Small Mammal Pot

Location
Grid Reference: SD 7518 7233.

Altitude: 395 m

Located in a patch of clints six metres ESE of the beginning of the path descending into Bar Pot, with a wooden cover.

Description
A three metre climb within the clints enters a rift passage which leads almost immediately to a pleasant P-bolted 19 m pitch. This drops into Small Mammal House in Bar Pot.

The route from the bottom of the pitch into the main Bar Pot passages takes a descending crawl for a few metres, before turning right and dropping into the nicely decorated Flowstone Chamber. Climbing up the rift alongside the flowstone leads through a constriction into a wide bedding. Veering left takes you round a hole in the floor and to the bottom of the Bar Pot entrance pitch.

Turning right in the wide bedding leads to a 4 m drop and an alternative route to the Bar Pot Big Pitch via Whitehall.

Access
Permission for access should be obtained from the Ingleborough Estate Office

History
Small Mammal House (SMH) was originally discovered in about 1976 by Phil Johnstone and Fran Bagenal when Lancaster University Speleological Society were undertaking a major resurvey of Bar Pot and Flood Entrance. Originally, a couple of boulders were removed to uncover a tight squeeze into the chamber.

The aven in which the chamber is formed was climbed by Mike Wooding and John Gardner in late 2004 / early 2005, and the choke at the end of the top passage dug through, mainly from below, to create a new entrance in the April of 2005.

The original squeeze into SMH disappeared when a boulder fell from the roof in August 2006. This was tidied up by the Craven Pothole Club.

Stile Pot was connected to SMH in August 2008.

When Bradford Pothole Club rigged the cave for the 2013 Winch Meet, they found that a large slab had been taken from the clints and placed over the entrance. They broke it up, and constructed a wooden cover instead.

References and Further Reading

 * 1) Cordingley J.N., 2005. "Bar Pot Potterings" Descent no. 182, page 15
 * 2) Gardner J.W., 2005. "New GG Entrance Imminent?" Descent no. 183, page 9
 * 3) Gardner J.W., 2005. "Another Entrance for Gaping Gill" Descent no. 184, page 9
 * 4) Gardner J.W., 2006. "The Bar Pot Alternative" Descent no. 190, page 26
 * 5) Jones P., 2006. "Digging at GG 2006" Jnl CPC No. 84, pp 24-27