WALKS AROUND THE CAVES AND KARST OF THE MENDIP HILLS / A field guide by
Andy Farrant. BCRA Cave Studies Series No 8, 1999. 40 pp 8 plates 9
maps and diagrams. Price £3.50 post free.
Subtitled “A guide to walks illustrating the karst landforms and some
accessible caves within the Mendip Hills”, this handy little A5 guide
describes many features of interest to the mining historian. The walk
around Charterhouse includes Blackmoor Swallet (mine drainage), Ubley
Warren Rakes (Roman opencast) and Stainsby’s shaft( sunk by Cornish
miners in the 1840’s to a depth of 108m), Waterwheel Swallet and Roman
Mines (includes the gated entrance to an 18th century lead mine - Glebe
Swallet), Velvet Bottom (buddle pits, slag heaps, some re-worked in the
1800’s). The Priddy walk takes in Five Buddles Sink (dug by cavers
searching for a cave but found instead one of Thomas Bushell’s drainage
adits), St Cuthbert’s Leadworks (a collection of ruined mine buildings
and a rare late 19th century photo). The Wookey Hole walk includes High
Pitts Farm Iron Mine, even unknown to me!
Easy walking country. Even the unfit could easily combine a morning
walk with lunch at a Mendip pub, with a further walk in the afternoon in
preparation for dinner in the evening! This book would ideally lend
itself to anybody planning a short break - possibly with Wells as a
Centre.
from:
Tony Oldham, Specialist Mine and Cave Bookseller,
Duncavin, Rest Home for Retired Cavers, Riverside Mews, Cardigan, SA43
1DH, UK
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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