Black Rose Caving Club

20/06/2025

We are all heartbroken to hear of the death of Black Rose caver, Mike Skyrme. All of us have many happy memories of our time with Mike and we offer our sincerest condolences to all those who were lucky enough to know him.

16/08/2021

Another excellent summer expedition to Matienzo, northern Spain, with some big discoveries involving Black Rose cavers. Read all about it here:

Pete and Big Steve had been in this cave a couple of times recently. We dug through a sand blockage, then I squeezed through into a small aven, with the way on a too-tight rift of solid rock, draughting strongly. I turned around here and dug out the floor so there should be space to enlarge this rif...

18/09/2020

Porcupines, snakes and dragons - the next issue of Descent will feature a report of our club expedition to Armenia. Buy a copy from your nearest caving shop or, even better, subscribe to the best magazine in the world.

Descent 276 is coming soon with porcupines and maybe even dragons … Descent 276 will be on its way soon, and although caving is slowly getting underway again, things are certainly not back to pre-covid levels, so do settle down for a good read, and take a moment to check whether your subscription ...

22/02/2020

With most of the Yorkshire Dales underwater today, we went for a bimble around Coniston Copper Mines.

01/12/2019

Black Rose Caving Club in the Black Bull, Kirkby Stephen.

26/10/2019

It was a bit wet to go caving in Yorkshire today, so Alex Ritchie, John Proctor, Chris Scaife and Don Miller went down Brewery Shaft in Nenthead Mines.

25/09/2019

The Hidden Earth 2019 timetable is out now. The weekend's main highlights will be: Chris Scaife's presentation on the recently discovered 2.4km Cutthroat Caverns, which is on Saturday at 10:30am in Lecture Theatre 2; and Alex Ritchie's talk about our club expedition to Armenia, which is at 12:45pm on Saturday in Lecture Theatre 1.

Hidden Earth lectures, workshops and films timetable.

22/09/2019

An account of our recent trip to the rarely-visited Purgatory and Pendant Passage in Magnetometer Pot:

Midway upon the journey of our lives, I found myself in Magnetometer Pot. I had been in here before, but only as far as Caton Hall; however, today I was with my very own Virgil (the wrestler, not the poet). Xaaaaaandah is such a Magnetometer veteran that these days when he visits he has to cut his f...

29/04/2019

This year's Hidden Earth is already shaping up to be one of the best ever, now that two presentations are already confirmed featuring Black Rose cavers. In 'Overlooked Armenia', Alex Ritchie will discuss the findings - which of course we hope will be Caverns Measureless to Man - from this summer's expedition to the little known former Soviet state; and in 'Cutthroat Caverns', Chris Scaife and Ben Coult will describe the discovery and exploration of a magnificent new find in the North Pennines.

Abstracts from previous and upcoming Hidden Earth conferences.

21/03/2019

This fantastic guidebook is out very soon, and the author, Black Rose Caving Club's Chris Scaife, will be in Inglesport in the Yorkshire Dales to sign copies on the morning of Saturday the 6th of April.

This book offers the first definitive guide to the caves of Northumberland