Our Exploits at West Poley

Author: Thomas Hardy

Publisher: The Household magazine, Boston

Our Exploits at West Poley was written by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). Written in 1883, just before the Mayor of Casterbridge, it was originally serialised in the Boston magazine, The Household, between November 1892 and April 1893. It was subsequently re-published by the OUP in 1952 with illustrations by Lynton Lamb, and by Puffin in 1982, with illustrations by Alexy Pendle. It was Hardy's only children's novel.

It describes how a group of lads exploring a cave on Mendip, create havoc when they divert a stream from one passage into another, resulting in West Poley losing a water supply and East Poley gaining one. It's very well written, and demonstrates a good knowledge of the underground world. It also contains the wonderful line: "This cavern is in our parish, and you have no right to be here at all". It should be mandatory reading for all Mendip diggers!

Merton Park Studios released a film based on the book, The Secret Cave in 19531. In the middle 1980s a television version was made by Children’s Film and Television Foundation, and was first broadcast in 1990 as Exploits at West Poley2.