Jingling Pot

Jingling Pot is one of the most popular vertical cave systems in the West Kingsdale area of Yorkshire. The cave, or as is known locally, pothole (pit cave in American English), is on the flanks of one of Yorkshires finest mountains, Wherneside. It is about 145 feet deep and explorers have the option of a direct abseil (rappel) descent down the main shaft or, a  traverse, a few feet from the top into the Lateral Cleft. When I did this cave it was via an exciting swing across the gap into the cleft  with the rope anchored to a rowan tree on the lip of the pothole but I understand that this is, unfortunately,  no longer encouraged because of the condition of the tree and loose rocks.  The Lateral Cleft which leads to a series of shorter vertical drops to join up with the route at the bottom of the main shaft.

The direct descent and the climb back up using single rope technique offers an exciting degree of exposure and some spectacular and atmospheric views but the lateral cleft route offers great practice for less experienced cavers (spelunkers) in the art of rigging pitches. Doing either route using an electron ladder is physically demanding but a great tribute to tradition.

A feature of this cave is that the profile around the entrance is such that it grows grass that is attractive to sheep which tend to stray towards the more succulent fodder on the increasingly steep slopes, leading , inevitably, to regular falls of animals into the pot. The base of the main pitch is littered with skeletons of sheep and dead bodies in various stages of decay.

At the bottom of the main shaft a narrow  rift progresses  to the north and descends down a steep slope into another  chamber. At the end of that chamber the initials of the original party that entered the pothole , using rope ladders, in 1897, (members of the Yorkshire Ramblers Club)  can  be seen scratched into the rock. Remarkably, the lateral cleft route was not discovered until 1969. The stream which opened up this pothole (Jingling Brook) no longer flows into the cave (rather it enters the strata via the nearby Jingling Cave), except in very wet weather when the pothole takes the water overflow from the brook.