Limestones and Caves of Wales



Edited by: Trevor D. Ford

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN 0-521-32438-6

This book is something of a bible for cave explorers in Wales, it acts a definitive, and useful first point of call for anyone researching a cave system or potential cave system. Sadly, having been published in 1989, it is now somewhat out of date. However, much of the information and references remain relevant. (There is an interesting section hypothesising the Slaughter Stream Cave system which was subsequently entered in 1990 - but isn't quite in Wales!).

The book is made up of twenty chapters written by various authors and does have a bias towards South Wales. Due to the numerous authors, the chapters vary greatly in depth and academic level; some chapters contain quite complicated geological studies and others are pitched at more of an average caver level. The author list, in fact, reads like a "who's who" of UK caving from the late 1980s.

The chapters are:


 * 1) Introduction - Trevor D. Ford
 * 2) The geology of the Carboniferous Limestone of South Wales - David J. Lowe
 * 3) Karst Geomorphology of South Wales - John Crowther
 * 4) The hydrology of the limestone outcrop north of the Coalfield - W. Gascoine
 * 5) Cave biology in South Wales - G. T. Jefferson
 * 6) The Stone Age cave archaeology of South Wales - H. Stephen Green
 * 7) Recent advances in cave archaeology in southwest Wales - Mel Davies
 * 8) Cave Archaeology in North Wales - Mel Davies
 * 9) Cave diving in South Wales - Martyn Farr
 * 10) Limestones and caves of the Forest of Dean - David J. Lowe
 * 11) Otter Hole, Chepstow - Clive D. Westlake, John V. Elliot & Mark E. Tringham
 * 12) The Mynydd Llangattwg Cave Systems - Peter L. Smart & Clive G. Gardener
 * 13) The caves of Nant y Glais, Vaynor - Trevor D. Ford
 * 14) The caves of the Mellte and Hepste Valleys area - Tony Waltham & D. G. Everett
 * 15) The Afon Nedd Fechan caves - Sam Moore
 * 16) Ogof Ffynnon Ddu - Peter L. Smart & Noel S. J. Christopher
 * 17) Dan yr Ogof - Alan C. Coase
 * 18) Llygad Llwchwr - Martyn Farr
 * 19) Swallets and caves of the Gower Peninsula - Dai P. Ede & Peter A Bull
 * 20) Limestones and caves of North Wales - Peter Appleton