Changes to access for the caves around Stump Cross
Short summary:
The CNCC has decided to discontinue the former access agreement for the caves around Stump Cross area, including Mongo Gill and Great Expectations. This is because the terms and language of the agreement have not been updated for many years and are no longer a good fit with our current approaches to cave access. We hope to discuss a new agreement with the owners at Stump Cross Caverns over the coming months, but until then, all visits to the caves around Stump Cross will need to seek permission directly from the show cave owners.
For those wanting a little more detail…
For many years, CNCC have held an agreement with the owners of Stump Cross Caverns enabling caver access to Mongo Gill Hole, Great Expectations, Hell Hole and other nearby caves. For more than three decades, this agreement has been facilitated on behalf of CNCC by Ric Halliwell, whose long service to northern caving, as an enthusiastic caver, digger, permit secretary, club representative and voice of good sense, remains an inspiration.
As the years have gone on, Ric reported that demand for trips to several facilitated-access sites outside of the Three Peaks/Three Counties area was reducing, with the Stump Cross area receiving as little as one or two visiting groups each year. Perhaps cavers are losing interest in sites with more complex access requirements?
For many decades, the owners at Stump Cross have been very caver-friendly, thanks in great part to the efforts of Ric and the Craven Pothole Club, who have helped to foster these great relations.
For years, we have known that the Stump Cross agreement is outdated. The wording is reflective of its original era, expecting CNCC to discipline any clubs breaching the agreement and having no provision for access to individuals. Furthermore, it goes against our current procedures to have any laborious access agreements for caves that are on CRoW Access Land (although we are happy to support a simple compromise, as we have in other areas).
The dwindling interest of cavers in the Stump Cross area meant that for years we have turned a blind eye to the outdated nature of this agreement. This has allowed us to focus our resource on Leck Fell, Casterton Fell, Ingleborough, Penyghent, and more recently Birks Fell where similarly outdated agreements have been completely removed over the last nine years. However, the Stump Cross situation has always remained in the back of our mind.
When the opportunity arose in January to renew the status-quo annual Stump Cross access agreement, we decided now was the right time to discuss this with our membership. At the March 2023 AGM, our members voted in favour of stepping back from the agreement in its current format, because it goes against so many fundamental modern CNCC access principles that we have stood by elsewhere.
We would like to clarify that this is not because CNCC or the owners of Stump Cross have recently insisted on the wording of the present agreement. This wording was perfectly normal when it was written, in a pre-CRoW era, when countryside access and outdoor recreation were not supported in the way they are today. The issue is simply that the current agreement has got older, and nobody has had the time or willpower to address this until now.
With the old agreement having now expired, we currently have no access agreement for the caves around Stump Cross, and anyone interested in visiting will need to make private arrangements with the show-cave owners.
We have no reason to believe the owners will be unwelcoming to cavers, or unamenable to a more modern agreement. With that in mind, our Access Officer will be hoping to have a friendly discussion with the owners at Stump Cross Caverns over the coming months, on the future of caver access to the surrounding sites.
Naturally, in these discussions we will want access for all cavers, individuals and clubs, and we would not expect any substantial restrictions for those caves on Access Land. However, we also wish to reach a compromise that addresses any concerns the show-cave owners have, and most importantly that protects the integrity of their business, which we respect as a valuable asset for promoting interest in caves and awareness of caving amongst the wider public.
We believe that there is much we can do to help support and promote Stump Cross Caverns, and much they can do to support cavers, so we hope that a more modern agreement can be reached without too much difficulty.
We will keep everyone up to date as things progress.
Photos: Shockle Shaft entrance, and formations in Mongo Gill Hole, courtesy of Ian Patrick.