Dowsing the Dales - PART FIVE
The Fountains Fell Master Cave
Introduction
Part Two of this series of articles on dowsing results with
reference to cave systems in the Yorkshire Dales dealt with Penyghent and
Fountains Fell (Wilcock, 1989). The pros and cons of dowsing will not be
reiterated here: there has been enough of a discussion in the letters column of
Caves and Caving, and a dowsing class was held at the 1992 Cavers' Fair in the
Forest of Dean. My own paper "On the possible scientific justification of
dowsing for the detection of caves" at the BCRA Conference in September 1992 was
attended by a large audience; during the following practical class held in
Bradford City Centre, novice dowsers were able to follow an underground stream,
flowing in a brick-lined culvert with absolutely no surface indications, for
over 1km - they were astounded when the party ended up at a building site where
the surface stream and its entry to the culvert were plain for all to see. A
general theory of the mechanism of dowsing, which will permit scientists to
incorporate it into scientific knowledge, is still lacking, but meanwhile it
seems that many, perhaps a majority of cavers are willing to sit on the fence,
and to have dowsing judged by its accuracy and practical value in the location
of new caves, rather than by theories and opinions. Just two of the recently
published scientific studies involving the location of caves by dowsing will be
mentioned here (Mogila, 1985; Herbert, 1990; France, 1991a, 1991b). In 1581 the
Italian Alessandro Guanini wrote that there were vast underground caverns dug
out by the monks at Kiev, and said to be over 130km in total length. In the
opening up of the tourist site at the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev, the
Biolocation (i.e. dowsing) Group attached to North Ukraine Geology, an
institution that prospects for ores and other resources, was invited to find
some of these unknown passages. Mogila (1985) reported that the dowsers
indicated 130 cavities. Of these, 73 were sites already known to the curators,
but not previously known to the dowsers. A further 29 sites were unknown to the
curators, but produced cavities on drilling. This was a total success rate of
78%. Malcolm Herbert (1990) described the South Wales Caving Club dowsing
exercises at Pant Mawr and in the area between Waun Fignen Felin and
Sinc-y-Giedd, which developed into part of the Greensites (i.e. detecting caves
under featureless ground) Project. Stuart France (1991a; 1991b) has provided
much more detail on this; of the battery of techniques investigated, many were
prohibitively expensive or too slow, and resistivity has produced the best
results; but dowsing did give a reaction in the correct general area and in the
correct direction of the known passage - it is best to conclude that there is
some correlation between underground anomalies and dowsing results, but much
more confirmatory work needs to be done ("the jury is still out").
Review of the 1989 dowsing results
All of the 1989 dowsing traces referred to in the previous paper (Wilcock, 1989)
have been gone over again, and found to be consistent and repeatable. The
projected route which has provoked most discussion is the remarkably indirect
southern route via Silverdale Barn, the Studfold spring line, and Dry Beck.
Much of the route has peat bogs with no visible outcrops of rock, but geologists
suggest that the basement beds form a raised "tongue" with Long Lane as its
spine, overlain by limestone. Some discussants have said that the route could
not possibly go that way because of the outcrop of basement beds in certain
fields; however, it was always proposed that the cave, should it exist here,
would be at the junction of the basement beds and the limestone, with basement
beds forming the passage floor, as in White Scar Cave. The projecting tongue of
basement beds would under these circumstances force the cave to follow a
contouring route around the tongue under the prevailing hydraulic gradient to
Brants Gill, and nothing which has been said has proved that this could not in
fact be the case. Clearly water is forced SW, as is evident from the copious
springs in the Studfold area; whether the passages are negotiable by cavers or
divers is of course another matter.
New Cave Exploration Since 1989
Recent diving at Gingling Hole and the resulting cave survey has confirmed the
general direction predicted by the 1989 dowsing, the prevailing direction being
towards the northern end of Silverdale. Diving at Dub Cote also confirms the
predicted route of outflow water from the general direction of Larch Tree Hole.
Further Dowsing Work (1992)
The following descriptions are a hypothesis which is entitled to stand until
disproved. If correct, a further 4km of passage is revealed, forming the main
Fountains Fell Master Cave heading NW from the northern end of Silverdale to the
Dub Cote phreas, thus suggesting that the main route for the Fountains Fell
water is from Silverdale under the flank of Penyghent, then via Dub Cote and
Brackenbottom Water Supply to Douk Gill and finally to Brants Gill. On the
illustrated map the dowsing traces are shown as thick black lines. There appear
to be two large parallel passages, if the dowsing results are to be believed.
It is now 40 years since it was first proved that the Fountains Fell water
resurged at Douk Gill and Brants Gill. All the energetic explorations have
resulted in sumps near resurgence level. Unfortunately, therefore, it is the
cave divers to whom we must probably look for further exploration. However,
there are several shakeholes over the predicted routes, which might provide
high-level entries. It will not be an easy undertaking.
John Wilcock, 22 Kingsley Close, Stafford, ST17 9BT
New dowsing results in the Penyghent flank area, showing the projected Fountains
Fell Master Cave
[insert Figure here]
References
France, S.A., 1991a, "Detecting caves". William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust
Limited Newsletter 61, pp. 19-27
France, S.A., 1991b, "Jury still out in dowsing case". South Wales Caving Club
Newsletter 109
Herbert, M., 1990, "Dowsing" in Greensites.South Wales Caving Club Newsletter
108, pp. 16-17
Mogila, I., 1985, "Where two secrets intersect: Unknown early subterranean
passageways discovered at the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev" Trud October 20,
1985. Translated by Bird, C., 1986 in "Dowsing in the Soviet Union". Psi
Research March/June 1986, pp. 34-38
Wilcock, J.D., 1989, "Dowsing the Dales. Part two. Penyghent and Fountains
Fell".Caves & Caving 42, pp. 11-13.