The sink was discovered in January 1970 and
entered in late February. Andrew Walsh forced a silted bedding plane
to an extensive series of passages and avens. A spate of unsettled
weather and commitments in Lancaster Hole delayed further
exploration. Trips were then planned in order to seriously study the
system and produce a high grade survey. However, a pilot team found
the second squeeze ("hanging death squeeze") blocked by a boulder which had
apparently fallen from the roof. (The offending boulder could
possible be moved by a hydraulic jack, assuming it is not keyed to
any more rocks.) The "Fossil Cave-on-the Cliff" above Howgill was
then examined closely as the likely continuance of the choked passage
entering the south west sector of Consortium Cavern. Subsequent
inspections of this cave have revealed a natural subsidence of 6 feet
or more within 12 months. Entrance gained here would yield access to
more heavily built cavers who are unable to negotiate the squeezes.
(e.g. Jim Newton, to whom I must pay tribute for his ceaseless
expenditure of energy in opening up new caves despite the regular
exclusion of his person). The entrance passage is the course of a
vadose streamway derived from the Ease Gill sink which is only active
in times of flood resulting in severe flooding within the cave. The
stream sinks through jammed boulders in Consortium Cavern to join a
larger streamway below. The source of this water is likely to be the
surface stream How Gill which sinks in the Ease Gill bed upstream of
Howgill sink. (Note the confusing nomenclature. - a product of the
panic search for a name for the Pot.) Possibly the overflow from the
Cow Dubs, in normal conditions, utilises this passage also. (An
inspection of the Dub during drought showed no sizable outlet.) The
further course of the cave is somewhat of a mystery due to the
curtailing of survey activities by the blockage. At the time of
discovery it was 'hoped to provide the key to the caverns of Leck
Fell. (About that time the H.W. broke through into Pippikin.) On
reopening it could well yield another entrance into Pippikin and the
caverns which are indicated to lie between the Ease Gill and
Lancaster Hole.
Howgill sinks probably developed via the "Fossil Cave-on-the cliff"
along with other nearby shafts (now choked) on this horizon, before
the nick point at Cow Dubs was established. The upper cave is of much
larger section than the relatively immature present day sink
therefore it must have been subjected to a greater volume of water
when the Ease Gill flowed along at this higher level.
References; R.R.C.P.C. newsletters vol.7
No.2 and No.4.