Minera Mountain Shakeholes

Location
Shakehole #1 SJ 232(64) 468(72) 1530 ft ~ AKA Ogof Noeth

Shakehole #2 SJ 232(61) 466(81) 1595 ft

Shakehole #3 SJ 231(00) 464(77) 1662 ft

Shakehole #4 SJ 236(33) 470(39) 1465 ft

Shakehole #5 SJ 23?(??) 47?(??) 1455 ft

Directions
Park at Worlds End car park. Continue up the hill and take the path on the right immediately after the tree line.

These shakeholes are invisible and you will definitely need a GPS to find them.

Access
Natural pots, no gates, permission unknown

Suggested Equipment
Electron or rope

Length
Unknown

Flood risk
Unknown

Cave Attributes
A product of a karst landscape. Probably part of the Worlds End cave system and maybe connecting.

Description
Shakehole #1
Believed to have been first found by Mick Murphy on 22nd Feb 2009 and named “Aladdin Pot”.

Wholly impossible to find except by pure chance or very specific GPS, this pot resembles the typical Yorkshire Dales Pot. Located at the bottom of a shakehole, this pot is clean and washed with a small (18inches-24inches) vertical entrance which drops around 10 feet into a passageway running west to east.

Descent is not possible without an electron ladder or possibly a rope. (well, descent is possible but the returning ascent would not be)

Draft testing proved successful the finder was heard to say; “It’s sucking like a buzzard” and “smoke is being drawn down there like there is no tomorrow”.

This pot (and the others) are in close proximity with Worlds End caves and may well be part of the same system.

It is therefore reckoned it is a “go-er”.

Update 25th May 2009; This cave was visited again by UCET and the Wessex and entered. It was found to have been previously entered with evidence of human activity left (see photos below). The cave is, in fact, "Ogof Noeth" and is documented in the book "The caves of North East Wales" by Cris Ebbs and extends to over 100m.

Shakehole #2
A shakehole with 3 holes in. Two are fruitless but one shows potential.

However, the pot with potential is too small to pass through and would require digging. It most probably connects with the other shakeholes in close proximity.

Shakehole #3
A substantial shakehole with a good sized pot heading North East.

Unfortunately, this pot is plugged with clay and draft testing yielded a negative result.

A potentially good dig site.

Shakehole #4
A small shakehole with a reasonable pot.

However, the pot is too small to pass with a boulder blocking the entrance. A quick “scratch” revealed that stones from the surface could be clearly heard dropping inwards.

Potentially a good dig and probably connects to the other near by pots.

Shakehole #5 ‘Old Murf’s Dig”
Small shakehole with a pot running into a rift.

Originally found and dug by Mick over 20 years ago

The dig appears to be around 15feet and would require work to bring it back to it’s condition some 20 years ago.

Digs
‘Old Murf’s Dig’ is on-going (if not abandoned)
Pots #2, #3 and #4 are potential digs.

Links
None known

Shakehole #1 (Ogof Noeth)







This doesn't show too well but you are looking at the floor some 8 to 10 feet below the pot entrance and it appears to be a passageway akin to a dry stream bed of pebbles




Shakehole #1 (Ogof Noeth)

Mick entering Ogof Noeth






A sheep which had fallen down the pot and was stuck in the cave






Looking through "the slot"






Mick in "the slot"






Looking back at the first squeeze underneath the entrance






Looking down the dry squeeze







Doug entering the dry squeeze backwards






Evidence of a previous human visit







An unexploded mortar bomb found by Doug close to the pot (now destroyed by Chester bomb disposal)