
Irish Caves
-
Eire - County Clare
Underlying most of Ireland are huge beds of
Carboniferous Limestone. The structure of the limestone beds
is rather like a huge saucer with the edges at the coast being
those places where the limestone is exposed and caves can
be found. One of the most spectacular areas of limestone exposure
is the Burren, on the west coast of Eire, in County Clare.
Here there are vast tracts of bare eroded limestone. There
are few rivers above ground and those that do appear often
disappear and reappear along their course, the water flowing
underground in huge conduits to resurge at springs on the
edge of Galway Bay. Cave divers are slowly
exploring these underground water courses as well as cave
systems on the coast formed in the geological past and now
inundated by the sea.
There are many cave systems accessible to the
'dry' caver including Pollnagollum, the longest system in
Ireland comprising several entrances and many kilometres of
passage. Another extraordinary system, the Doolin-Fisherstreet
system, has a traverse between two entrances to a point not
far from its rising under the sea. At one point it runs under
a stream flowing on the surface which partially empties its
waters through the roof of the cave!
Visitors to the Burren can get a glimpse of
the underground world by visiting Ailwee
Cave, which lies in the centre of the Burren. Afficonados
of the TV comedy series Father Ted may like to know that much
of it was filmed in this area with one episode filmed in the
cave.
The caves are characteristics by long winding
narrow streampassages often beautifully decorated with stalactite
formations. The walls are carved by the stream into fine scallops.
Potholes are relatively unusual although they do exist, such
as in the system of Poll na gCeim (Cave of the Steps) that
descends in a series of deep shafts. Exploration continues
to this day. Much of it has been by members of the University
of Bristol Speleological Society who have been active in the
region for 50 years. They have published an interesting guide
book to the caves of this region called Caves of County Clare
and South Galway (ISBN 0-9545850-0-3). it's obtainable from
their website which also
has links for accomodation at the coastal village of Doolin
on the edge of the Burren.
Further south in County Kerry is another fine
system, Crag Cave,
near the town of Castleisland. It is now open to the public
after discoveries made by welsh cave diver Martyn Farr in
1983. The cave runs under the drive to the land owner's house
and an entrance could be fortuitously excavated in a field
next to the drive! The author managed to make a minor discovery
with his friend Ted Popham in the same system in 1984, although
the trip was rather exciting due to problems with lights!
Coolagh River Cave
This system is very prone to flooding to the
roof in heavy rain! Anybody who has visited the cave will
be impressed by this knowledge in view of the size of the
stream passages.

tTypical cascade in Coolagh River
Cave |

Peter Glanvill in a Plunge Pool |

Main Stream Passage |

'Guiness froth' from a recent flood |
St. Catherine's to Fisherstreet Pot
(the Doolin system)
| 
The Smithy |

the Smithy |

Main Passage |

Main Passage |

The Aille Cascade (Angie
Glanvill) |
|
Pollballiny
This system has the reputation of being arduous.
The entrance lies in a row of shakeholes, along the west side
of Knockauns Mountain, the points of engulfment for water
running off impervious shale onto the limestone. The long
narrow winding passage (over a kilometre in length) used to
end in a boulder choke but a team from UBSS used a car jack
to pass this and shortly after one the biggest cave passages
in the region was entered. Unfortunately it becomes blocked
by a gigantic choke of boulders extending the full 25 metre
height of the passage. The stream has found a new route but
it is too small to negotiate. One theory has it that this
vast tunnel is just an inlet to an even large cave system
yet to be discovered!

Just before the first choke |

Stalactite formations |

A climb into the main passage |

The big rift |

The final pitch |

Near the final boulder choke |
Poulnagollor
This short but attractive stream cave lies somewhat off the
beaten track and was visited on 2.4.86 by a team of CDG and
UBSS members. The sump was dived by Rick Stanton and myself
and a 40 metre extension entered. It ends very close to a
surface sink.

Entrance |

Main Streamway |

Rick Stanton kitting up |

Rick prepares to dive the sump |

Entering the sump |

Rick Stanton in a decorated oxbowin Poulnagollor 2 |

Rick and crystal floor |
|
|
Cave of the Wild Horses
This extraordinary cave system lies in what
is thought to be a fossil polje now inactive in the sense
that very little water drains into it. However although only
small streams are apparent in the cave, at times water wil
well up through the system and emerge from the entrance. This
indicates a rise of nearly 60 metres! Needless to say it would
be extremely dangerous to be in the cave at such a time so
visits should be made in settled weather. The cave has a legend
attached to it, namely that in times of flood a herd of wild
horses with magical properties will race from the cave. Sadly
I have no eyewitness accounts of this event. The hydraulic
pressure of the intermittent floods leads to the massive mud
banks in the lower reaches being shifted about regularly and
explorers have been puzzled to enter passages never noticed
before by others, even on well trodden trade routes.
In 1985 Charlie Self, Janet Cooper and myself
visited the cave because Charlie wanted to check passage detail
for a new guide book to the caves in the area. During the
course of the trip I explored a passage described as ending
in a series of ducks. In reality it ended in an 8 metre pitch
and we returned the next day to explore some fascinating gour
lined canals and a mud choked terminal passage dubbed Frog
Passage. Linda Mullan one of the team was the first to pass
a squeeze holding up progress and this was dubbed 36B squeeze.

