Goatchurch Cavern - Citizendia

Goatchurch Cavern

Location	Burrington Combe
Depth	61. Burrington Combe ( is a Carboniferous limestone Gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset 5 metres
Length	750+ metres
Coordinates	grid reference ST47585823
Geology	Limestone
Number of entrances	2
Difficulty	mostly easy
Hazards	slippery surfaces
Access	Free

Goatchurch Cavern (grid reference ST47585823) is a cave on the edge of Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude Burrington Combe ( is a Carboniferous limestone Gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset The Mendip Hills (commonly called The Mendips) are a range of Limestone hills situated to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset Somerset ( or) is a county in south west England The County town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

The cave is historically understood to be approximately 750 metres (2,500 ft) long, although 1500 m (4900 ft) of surveyed passage has been measured (UBSS, unpublished survey, pending: 2007) and reaches a surveyed depth of 61. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International The University of Bristol Spelæological Society (NSDAP was founded in 1919 by Cavers in the University of Bristol. 5 m (202 ft). It has two entrances and a complex network of predominately dry passages terminating, for most visitors, in a thin phreatic tube known as 'The Drainpipe' or 'The Bunny Run'. The term phreatic is used in Earth sciences to refer to matters relating to ground water below the static Water table (the word originates from the Greek This is a long tight wriggle through 30 ft (9 m) of passageway that is only practically navigable whilst travelling forwards, something that is of relevance due to the Drainpipe terminating in a small blind-ending boulder chamber; meeting another caver halfway is not a pleasant experience. In Geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm (10 Inches diameter Caving or spelunking is the recreational Sport of exploring Caves In contrast Speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave

It is thought that Goatchurch Cavern was explored by lead miners in the 19th century. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar ^[1] Around 1901 the owner unsuccessfully tried to turn it into a show cave. Show caves, also called tourist caves, public caves, and in the U ^[2] The cave is especially popular for training people who are new to caving. This is due to its easy access and wide range of terrain that does not necessitate the use of special equipment such as ropes or ladders. The two entrances to the cave add interest as cavers can do a round trip. Many of the surfaces within are polished, as a result of numbers visiting over many decades and are slippery.

Notes of exploration in the 1920s record finds from the Pleistocene period including bones of mammoth, bear, hyaena and cave lion. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period A mammoth is any Species of the Extinct Genus Mammuthus. These Proboscideans are members of the elephant family and The Hyaenidae is a Mammalian family of order Carnivora. The Hyaenidae family native to both African and Asian continents consists of four The cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is an Extinct Subspecies of Lion ^[3] During November 2003 inscribed marks were noticed in Goatchurch Cavern while cleaning away graffiti. Graffiti (singular graffito; the plural is used as a Mass noun) is the name for images or lettering scratched scrawled painted or marked in any manner on property Three finely cut marks were uncovered, resembling the letter W with a patina darker than in nearby graffiti dated 1704. Patina is a coating of various chemical compounds such as Oxides or Carbonates formed on the surface of metal during exposure to Weathering. These have been identified as ritual protection marks, possibly dating from the period 1550 to 1750. The term ritual protection mark was preferred to the description "witch marks". According to Witch-hunters during the height of the Witch trials (c ^[4]

A survey was conducted within Goatchurch Cavern to investigate the effect of seasonal variations on the recorded radon concentration, from which an average summer to winter ratio of 4. Radon (ˈreɪdɒn is the Chemical element that has the symbol Rn and Atomic number 86 Summer is one of the four Temperate Seasons Summer marks the warmest time of year with the longest days Winter is one of the four Seasons of Temperate zones Calculated astronomically, it begins on the Solstice and ends on the Equinox 79 was determined. Radiation doses to users of the caves were estimated and for occupational cavers doses of in excess of 16 mSv were found to be likely. Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy The sievert (symbol Sv is the SI derived unit of dose equivalent. ^[5]

References

^ Johnson, Peter (1967). The History of Mendip Caving. Newton Abbott: David & Charles.
^ Barrington, Nicholas; William Stanton (1977). Mendip: The complete caves. Cheddar: Cheddar Valley Press. ISBN 9780950145914.
^ Irwin, David; Anthony Knibbs (1977). Mendip Underground: A Cavers Guide. Somerset: Mendip Publishing. ISBN 0953610306.
^ Goatchurch Cavern marks. Apotropaios. Retrieved on 2007-01-27. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
^ Sperrin, Malcolm; Gillmore, Gavin; Denman, Tony (2001). "Radon concentration variations in a Mendip cave cluster" (in English). Environmental Management and Health 12 (5): 476–482. doi:10.1108/09566160110404881. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.

References

See also