Red
Rose Cave and Pothole Club - Newsletter Vol. 6 No 1. - November 1969
Bull
Pot of the Witches - Re: Survey
Towards
the end of 1968 plans were being made to re-survey Bull Pot of the Witches also
to survey Hidden Pot and the maze of passages in the upper section of Cow Pot.
During the past weeks such work has been done regarding the Bull Pot survey and
over 2,500 ft. of passage has been plotted to date. The upper and middle levels have now been completed
and show startling differences from the original N.P.C. and B.S.A. surveys; the
latter being so inaccurate that passages appear to have been invented to close
some of their large errors. The lower
canals and upstream passages have yet to be surveyed and due to the deep water
may prove to be the most difficult. These parts also seem to be inaccurate on
the original surveys, showing no detail, heights, sections or depths. Following the plotting of the completed
sections these deductions were made from the present information.
1.
Roberts' Passage: Judging from the
general form of the visible sections of Roberts' Passage this appears to have
been a downstream passage conveying a stream of Easegill proportions towards
the Barbondale plateau. The known limits of this
passage extend to a calcite barrier in the far Gour
Chamber probably to be seen in the Red Rose chambers of Aygill
Cave.
2.
Burnetts' Passage:
Burnetts' passage constitutes the remainder of
the Middle Level. In its self it is of two distinct stages - The Pre-Phreatic
Level and the Lower Vadose Level. .
The
Pre-Preatic Level:
This continues from the junction at Roberts' Passage and can be followed
into Burnetts'
Great Cavern where it ends in a mass of breakdown above the chamber. . .
The
Lower Vadose Level: Strictly speaking this not a separate passage but the lower
stage of the upper, and can be traced from the central junction as a shallow
cut in the floor of the above level, later to increase its dimensions upon
entering the large chamber before Burnetts' Cavern.
Here a further abandoned Vadose stream passage enters from Burnetts'
Cavern, the combined streams uniting to follow a large passage south,
unfortunately this becomes choked after a few feet.
3.
Burnetts' Great Cavern: This large chamber may well be the site for a
new discovery; its history has been a mixed one and many passages of various
sizes and shapes lie nestled high in its roof.
The route through to Lancaster Hole may lie here and several rocks and
chokes would lead themselves to a little work in the future.
4.
The Upper Levels: The Upper Levels are found on either side of the open pot and
one does not have to wander far to realise the magnitude of this one time
streamway. It's a great pity that so much breakdown has occurred here,
subsequently we can now only enter several boulder stream disconnected
chambers; a little searching here may indeed prove worthwhile. So let's not
treat Bull Pot of the Witches as just somewhere to go when Lancaster and
Easegill are closed.
Duncan
Baldwin