In the morning, it became apparent that we were the only Orpheus members down for the weekend for a trip into some of the caves of Fairy Cave Quarry, surprisingly as the caves are among the best decorated in Britain. The arrangement was to meet Ed Waters at the quarry car park at 10:30 so that he could act as guide.
So, after getting up at 08:30 and having breakfast at Upper Pitts, we got bored of hanging around as it would take only half an hour to drive over to Fairy Cave Quarry near Stoke St. Michael, we headed that way leisurely.
I had been on a trip to various of the caves in the Quarry many years ago with the St. Albans Caving Club and at the time we had changed in the old Cerberus Speleological Society's cottage next to the car park. Sadly the old cottage is now a complete ruin.
We waited for half an hour and a car arrived driven by Ed who introduced himself and after we got changed he unlocked the gates to the quarry and we walked across to the entrance to Shatter Cave as Ed told us a bit about the history of the caves.
Like the other caves in the quarry, the entrance has been extended from the quarry face by concrete pipes to provide protection from any falling rocks. Near the end of the pipe was a gate and Ed soon had this unlocked.
Just inside were some large blocks and quite a lot of evidence of shattering in the rock due to the quarrying activities in the past. These shattered rocks were the reason for calling the cave Shatter Cave.
After signing in the log book we continued onwards for a short distance, passing the link with nearby W/L Cave, then into Canopy Chamber. Here was the beginnings of the cave's formations and decorations with the most prominent being a large canopy of flowstone.
At the upper end of the chamber there was a short crawl into Diesel Chamber, so named due to the smell of diesel found by the original explorers back in the 1960's when quarrying operations first revealed the cave. Here there was a superb section of floor with small gours.
After scrambling through a few boulders and a short drop, the passage led upwards to Helectite Rift where a beautiful stal curtain was seen with a ledge on the opposite side with the remains of helectites. Ed told us that many years ago the Army has used the cave for “Adventurous Training” and some plonker had crawled along the ledge damaging the helectites as he went despite an easy pathway passing the ledge. Unbelievable!
This led to Tor Chamber, so named after a large stalagmite formation though to look a bit (well if you try really hard) like Glastonbury Tor. There were plenty of other formations in this large, steeply climbing chamber as well.
We had a look at the very steep continuation of Tor Chamber at the far end then back-tracked to a side passage which led to Pisa Passage. This was named after a 3 metre high stalagmite formation which had been broken probably by an earthquake in the distant past and was now leaning at an angle towards the wall reminding the original discoverers of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
After following a trench in the floor past banks of flowstone, we climbed up a few metres to gain the higher level passage called the Ring Road. After having a look at a well decorated grotto we continued onwards via a short crawl to Pillar Chamber.
This chamber had the most amazing crystal floor and is dominated by a large flowstone column known as the Pillar. Normally the tourist trip ends here. Luckily as there were only two of us, we were allowed to crawl carefully beyond the tape marking the end of the normal route and wend our way through formations to arrive at one side of the chamber near the Pillar.
Now we could really see the floor and I must say it was amazing! It consists f mainly pure white crystalline flowstone with a large dry pool near the Pillar where you can see how thick the layer of flowstone is and how it is made of such lovely crystalline flowstone.
The cave continues for a bit after Pillar Chamber but visits to this section are restricted to protect the formations as it is difficult to ensure they remain free from damage as you pass very close to them and parts of the floor are also very well decorated. Ed explained that although he himself had been in Shatter Cave more than 90 times, he had only been beyond Pillar Chamber 3 or 4 times.
We turned around and to begin with completed a short round trip by passing the awkward more than tight Z Squeeze to arrive back at the passage where we had climbed up to the Ring Road. All that remained was to retrace our route back to the entrance again being amazed at the beautiful formations and having a closer look while also taking many photos.
After exiting Shatter Cave and replacing the locks on the gate, we walked across to the nearby concrete pipe entrance to neighbouring W/L Cave which connects with Shatter Cave but as the connection is muddy, it isn't used.
Although quite a bit shorter than neighbouring Shatter Cave (which has around1000 metres of passage wile W/L Cave is only about 150 metres long), W/L Cave is still well-worth a visit as it also is well-decorated.
Again after a short crawl through concrete pipes and through a locked gate, we were in walking passage. Ed pointed out a dry crystalline pool under the left-hand wall with small round formations known as the Lily Pads. There was also a large stalactite and associated stalagmite almost forming a column right in the middle of the passage.
After a short section involving a crawl in a bit of mud we passed more helectites and other formations and soon arrived at the end of the cave with a small chamber fill of reddish-coloured flowstone with a lovely pool of water which is known as Pink Pool Chamber.
Next we had a quick look in Fernhill Cave which is accessed by dropping down a set of concrete sewer pipes about 40 foot long sloping downwards at 60 degrees. This isn't a very large cave but has some amazing curtains. Its had been blocked by quarry waste for decades but access was dug again very recently.
Soon we were back up on the surface and after getting changed back in the car park where we met other cavers who were digging in one of the caves, we said our thanks to Ed and he told us about an 80's Fancy Dress Party that evening at the ACG.
Anyway, we left Fairy Cave Quarry and as we were quite thirsty, we headed for nearby Shepton Mallet where we found a lot of the shops were closed despite it only being 16:00 on a Saturday! We found a nice café and had a cold drink an a pot of tea together with some cheese toasties.
Next we had a wander around Cheddar as it was early and still a lovely day. Although tempted by stuff in the Gorge Outdoors shop, I managed to get away with only buying a Buff-like Choob to use while caving to wipe off sweat and mud from my face.
Returning to Upper Pitts, we found a lot more cars around and the Wessex having a barbecue. We had a tea the walked up the road to the Queen Victoria Inn at around 18:30 to have a lovely meal and Butcombe Gold.
Unfortunately it wasn't as restful a night as the previous night due to the barbecue but at least we had some sleep!
Photos from Shatter Cave
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