Mendip: Cheddar, Its Gorge and Caves

By H. E. Balch

Mendip: Cheddar, Its Gorge and Caves describes the landscape and historical background of the Swildon’s Hole at Priddy. This book is divided into nine chapters that discuss the Cox’s Cave and the story of discovery at Cheddar. It looks into the condition of the Gough’s cave and the archaeological findings made at the Long Hole which used to be the Romano-British cave dwelling. Some of the topics covered in the book are the description of the smaller caves and cave shelters of the Gorge; features of the Great Gorge of Cheddar; portrayal of the Swallets of the Cheddar system; the medieval and post-medieval history of Cheddar; and description of the Cooper’s Hole, Soldier’s Hole, and Sugarloaf Rock. Other chapters examine the rock formations and rivers inside the White Spot cave, as well as the types of fossils found in the Bone Hole. The physical characteristics of the tools made of stone found in the caves are presented. The last chapter is devoted to a detailed description of the trails going inside the caves at Cheddar. The book can provide useful information to archaeologists, mountain climbers, explorers, students, and researchers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Oct 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483195803

Book preview

Mendip

Cheddar, its Gorge and Caves

Second Edition

H.E. BALCH, M.A., F.S.A.

JOHN WRIGHT & SONS, LTD.

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Inside Front Cover

Copyright

Dedication

PREFACE

LIST OF FIGURES IN THE TEXT

LIST OF PLATES

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTORY

Publisher Summary

Chapter 2: COX’S CAVE AND THE STORY OF DISCOVERY AT CHEDDAR

Publisher Summary

Chapter 3: GOUGH’S CAVE AT CHEDDAR

Publisher Summary

Chapter 4: THE LONG HOLE A ROMANO-BRITISH CAVE DWELLING

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Chapter 5: THE SMALLER CAVES AND CAVE SHELTERS OF THE GORGE

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SOLDIER’S HOLE.

GREAT OONE’S HOLE.

HONEY HOLE.

SUGARLOAF ROCK.

WHITE SPOT CAVE OR PRIDDY HOLE SLITTER.

SOW’S HOLE AND PIG’S HOLE.

PRIDE EVANS’ HOLE.

SUN HOLE.

BONE HOLE.

FLINT JACK’S CAVE.

CHELM’S COMBE SHELTER and ROCK TOMB.

Chapter 6: THE GREAT GORGE OF CHEDDAR

Publisher Summary

Chapter 7: THE SWALLETS OF THE CHEDDAR SYSTEM

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Chapter 8: MEDIÆVAL AND RECENT HISTORY OF CHEDDAR

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Chapter 9: THE COMMONS OF THE CHEDDAR AREA

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Chapter 10: THE UNTOLD STORY

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INDEX

Inside Front Cover

THE ARCHANGEL’S WING IN KING SOLOMON’S TEMPLE GOUGH’s CAVES, CHEDDAR From a painting by Mrs. Ruth Murrell

Copyright

first edition, 1935

second edition, 1947

Dedication

To William Wyndham Esq. of Orchard Wyndham, This, in gratitude

PREFACE

to the second edition

The ever growing interest in the Mendip Caves and the considerable further demand gives an opportunity to bring this little book up to date.

Whilst including in this book a chapter on Swildon’s Hole at Priddy, which I still think is the head of the Cheddar system, I include in the third book of the Mendip Cave series a fuller section on that cave, with many illustrations and the story of the great and successful efforts which have further extended our knowledge of the depths of Mendip.

Of even greater importance is the discovery of the great swallet caves nearer Blackdown and draining into the Cheddar system. These caves find their most appropriate place in the third book of this series, where they are represented by excellent articles written by their discoverers.

The end of the story of Cheddar is still far to seek and I look forward to great things to be done by the cave men of the new generation. They will reach the underground river.

I am still without information as to many objects of antiquity which have been removed from the Caves of Cheddar and I repeat the appeal that information of the kind may be sent to me.

I am grateful to Mrs. Murrell for her beautiful painting of the Archangel’s Wing for the frontispiece, to Mr. Harry Savory and Mr. E. D. Evens for their lovely photographs, and to Messrs. Clare of Wells for their loan of the blocks used in former editions of my Cave books.

To all helpers in the work of research at Cheddar, I repeat my best thanks and wish them good luck in future.

