THRUPE LITE EXTRA

- A Mendip Miscellany -

• Re-opening of Cloford Quarry Cave
• A little nostalgia (29-Sep-2006)

Re-opening of Cloford Quarry Cave (2003)

Cloford Quarry Cave is interesting because it is developed at or near an unconformity, (where the carboniferous limestone is overlayed directly by inferior oolite).   The cave was thought to have been quarried away but in 2003, after various probings and an afternoon's gentle digging at the top of the quarry face, the system was reopened.

A little nostalgia

A rare photograph of the inside of the original Ferret Shed.   It shows a young and rather furtive-looking Simon Meade-King preparing for a digging session at Thrupe.

The original ferret shed stood in the corner of the Thrupe Farm yard near the gate.   Nelson demolished it sometime in the early 1980s to make enough space to park his trailer.

The present Ferret Shed (originally a prefabricated garage), was moved from Saltford and erected on the Thrupe site by Richard, Bob Cottle and Simon Meade-King.

The first shaft at Thrupe Lane (L to R. Alan Clarke, Simon Meade-King, Tony Dingle, plus someone I can't identify, wearing a Texolex helmet).

The area over Butt's Chamber started collapsing in 1968 and this 1970 photograph shows the first shaft to be sunk into the depression.   A further collapse has just occurred in the depression and has exposed the shaft timbers.  

Three more shafts had to be sunk before the diggers finally broke into the cave.