Walking across the depression to the entrance that
lies under the cliff in the distance |

The entrance |

Entrance Passage |

Entrance passage with trencn |

Entrance series |

Entrance series |

Mud banks in Lower Series |

Lower series |

Graham Mullan and gours |

Gour Passage |

Moving along Gour Passage |

Charlie Self descending the pitch at the end of Gour
Passage |

Fluting just below the pitch |

36B squeeze |

Graham and the fast growing gours |

Angie Glanvill and gour dams |

Ted Popham and the gours |

The canal |
 |
 |
 |

Julian Walford in the canal near the far end |

Frog Passage |

Frog Passage |

Terminal Choke |
|
|
The Submarine and Tidal
Caves of Doolin
In Doolin Harbour, the embarkation point for
the ferry to Aran Islands. exist a number of submarine caves
of a length so far unique in the British Isles. They were
certainly known to local divers for some time before my first
visit in 1986 but I seemed to have set the ball rolling for
further exploration when after a brief foray into several
entrances I wrote an article for Descent magazine entitled
The lure of the Green Holes, a tongue in cheek reference to
the Emarald Isle and the Blue Holes of the Bahamas. Subsequent
visits by a number of explorers both from the UK and locally
explored systems both below the reef at the entrance to the
harbour and further along the coast. There are probably about
2 kilometres of underwater passage so far explored and surveyed
and the systems, clearly formed in a previous geological epoch,
display considerable complexity and are a haven to many marine
species usually found in more sheltered waters. Futher along
the coast are some tidal cave systems, again not sea caves
but old cave systems invaded by the sea.The most well known
is Urchin Hole reached by an interesting scramble down the
limestone cliffs.
Doolin Reef Caves

Mark Vinall in Chertledge Cave |

Robinson's Cave |

Tiny crinoids poke from the walls of Harbour Hole |

Tompot Blenny on a ledge |

Rick Stanton reels in |

Common prawn |

Feather star |

Robinson's cave |

Ted Popham in Chertledge Cave |

Mark Vinall |

Ted Popham entering Through Cave |
|
| |
|
|
|
Urchin Cave
This interesting intertidal/subtidal cave system lies north
of Doolin and is not easy to locate. Check tide tables before
visiting the site. If the sea is rough it might be sensible
to go elsewhere. The entrance is a low bedding slot that opens
out into a roomy phreatic tunnel occupied by a variety of
marine organisms, some of which are rarely if ever seen on
the shore even on low spring tides. The darkness and high
humidity allows many creatures to survive exposure to air
without harm.

Jim Durston in the bedding passage entrance - daylight
just visible in the background |

Typical phreatic tube |

Jim and a dahlia anemone |

Spider crabs |
 |

Wall studded with prolapsed cup corals |

Edible sea urchins |

Beadlet anemones |

Philippa Glanvill in the main passage |
 |

Jim examines a cotton spinner |
|
| |
|
|
|
Eire -
County Kerry
Crag Cave
This lengthy system is in County Kerry as opposed
to most of the caves on this page that in County Clare. We
visited in July 1984 not long after the cave had been extended
by not only Martyn Farr but also a CDG team from the UK earlier
in the year. We were given permission to camp in the grounds
of the house under which the cave system lies. The excavated
entrance for the show cave lis in a field adjacent to the
entrance drive of Crag House. A freediveable sump leads to
a passage known as Crag Quarry Passage and, on our July trip,
Ted Popham and myself extended the cave to a streamway and
boulder choke. The presence of spiders' webs here suggests
that the end is not far from Crag Quarry Cave.

The original JK Cave entrance |

Ted Popham and Sally Glanvill in the entrance chamber
of JK |

Ted Popham emerging from JKentrance |

Diver's Delight |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |

The White Tower |
 |
|
|
| |

Ted in Ted's Short discovered in July 1984 linking
Shanahan Chamber and Crag Quarry Passage |
|
 |
 |
 |

Shanahan Chamber |
 |
|
 |
 |

Diver's Disgust (far side of the free diveable sump) |

False Floor in Crag Quarry Passage |

Crag Quarry Passage |
|
Fermanagh
Marble Arch Cave
This big river system has now been elevated
to the position of second longest in Northern Ireland after
a connection was made to the Cascades/Prod's Pot system in
the spring of 2010. About 25 years ago a long held dream of
developing it as a show cave was realised and it is now, by
far, the most spectacular in the British Isles. To learn more
about the place visit the
Marble Arch Showcave website. Three underground rivers
feed the river that emerges below a cliff just above the eponymous
Marble Arch. The first upstream sump can be bypassed to Skreen
Hill 2 where a well decorated inlet passage called Legnabrocky
Way can be followed for a considerable distance through some
large chambers. The system is very flood prone so caution
needs to be exercised on visits in unsettled weather.
| |

The impressive entrance to Marble Arch Cave |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|

Sediments in the Sand Chamber at the end of Legnabrocky
Way. Black bands are 8000 year old charcoal deposits |
| |

The gate to Lower Cradle Hole |

Looking out of Lower Cradle Hole |
|
|