Yorkshire nostalgia: New cave system discovered at Gaping Ghyll... how it was reported in 1971

Dateline: August, 1971: Caver Michael Wooding, 28, a caving enthusiast from Settle, emerged after 13 hours underground to declare he had found a new cave system. He said: 'I have found a new vista of caves.'
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Aug 2018, 11:04 BST
Updated 16th Aug 2018, 15:09 BST
Gaping Ghyll caverns, 1935 Nearly 400 feet below ground in Gaping Ghyll, one of the caverns on the South West Passage.Gaping Ghyll caverns, 1935 Nearly 400 feet below ground in Gaping Ghyll, one of the caverns on the South West Passage.
Gaping Ghyll caverns, 1935 Nearly 400 feet below ground in Gaping Ghyll, one of the caverns on the South West Passage.

Mr Wooding was said to be one of the world’s leading cavers. He was attempting to find a link between Gaping Ghyll, the famous Ingleborough pothole and Ingleborough Cavern, above Clapham village, which he was convinced existed.

On August 2, he entered Disappointment Pot, one of the entrances of Gaping Ghyll. From there, he made his way to the deepest area, a section called The Far Country and beyond it Clay Cavern. There he sought an exist.

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“When I found it,” he said on August 3, “I had to move just a single boulder.” From there onwards he penetrated passages 1,000ft long. To left and right, he saw other possible routes out but had to ignore them for fear of becoming lost.

He went downstream but was thwarted at the last and had to return to the surface without linking the two systems. Mr Wooding had previously discovered caves in Morocco and Lancaster Hole near Kirby Lonsdale.

Related topics:YorkshireIngleborough