United Cavers Exploration Team

Location
SJ 1704 6724

Access
On Private Farm Land

Suggested Equipment
None

Length
250m

Flood risk
This is an active sink and is know to react very rapidly to rainfall due to its large catchment area.

Description
An active sink investigate in 1974 but then believed to be abandoned.  In 1994 GCC Had another look and made entrance though the boulder choke just 1m beyond the previous limit of investigation.

Initial entrance is via a in situ ladder and then by descending loose boulders were the stream is met, at a total depth of about 20m. Most of the cave is well washed. At one end a large unstable bedding plane chamber can be entered with well decorated wall. Working back from this is a area with a low crawl tube (sandy bottom) and round the corner a tight rift down into a lower series. Near the bottom of the initial decent the active water follows a very tight route which will require some very tight moves to push any further. The other direction leads into a much more solid and sustained area of the cave with well formed washed passages. Eventually terminating in a small well decorated chamber where there is an abandoned dig. Various other routes down at this end of the cave appear to be completely filled with sand/grid.

V notch weirs erected in 1974 at the sink showed that roughly half of the water sinking here rises at the three Siamber Wen (Rising) Caves almost half a mile to the north-east at  SJ17536749. Where the rest of the water goes is unknown.

Warning: Parts of the cave are VERY unstable. A 15m passage has already been lost due to a boulder rumble.

Digs
What appears to be an abandoned dig at the far end terminal chamber. Other areas of digging would be possible but the fill is likely to be very extensive. Best option likely to be trying to push the active water course.

UCET have done some work (2011) to attempt to stabilise the initial boulder climb down but more work is required.

Went to find the other end where the water re-surfaces today - looks like a crawl in job - has anyone been in here yet or is it worth a look??

From what i understand it looks like a bit of a no-go......

Siamber Wen resurgence caves:

-----------------
Extract from https://sites.google.com/site/cavesofnortheastwales/18-caves-p---s (https://sites.google.com/site/cavesofnortheastwales/18-caves-p---s)
-----------------


Cave 1                                   Length: 4m
The most obvious of the three caves. Access is via an old pipe built into the entrance
This active resurgence gets too low beyond the pipe and brick wall.
The resurgence for Siamber Wen Sink Cave (see below)
 
Cave 2:                                  Length: 30m
A low, wet, awkward crawl eventually becoming too tight.
Obscured entrance 2m to the right of Cave 1 at stream level.

Cave 3:                                  Length: 12m
A short passage leads to a rift in the floor down to water. Excavated in 1981 by NWCC.
Entrance is 3m above Cave 2.

By the way, me and murf started trying to chock up the boulders but we need some more blocks of timber to make this place a bit safer. So start saving any offcuts ;-)

Hi folks

Could you please let me know the access arrangements for the sink

Cheers

Nigel

Its on private farm land. I have however got a close friends who knows the farmer very well and am in the process of tentatively making inquiries. I 'think' we'll be ok but we don't want to rock the boat.

Up to now we have been parking and making access to the boundary of this field from an adjacent property (which has been with permission).