• Home > Group Documentation >  JAYS CAVE - A new dig for ACG on western Mendip by Doug Harris

 

Last year at an ACG caving meeting, John Dobson mentioned to me about a Farmer at Loxton, who had a draughting slot on his ground, which possible could be a cave. He had asked John if the Axbridge diggers would be interested in looking at the site.

 

1^st July 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson, John Chapman

 

We introduced ourselves to Mr and Mrs Jay, chatted a little about the cave and how long they had known about it. Mr Jay then showed the site, which was found, after  crossing a field of  sheep and another containing a horse. Over a fence and down into a slight depression, covered in trees, brambles and thick undergrowth. John Chapman thought it might have been an old mineshaft, which had been back filled. Before we cleared a path to the entrance I took some photographs of the site. The entrance roof was curved with moss and algae stains on the limestone. On removal of a few handfuls of soil a slight draught could be felt, coming from lower down the back fill. More digging gear and space to move was needed.

 

8^th July 1999 - Doug Harris

 

I returned to do a spot of gardening, or was it jungle clearing, the brambles were an inch thick. After an hour the area around the entrance was cleared and more photos were taken. Mr Jay turned up to see how things were going. He helped me shift a few buckets of soil and rocks from the entrance. A slight cavity was found as the shovel disappeared up to its handle. The following evening a visit was made to Carcass Cave to “borrow” the wheelbarrow.

 

15^th July 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson, Dave Watts

 

The soil was cleared from a smaller hole to the right of the entrance. Fourteen barrow loads were removed - far quicker than using the drums. Another tree was felled to improve access for both the wheelbarrow and its operator. After eighteen inches of digging a junction was met. The left hand junction turned into an ochre filled pocket whilst the down right hand junction four feet of tight passage could be seen. The main entrance roof was sloping down towards the field (South facing). Animal bones and glass were removed as digging continued. The cave was named after the landowner as Jays Cave.

 

19^th July 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson

 

The tight passage going back into the hillside was cleared and we noticed horrible smell draughting from the end of the passage. After removing a large rock I squeezed myself along the passage, now eight feet long. I could see into a chamber but couldn’t bend myself around the corner. After removal of more rocks and soil the smell became more intense. Elaine continued with the digging and more progress was made. It was 10pm (2 hours of digging had already been done) and as we were keen to make a breakthrough work continued. I went back in and inched myself around the corner, peered over a small ledge and came face to face with a large Badger covered in Maggots, not a pretty sight. Clearing away the soil to the left of the Badger it could be seen that the chamber was twelve feet long, at an angle of sixty degrees upslope and about three feet high. A small chimney was also noticed. Elaine appeared with a camera and more photos were taken.

 

22^nd July 1999 - Doug Harris

 

I returned and removed six wheelbarrow loads of soil from the entrance, revealing two small phreatic tubes.

 

26^th July 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson, Hugh Tucker

 

Twenty barrow loads of soils was removed from the entrance

 

2^nd August 1999 - Doug Harris, Hugh Tucker, Mick & Kathleen Norton

 

Twenty-five barrow loads of soils was removed from the entrance. The entrance is  now getting larger and another three phreatic tubes have been revealed.

 

9^th August 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson, Hugh Tucker

 

Worked in the chamber mentioned on 19^th July. Elaine carefully removed the Badger plus its bedding which was buried in the soil pile. Working back at the entrance of the main dig I felt a strong draught coming from below my feet, from a small hole. The speed of digging then increased, with soil and rocks going in all directions. A phreatic tube was located with darkness at the end. Elaine had a quick peep. Then it happened, I squeezed along the tube and out into a chamber; small at first but increasing in size. I slid down a loose pile of soil onto a firm floor of rock, to my right was a neatly stacked pile of deads, made by the miners. Hugh noticed that the walls were covered in pick marks made by the ochre miners. A sandy pit was located in the floor. The right hand wall was scalloped and water wore, but the roof didn’t look too good. There were piles of shattered/broken limestone on the floor. The chamber measured approximately sixty foot long, fifteen feet wide and fifteen feet high. No signs of any formations yet; many photos taken.

 

10^th August 1999 - Doug Harris

 

Took a sheet of corrugated iron and some poles to shore up the entrance. On 12^th august 1999 Mick and Kathleen found an old miner’s lamp in the soil slope in the new chamber.

 

16^th August 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson, Hugh Tucker, Alan Gray, Gwen Sawicki, Cliff Dockrell and Terry Seavers (Gwen’s boss, another gardener)

 

News of the new find had spread. Cliff and myself, using a ten feet long iron bar, made a connection between the entrance and the bottom of the soil infill in the new chamber. Proved that the miners would have used the now soil blocked entrance to gain access to the cave and then the ochre deposits.

 

 

12^th September & 3^rd October 1999 - Doug Harris - spoil removal.

 

4^th October 1999 - Doug Harris, Elaine Johnson, Hugh Tucker, Alan Gray, Gwen Sawicki, Dave Watts and Terry Seavers

 

Alan, Elaine and Terry surveying whilst the others concentrated on removal of spoil from the Badger Chamber.

 

17^th October 1999 - Doug Harris

 

A scaffold plank was installed over the four foot drop into the entrance, which allowed a safer and easier access out of the small entrance hole leading to the Badger Chamber. The chamber was cleared of its infill, loose soil and rocks to reveal the ochre pockets and scalloped walls. Twenty eight drums were removed.

 

18^th October 1999 - Doug Harris, Dave Watts

 

Removed more drums of rocks and soil from the floor in Badger Chamber. The floor has now been lowered by about three feet below the entrance.

 

 

The Story So Far!!!!

 

 

 

CAVE SURVEY - DATA

 

CAVE NAME - JAYS CAVE                                                              DATE OF SURVEY  -  4 OCTOBER 1999

 

 

 

 

Readings							Wall Distance		Roof Height	Station Height
From	To	Clinometer	Tape	Compass		Station	Left	Right
MAIN CHAMBER
1	2	- 21°	3.15m	240.5°		2	0.6m	0.95m	1.32m	0
2	3	- 41°	2.85m	222°		3	0	0.60m	0.25m	0.25m
3	4	- 21°	2.34m	294°		4	1.49m	0.25m	1.18m	0.2m
4	5	- 19°	2.56m	224°		5	0.82m	0.92m	0	1.4m
5	6	- 32°	2.95m	254.5°		6	0.95m	1.25m	0.72m	0.72m
6	7	- 11°	2.10m	247°		7	0	3.0m	2.14m	2.35m
7	8	+8°	5.47m	258.5°		8	1.84m	1.74m	1.35m	2.67m
7	9	+9°	5.12m	293.5°		9	4.51m	1.4m	0.3m	3.24m
BADGER HOLE
1	2	- 21°	1.88m	295.5°		2	0m	0.91m	0.54m	0.56m
2	3	- 26°	1.73m	51°		3	0m	0.53m	0.58m	0.8m
3	4	+12°	1.03m	89.5°		4	0.64m	0.67m	1.25m	0.56m
4	5	+42°	4.2m	11.5°		5	0.2m	0.24m	0.25m	0.22m

 

Clinometer Calibration - Downhill = -25.5°, Uphill = +24.5°.

                                                                                                                                                                        Sheet No.  - 1 of

Compass Calibration -   Junction of Farm Road and Main Road to Crookes Peak = 91°

                                    Junction of Farm Road and Main Road to Brent Knowle = 223°