Upper Flood Swallet

Alternative name
Blackmoor Flood Swallet

Location
Grid Reference: ST 5057 5576

Altitude: 240m

Upper Flood Swallet is 400 yards east of the Charterhouse cross roads

Access
Access is provided through Mendip Caving Group on behalf of the landowner

See the access section of the Council of Southern Caving Clubs (CSCC) website for latest details.

A Google Map of the CSCC Region also giving access details has been produced by Bill Chadwick of the Bracknell and District Caving Club.

Surveys


Above: Upper Flood Swallet 1976 (c) MCG 2006



Above: Upper Flood Swallet October 2007 (c) MCG 2007

Description
A series of hands and knees crawls, much of which has been won by mining, leads to the well-decorated Midnight Chamber streamway. The stream sinks down a too-tight rift, but a climb up on the right leads to Hannah's Grotto and the Lavatory Trap. This has been bailed, and a wet crawl leads to a T juction. Right is Black Shale Rift and ends close to the surface. Left leads to the Red Room and Golden Chamber.

A difficult route through boulders opens into a fine passageway The nature of the cave now changes dramatically. Some 500 metres of large open passage, with a stream in places, is followed. Initally about 12m sqaure, the left-hand wall is a continuous 5 metre high flowstone for around 30 metres. Other formations include roof pendants, straws, flowstone, curtains and mud castles.

Another 700m of passages follow, mostly long and straight, with occasional dog-legs. Several small inlets join (possibly from Grebe Swallet or Waterwheel Swallet).

A better description of the recent discoveries beyond the Red Room can be found here.

The present end of the cave is a low crawl, currently impassable.

Exploration continues

History
(Note: this page is a work-in-progress)

Entrance first revealed after the Great Flood of 1968.

Probably first entered, by Mendip Caving Group, on 03/10/68 when a tourist (Peter Anderson) drew the entrance to the attention of an MCG party who were digging at the nearby Middle Flood Swallet (now called Waterwheel Swallet).

On the first trip the cave was explored to length 83m and depth 13m. A dig was commenced in a mud wallow (Stal Pot) by attempting to bail the mud into a dam made from mud-filled plastic bags.

In late 1971 the Reservoir Hole team from Wessex Cave Club also began a dig. WCC and MCG were, at first, unaware that each had permission to dig (this part of the valley had been recently sold). Sensibly, a joint digging approach was adopted with WCC digging midweek and MCG digging at weekends.

On 11/07/72 MCG broke through into a decorated passage and chamber. A joint MCG and WCC party made a second breakthrough on 18/08/72. Work progressed in this fashion until 235m of passage has been discoverd by 1976, of which 15m had been totally blocked and 25m partly blocked.

Between 1976 and 1981 MCG concentrated on cottage building; digging continued, although progress was slow until the next big breakthrough on 13/04/85 when Midnight Chamber and the streamway was discovered.

In 13/08/06 Hannah's Grotto was discovered, leading to the Lavatory Trap. This latter obstacle was not passed until 1987.

Sludge Duck was passed on 04/07/87 and Black Shale Rift explored.

(exploration 1987 - 2006 to be added)

A major breakthrough occurred on 10/09/06 when over 1.2km of passage was added on 2 digging trips.