Dan yr Ogof
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| Dan-yr-Ogof | |
|---|---|
| Location | West Glamorgan |
| Length | 10 Miles (16km) |
| Discovery | 1912 |
| Hazards | Some parts avoided when on tour of caves |
| Access | Safe |
| Translation | "Beneath the cave". The Morgan Brothers named the cave after their farm. (Welsh) |
Dan yr Ogof is a 10 mile (16 km) long cave system in south Wales, five miles north of Ystradgynlais and fifteen miles south west of Brecon within the Brecon Beacons National Park, and is the main feature of a show cave complex (advertised as The National Showcaves Centre for Wales) which is claimed to be the largest in Europe.
The cave was first explored by two local brothers in 1912, Tommy and Jeff Morgan, using candles and primitive equipment. Completely unsure of what they would discover, they armed themselves with a revolver. The Morgan brothers' initial expedition was halted at a large lake, which they later managed to cross by coracle. They eventually crossed three more lakes in the same manner, but were stopped by a tight crawl.
The squeeze was passed by Eileen Davies (after Ogden's first passing of it see note) in 1963, a member of Swansea University Caving Club. The initials 'PO' were found by Eileen Davies at the pitch to Gerard Platten Hall. Peter Ogden had not descended the pitch due to a period of bad weather.) Ref: SWCC records and Dan-yr-Ogof "The Jewel of Welsh caving" M Farr 1999 (page 50).
(Note: It was first passed by Peter Ogden also of Swansea University Caving Club in the October before Eileen Davies passed the long crawl (it looked better for show cave publicity and those on the party to ignore the break through by Ogden and hand it to the more photogenic Davies).
Exploration has been steadily continued by later cavers who have extended the cave to its present 10 mile length. Some of this length was reached through cave diving. One of these explorers was Martyn Farr, who wrote a book about the system (see below) in which he claims that the system will eventually be extended to at least 150Km (100 miles).
In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, Dan yr Ogof was named as the greatest natural wonder in Britain.
The bones of some 42 humans, as well as numerous animal bones, have been found in one of the nearby chambers of this cave system.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Dan yr Ogof: The jewel of Welsh caves by Martyn Farr ISBN 1-85902-645-1
