There is a wealth of important collections of archive material pertaining to British caves and British caving that are held by various clubs, museums, and libraries around the country, some of which is available online. Here we list the material that we are aware of for the convenience of researchers. Note that the listing of an archive does not necessarily mean that it is publicly available. If you have JavaScript enabled in your browser, you may sort the lists by the first two columns by clicking on their headings.
If you know of any errors in the current listing, or of appropriate resources which are not listed, we will be grateful if you let the webmaster know. We also encourage cavers, ex-cavers and relatives of deceased cavers to either pass on their material to the BCL or else to arrange for it to be taken care of properly and to make known its whereabouts.
The registry is grouped into five categories:
Club and Individual Log books | Held by | Online | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Alan Gray Caving Log Book, 1968-2014 | MCRA | Here | |
Alan Mills Caving Log Book, 1970-1982 | MCRA | Here | |
Association of Thrupe Lane Advanced Speleologists (ATLAS) Digging Logs, 1990-2002 | MCRA | Here | |
Axbridge Caving Group Log Books, 1960-2005 | MCRA | Here | |
Barry King Caving Diary and Collection, 1957-1965 | BCL | Some | Here |
BEC Caving Log Books, 1943-1999 | MCRA | Here | |
British Karst Research Expedition to Venezuela 1973 Log Books | Lan Univ Lib | No | Here |
Dave Turner's Caving Log, 1961-1998 | MCRA | Here | |
Don Coase's Log Book Volume 3 (Jan-July 1945) | MCRA | Here | |
Eric Hensler's Caving Log Book, 1934-1978 | MCRA | Here | |
Gough's Cave Digging Log, 1987-2011 | MCRA | Here | |
Jack Duck's Caving Notes, 1931-1936 | MCRA | Here | |
John Aylott's Caving Log Books, 1969-1983 | MCRA | Here | |
Luke Devenish's Caving Log Books, 1940-1957 | MCRA | Here | |
Maurice Hewins's Caving Log Book, 1958-1977 | MCRA | Here | |
North Hill Association for Speleological Advancement (N.H.A.S.A.) Log Books, 1971-1991 | MCRA | Here | |
Paul Allen's Caving Log Books, 1965-1969 | MCRA | Here | |
Phil Weaver's Caving Log Book, 1938-1939 | MCRA | Here | |
Ralph Wills's Caving Log Book, 1921-1925 | MCRA | Here | |
Salisbury Caving Club Log Book, 1973-1976 | MCRA | Here | |
Sidcot School Spelaeological Society Caving Log Books, 1929-1978 | MCRA | Here | |
Tony Jarratt's Log Books, 1964-2008 | MCRA | Here | |
Wessex Cave Club Log Books, 1946-1996 | WCC | Here | |
Westinghouse Apprentices Association Caving Section Log Book, 1961-1965 | MCRA | Here | |
Willie Stanton's Caving Log Books, 1943-2007 | MCRA | Here |
Photograph Collections | Held by | Online | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Alan Coase's Dan Yr Ogof slide collection, 1960s | DYO CAP | Here | |
David Roberts Slide Collection, 1940s-1950s | BCL | Here | Here |
Eli Simpson Archive - Yorkshire photographs, 1933-1958 | BGS | Here | Here |
Harold Wadsworth Haywood Photograph Collection of Yorkshire caves, 1920-1934 | BGS | Here | Here |
Herbert W. Rhodes Glass Slide Collection of Yorkshire caves, 1930s-1950s | CPC | Restricted | |
John Woolley Photograph Collection, mainly 1950s-1960s | BCL | No | Here |
Mendip Cave Registry and Archive Photo Collection (many photographers, from 1896 onwards) | MCRA | Here | Here |
Mendip Cave Registry and Archive Photo Collection on Flickr (many albums) | MCRA | Here | |
Peter Manning Photograph Collection of Marble Arch Caves, 1949 | BGS | No | Here |
William Black's Caving Photograph Albums, 1930s | BCL | Here | Here |
Film and Audio Collections | Held by | Online | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Andy Chapman's caving audio interviews collection | YouTube | Here | |
BCA Audio Library, 1952-2025 | BCL | Here | Here |
Dave Webb's Archive - films of Derbyshire caves and mines | David Webb | YouTube | Here |
Eli Simpson Archive - Birth of a Yorkshire River film rushes, 1953 | YFA | Here | Here |
Mendip Caving Songs Audio Collection | Roger Biddle | Here | |
Mendip Cave Registry and Archive Film Archive | MCRA | Here | |
Sid Perou's filmography on YouTube, 1967-2015 | YouTube | Here | Here |
Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association - Cave Rescue film, 1964 | YFA | Here | Here |
Wells & Mendip Museum / UBSS Cave Cine Archive, 1930s-1960s | WMM | YouTube |
Archive material | Held by | Online | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Bob Leakey Archive | BCL | No | Here |
British Karst Research Expedition to Venezuela 1973 Log Books | Lan Univ Lib | No | Here |
Cave Rescue Organisation: Minute Book 1934-1957, Incident Log 1935-1964 | BGS | Here | Here & Here |
Eli Simpson Archive | BGS | Some | Here & Here |
Eli Simpson Archive - Gaping Gill volume | BGS | Here | Here |
Gerard Platten's Scrapbooks, 1930s-1940s | WMM | Vol 20 only | Here |
The John Beck / Doug Nash Collection | BCL | No | Here |
Independent Cave Diving Group Records, 1964-1965 | BCL | Here | Here |
Nellie Kirkham Archive (mainly Peak District mining material) | DRO | Field notes | Here & Here |
John H.D. Hooper Archive (mainly material on Devon and bats, but also photos as far afield as Persia) | WPCST | No | Spreadsheet |
Miscellaneous Material | Held by | Online | Details |
---|---|---|---|
David Irwin's Ephemera and Postcard Collection Catalogues (mainly Mendip) | MCRA | Here | |
Godfrey & Swarbrick's A Survey of the Lead, Calamine and Ocre Mines on Sandford Hill, 1951 | MCRA | Here | |
Mendip Cave Registry and Archive Cave Survey Collection | MCRA | Here | |
Severn Valley Caving Club Newsletters and Journals, 1963-1985 | MCRA | Here | |
William Boyd Dawkins - On a Hyæna-Den at Wookey-Hole, near Wells manuscript, 1861 | WMM | Here | Here |
Yorkshire Dales Cave Maps - An online repository of historic and current cave surveys | Andy Powell | Here | Here |