Covid Update, Feb 2022

Registry of UK Caving Collections

Photograph of first page of the ICDG constitution

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, 1952-2024 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