Bullpot
Farm - Before the Red Rose
An article by Tom Sykes in
RRCPC Newsletter (Vol. 55 No. 1 Jan 2018,
pp 10-12) gave some of the history of former occupants of Bullpot Farm who
were his ancestors. He comments that Ron
Bliss told him of an occupancy by the Fylde Mountaineering Club, but had few
details other than their fitting rubber tiles in the boiler room! I can fill in
these details.
Inspired by ‘Underground
Adventure’ by Gemmel and Myers borrowed from the local library, on 7th
June 1960 three of us set out from Blackpool for Casterton Fell. Barry and I, aged 16, had motorbikes with
L plates and arrived before Keith on his pushbike. We met no-one and
thought Bullpot Farm was deserted despite hay in the barn and equipment in the
outbuildings! We laddered County Pot and did the Spout Hall Razor Passage
circuit.
Meanwhile Keith had
arrived and called at Gale Garth where he met Margaret Scarr the farmer’s wife
who gave him permission for access but warned that her husband Norris did not
like trespassers! Keith descended County Pot, fortunately choosing to do the
circuit in reverse so we met him in Mushroom Passage. After he reported
Margaret’s comments, it was with some trepidation that we returned to Bullpot
Farm and met Norris. We apologised for our ill-mannered behaviour and asked
permission to retrieve the tackle from County Pot.
He recognised our naivety
in rural matters and asked where we were from. When we said Blackpool, he said
he had recently made an arrangement with some members of the Fylde
Mountaineering Club to use Bullpot Farm in return for occasional help on the
farm and upkeep of the farmhouse interior.
As it happened we were already members of FMC but didn’t
know it had a potholing section! We made
contact with them and on 3rd July 1960 and joined them on a trip
down Lancaster Hole. They had recently
dug out the entrance to a new passage off the Main Drain near the bottom of the
‘Rathole’ descent from Fall Pot but turned back at a tight ‘portcullis’ squeeze. On this visit they
passed the squeeze but turned back at deeper water.
Between July 1960 and
September 1961 we stayed at the farm as often as possible doing 29 trips in the
area. The FMC members helped Norris with
haymaking and dry stone walling, whilst in the farmhouse they provided heating
at weekends and did decorating. Several
of them were carpet fitters by trade and they put lino tiles on the stairs and
bathroom floor and carpeted the ladies’ and men’s ‘dormitories’. I’m not sure
about the ‘rubber tiles in the boiler room’.
The hot water came from a water-jacketed stove in the fireplace in the
kitchen which nearly blew my head off when I tried to re-kindle it with
‘meths’. I remember it well!
The FMC also frequented
the Green Dragon in Kirkby Lonsdale on Saturday evenings where Barry and I
drank orange squash as we were under-age and couldn’t afford the beer at 1s 8d
(8.5p) a pint for ‘mild’, they drank 8 – 12 pints! At Closing Time, they would try to decide who
was the most sober to drive the Dormobile back to the farm. Occasionally a rabbit would be hit and
someone would then cook it for dinner! Sometimes an ‘I will if you will’
challenge was issued resulting in a midnight trip down Bullpot of the Witches.
But often only Barry and I were fit for caving the next day whilst they sobered
up and got on with the decorating and flooring efforts. In Sept 1961 Barry and I went off to our
universities but spent 8 nights at Bullpot Farm during the Christmas vacation.
On 16th Dec
1961, Barry and I pushed the FMC passage beyond a second and third portcullis
to a flowstone blockage about 90m in. The find (published in OUCC Proceedings Vol 2 1962) was subsequently
extended by 540m beyond the flowstone by RRCPC in 1980 to become Woodhouse Way.
(RRCPC Journal (8) 1983, pp19-23). This
was our tenth trip down Lancaster Hole and we decided all the ropes and ladders
were too heavy for two of us so we would not use a lifeline. Familiarity had bred contempt! The 33m descent seemed interminable and the
thought of the ascent sapped our enthusiasm. We were relieved to reach the
surface safely and had learnt our lesson!
On 10th Jan
1962 a ‘final’ through trip was made with some of Barry’s CUCC friends. A month
later, on Sun 11th Feb 1962 a pivotal event in British Caving took
place when Leeds University cavers Alan Fincham and Barry Greenwood were
trapped by rising water in Pegleg Pot in Lower Easegill. A major rescue event
ensued and without seeking permission, Bullpot Farm was taken over as rescue
headquarters. The rescue involved blasting to divert Upper Easegill into the
sinks and dam building at the entrance to the pot. Unfortunately walls were knocked down and
lambing ewes affected by the blasting.
The press arrived and the single track lane up to the farm was blocked
with vehicles. Norris was unable to get back to his farm to tend his animals.
Not surprisingly there was a backlash. The landowners declared ‘war on
potholers’ and closed the fell. Margaret Scarr reflects on this event in her
‘Farming at Ease Gill’ audio interview with Martin Baines in Nov 2012 on the
British Caving Audio Library website.
(You can listen to this
recording at:- http://caving-library.org.uk/audio/playback-248.html)
She says the Leeds cavers
were reckless as she had refused them access because of the weather conditions
but they went via Leck Fell instead! The closure of the fell terminated the use
of Bullpot Farm by the FMC, though Norris did allow occasional visits by
personal friends. In Dec 1962 the landowners told me they were dealing with Tom
Sykes and the RRCPC and renewed access was under review following progress
towards the formation of an Association of Caving Clubs capable of controlling
visits by its members. This became the CNCC who regained provisional access
later in 1963. The CNCC promoted the formation of the NCA which eventually
became the BCA, but that’s another long story!
Graham Stevens
Margaret Scarr at Bullpot Farm, circa 1960 - Photo: Ron Bliss Collection
Bullpot Farm, circa 1960 - Photo: Ron Bliss Collection