H.E. BALCH

Wells Museum, 1946

LIST OF FIGURES IN THE TEXT

LIST OF PLATES

Frontispiece. In colour. The Archangel’s Wing in King Solomon’s Temple, Gough’s Caves, Cheddar.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Publisher Summary

The gorge of Cheddar and it caves have attracted the interest of mankind for ages. This chapter discusses its origin and their activity in ages past. It presents a rare old print that shows what the entrance of the gorge was like 200 years ago. If one had approached from the low land to the south, the water would have been seen to spread quite across the way. For this reason, the narrow road hugging the cliff on the southern side was built and was carried over several springs that break forth into the pond above the Cliff Hotel till the vicinity of the main rising—by Gough’s Cave—was reached. The wealth of Romano–British remains in the caves will draw one to seek out the story of what happened in the village below and on the hills around during the Roman times.

The Gorge of Cheddar has attracted the interest of mankind for ages past. No one can look unmoved on that stupendous pile of rocks which overwhelms the beholder with its sublime majesty Under all conditions supremely beautiful, it is most impressive at those times when one can stand there in solitude and silence, and let it make its quiet appeal, undisturbed by the ever growing traffic of summer days.

Thus it was when, long ago, Burrow, the old Mendip poet (1849) wrote of what he and most of us have felt:

"… now stand below

Where Cheddar rears its castellated brow,

See like some fortress that, embattled, throws

Its proud defiance to surrounding foes.

So, from the gorge, precipitous arise

Its beetling cliffs, stupendous, to the skies.

I’ve seen crags frown as proudly in the air,

I’ve heard the breakers roar at Finisterre,

From Arran have I watched the rising sun,

And scared old Ailsa’s sea-fowl with the gun;

Up Shakespeare’s Cliff I’ve dared my venturous way,

And scaled the rock that guards Gibraltar’s Bay.

Yet none of these so much my thoughts impress

With the deep sense of human littleness."

Turning in and out, with many a tortuous bend, the direction of the Gorge is generally east and west, not as a mighty crack across the anticline of Mendip, but rather following the strike of the rocks, along the line of their dip, and thus providing evidence of its origin.

Who can doubt what the origin has been, as he stands at the great rising below Gough’s Cave, when Mendip pours forth its mighty volume of water, after heavy rain.

Not from one mouth or two does the torrent well forth, the greatest spring in Mendip. From the main rising near the Cave, a great flood rushes; from near the cottage below comes a considerable augmentation of the stream, and out of sight, from beneath the roadway where they are bridged over, several other large springs all unite in the beautiful little lake, (Plate 1), to pour over the lovely waterfall behind the Cliff Hotel in great and impressive volume. Collinson (1791) said that in his day, nine springs could be counted within 40 yards of each other.

PLATE 1 ENTRANCE TO CHEDDAR GORGE, SHOWING THE LION ROCK. [Photo G.W.R.

Under these conditions one may perhaps visualise what is going on away back in the hill behind Gough’s Cave, where a considerable system of waterways, not yet reached by the explorer, beckons for ever to draw him on, with dreams of finding something akin to the subterranean river of Wookey Hole, sister cave to this of Cheddar.

Both of these, and the great overflowing well of St. Andrew at Wells, have a common origin in the swallet caves of Mendip, far away, and all to this day (1946) defy the explorer’s efforts to enter with the stream on the hills above, and traverse the whole distance to the outlet. The cause of the failure to do this lies in the numerous traps, and passages blocked with debris and water, which bar the way.

Not so long ago the Cheddar stream was captured and imprisoned in its lake and river bed. The accompanying illustration from a rare old print (Plate 2) shows what the entrance of the Gorge was like 200 years ago. If one had approached from the low land to the south, the water would have been seen to spread quite across the way. For this reason, the narrow road hugging the cliff on the southern side was built, and was carried over several springs that here break forth into the beautiful pond above the Cliff Hotel, so being carried on till the vicinity of the main rising (by Gough’s Cave) was reached. Not once or twice have the subterranean channels proved inadequate to carry the torrents of water from some cloudburst on the hills, for the discharge of which the outlets have been far too small. Under these circumstances a torrent has swept down the Gorge, and into the village, another has welled up from within, and poured through the gateway of Gough’s Cave, the deep well-shaped hole near the entrance discharging water upwards, instead of allowing an escape for the overwhelming torrent. There is little doubt that the total discharge of water at Cheddar in flood exceeds 100,000,000 gallons a day.