mr Eric G. Holland, leader of the group, and his brother Lawrence have visited the cave many times for excavation purposes, and have twice been accompanied by Mr F Barnes, the Borough Librarian, who confirmed theories that the items found there dated back to the Bronze Age about 1,000 years B.C.

 

   The above is true .. except it omits to mention that Mr Eric G. Holland, his brother Lawrence were quite unable to get into the cave on any of their visits, not even once, and Mr F Barnes was never there at the same time as me, and was, and probably still is, unaware of my role in the discovery.

 

   As Bob Leakey used to says, "the easiest way to speleological fame and glory is to do your potholing in print."

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Henning Valley Old Stream Passage

October 1958 - by Ged Dodd

   Very early in my career I was exploring the Furness Area, which made sense because I lived in Barrow-in-Furness. So it became a case of caving in Ingleton and Yorkshire at the weekend and Furness Area through the week. This is an account of my first large cave discovery.

     One evening after exploring Daylight Hole Mine, with Eric G Holland, I met up with this young lady who was just passing by and after getting an instant "Come to Mama" from her I arranged to meet up with her the following day, so we could toddle off to a quiet rendezvous, the dry cavern of Henning Valley Cave and get to know one another ... when Eric interjected, "And bring a friend for me", to which I thought  'And who invited you?'. 

   The following afternoon we met up with the girls and entered Henning Valley Cave, a nice roomy dry cavern, which Eric had been digging for "yonkers" without any success.

    He grabbed hold of his blind date and disappeared down into the far dark recesses of the cave. I looked around and saw this very nice flat roomy bedding plane on the left at about head height. Helping my date to climb up onto the shelf we settled down and got comfy.

     After a very short time, upon removing my shirt,  I felt a draft, whereupon I said to my friend, "Just a minute, luv, while I have a look over here." Crawling to the far wall of the wide bedding plane I found myself looking down an 8 foot drop into an old abandoned stream passage. Forgetting about the young lady I was off down the new passage like a whippet down a rabbit hole. Nothing wrong with my priorities ... caving first, every time.

     The passage was quite wide, some 10 feet high, the walls covered in brown muddy dust. The passage ended all too soon in a boulder choke with an intriguing blackness peeping through loose boulders at the top of the choke. On my way back I found a narrow razor-edged rift with newly wet walls and fresh cold air. After losing a bit of skin, this was an all jeans and a no shirt job, as I hadn't expected to be caving right now, I squeezed into a clean wet walled chamber ... with no way on .. darn, can't win them all.

   Hurrying back I located my three companions in the cave entrance, to find none of them were looking very happy. My date being a bit miffed I could understand, but Eric and his date, what was their problem? As if I didn't know? I hadn't forgiven him for screwing me over with Henning Wood Bone Cave.

    "You told her I was married," he snarled.

    "Well, she did ask," I said, innocently, "And as you know, we don't tell lies", whereupon he abruptly changed the subject by asking, "And where the hell have you been for the last half hour?

    After finding out that I had bare-shirtedly found a new passage in HIS cave, with so little effort, is it any wonder why Eric G. Holland never mentioned me in his book Underground in Furness, despite my finding everything he and his brother were physically incapable of entering, because of their huge cap size.

     This may explain why the narrow rift and dead-end chamber are nowhere to be seen on the later survey, done by his brother and himself.

   I should worry, it was nothing personal, the list of people who never got a mention in his books would be enough to fill another book, don't get Pete Cumpsty started, or Battersby, or Wiggy, or George or the Blezzards  etc. etc. ..

   The late 50's and early 60's were rife with those older paedophiliac glory hunters who preyed on the young gullible teenage cavers of that era, but I doubt if it will ever change.

    It is very nice to see the new website CaveMaps.org where they are endeavouring to see that credit goes where credit is due. More power to their elbow ... and I video everybody ... warts an' all.

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Chyner Pot - Scales Moor

 1960 by Ged Dodd

    A survey comes to light recently on the Caving Forum of an unknown pot on Scales Moor called Chyner Pot. This was a sketch I did in 1960 when exploring the "as now Growling Hole Basin" when exploring with Maureen Dryden of the Black Rose. Again, putting the record straight, this was dug and explored by Maureen & myself. The little pothole was quite beautiful inside, rare for Scales Moor, decorated with a 4' straw, crystalline pool and a rainbow coloured grotto. To preserve the formations and to protect the pot from dig stealing vermin we resealed the hole. The Pot was found again in 1966 by the HWCPC based at Braida Garth Farm who were very active on the Moor at that time, and perhaps called Echo Hole. Later in the 70's LUSS found it and added it to their excellent survey of the Growling Hole Basin as U/H3 (Unknown Hole 3). All my diaries and sketches were lost or nicked when I lost my kneecap in early 1961 and the scramble was on by the "big" clubs to claim credit for the cave discoveries on Scales Moor.   PS. One will note with careful study, at the bottom of the survey, that the little black rose flower which I put on all my sketches has been covered over with sticky tape.  Dearie me !! ...Tut tut !!. 

    All I can add is that now you know there are other pots on that moor which were found and resealed by Maureen and myself,  please,  go find them ... but don't be too sure someone wasn't there in the 1960's  ... LOL

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Anyone who actually wants to go caving should contact

 Duncan Jones

Black Rose Caving Club

http://www.brcc.org.uk

 

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