603 replies to this topic

[ARJones]

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Oh OK. There's a passage that goes from Crank Caverns to Billinge Church and an underground cathedral. Oh and Oliver Cromwell fired a cannon ball from top of Billinge Lump and it hit that ruined chantry in Cemetary.

The Reporter did a huge article on Crank Caverns about thirty years ago

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you mean to tell me that Ive been believing that Oliver Cromwell shot that cannonball all these years an he never !!!!
Seems we have a varied amount of writings regarding the caves now Alan,and all went down later than I did (1963) some seems plausible to me especially the Cave rescue saying they go for miles.What I cannot understand is the large caves we played in as kids never went back more than 30 yards at the most..so who the hell opened them up again as the writings say they went into 3 levels..we never saw that I must admitt..and the gate was added later too.
But as I said in one of my earlier posts on the subject the farmer told us that some of the caves had been blocked off years ago..meaning in the 50s .
And finally as to the body bags brought out of the caves,I spoke to a local ex billinge copper in the post office this morning and he states catagorically that there were no deaths in there in the 60s 70s or 80s as he was based in the area and would have been the first to be notified if kids had gotten killed in there.Maybe they were bringing out the crap..He did say that plenty of kids had been lost in there over the years at the councils cost to retreive them but definately no deaths...ARJ

[Olliebeak]

Hello - I too believed the story about Oliver Cromwell and his canon for many years - cos anything your grandad tells you must be true, mustn't it. I have to admit that somewhere around the age of about 16 I started to rethink the scenario - and realised that urban (or in this case rural) myths spring up everywhere and that this must be one of them.

Ollie

[ktbushface]

Hello there, i'vejust been to the caves to show my boyfriend where i used to play as a kid. I remember squeezing myself through tiny caves down there. Where is the gates covering the cave? Is there another section i don't know about? Did any of you people find any more stuff ou about the caves? I live in leeds now, but would come back for a tour of them. Does anyone know if this is possible?

[Archie]

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happy days playing where you wanted and exploring like kids did..the art of growing up and learning starts with playing and exploring...Happy days 

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So many memories AR.

As a kid in Nottingham, I used to spend hours in the vicinity of Bulwell Common Station. This was a small station on the Great Central Line, which ran up from Nottingham Victoria Station to Sheffield. (Actually, trains ran from York to Bournemouth via this line, but that was another planet to us.) We used to get into the cutting about half a mile from the station. It was about 60 feet deep, and there were various ledges etc., that we'd sit on to watch the trains go by. Just above the cutting was a small plot of allotments, and very close to the edge was a fence, which bore a sign saying 'Dangerous Disused Well'. This was a few feet down the face of the cutting and was covered over with a sort of arching brickwork affair.
I always thought it strange that this well ran just a few feet inside the cutting, and wondered whether it had been there before the cutting. Also, about halfway down the cutting face, there was a horizontal tunnel, reputed to lead into the well shaft, and also bricked up. One day, I was busily engaged in chucking various objects though a hole in the brick cover, and listening to the clear splash/boom, as they hit the water below. Going on the principle that objects accellerate at 32'per sec squared, this thing had to be at least 100' deep. Anyway, somebody appeared with an old paint tin, of the sort with a bucket type handle, and a length of thin steel cable, of the sort used to operate signals. We lowered it down the well to get water, but it seemed to snag. A few seconds later it ran very quickly down, with my foot caught in the coil of cable. I was shitting myself! Every body grabbed hold of me to 'save' me although even as a kid I doubt I'd have fitted through the hole in the brickwork. Still, my leg was well burned by the cable Everybody was on about goblins and spooks trying to drag me down to hell!

In retrospect I suppose the paint tin disturbed something like a loose rock or whatever, which fell into it and caused it to plummet, but at the time it was a very spooky incident.

Naturally, the whole area is now filled in, built over, buggered up and forgotten.

Arch

[ARJones]

We took chances in those days Arch ..ok we got hurt now and again but we enjoyed playing out and we enjoyed exploring and we enjoyed the thrill of finding something new...our little minds wanted learning and needed these things to put everything into place in the great growing up game..
Today parents cannot let their kids explore as we did and cannot let them stray too far from home due to the nasty things in this age..but even now the kids need to be able to have adventures as we did without having to resort to mindless vandalism that a lot of kids are showing now...I refer to the "Lookers" incident in this weeks Star newspaper...throwing bricks through car windows and damaging the cars bodywork causing thousands of pounds worth of damage just for fun of it.ARJ

[james seddon]

its not im afraid. in the main caves a tunnel appears to be blocked up with a bank of mud and rock, perhaps this went further. it appears someone has been digging but i heard a strange voice when i went in even tho no1 was there so i ran off!. The gate appears to be very loose now and i wouldnt be surprised if a crowbar could sprise it open. the farmer has stopped thrown rubbish in now and the bank has greened over.

[Olliebeak]

With all the nooks and crannies in those caverns, there are loads of echoes, James. But if you were there on your own, no wonder you ran off!!!!! It's not safe to go there alone anyway. Even if you just slipped on the rocks, you could be in serious trouble. I've been up there loads of times but never alone - must admit that as a kid it was a place that really triggered the imagination and was great fun.

I continued to take my kids there as they grew up. We've sat in the caves themselves with a picnic (soup and butties) on a cold, foggy november day - then the kids playing hide and seek among the trees - and finally rounded the day off with a walk round Carr Mill Dam. Home to Huyton on the bus - kids in bed early absolutely knackered. Wonderful stuff!

Ollie

[Archie]

Spot on AR,
Even in our more anti-social moods, we'd never have resorted to that kind of vandalism.

Here are a few 'harmless' things we did get up to. They weren't by any means innocent, but we didn't mean to harm anybody.

1. Finding a big round piece of raw asphalt and warming it by a fire, to make balls about 6" across, then using a local alleyway as a skittle alley. The alley went downhill and had a dogleg in the middle, so we could'nt see if anybody was in it. To our shame, we scared the S***s out of a little old lady.

2. Making large quantities of Nitrogen Tri-Iodide, a very unstable substance which explodes on contact, and painting it onto shop door handles, vending machines etc.

3. Making pipe bombs and using them to demolish abandoned cars.

4. Using flouresceine dye to turn the local paddling pool bright flourescent green.

There are many more, but you get the idea what we were like. Much of our time though, was just spent exploring and finding new places. It's amazing how you can live somewhere for years and yet not know about interesting little nooks and crannies close by, 'til you come across thenm by accident.

Arch

[ARJones]

Right on Archie,though I never made pipe bombs..( you got a recipe) very true about mindless vanadalism..just a thought though ..I found lots of nooks and crannies to explore and Im not talking caves.. ARJ

[james seddon]

i wont be going alone again.!!!. one of the tunnels in the main cave looks like its been blocked up with mud and rock, perhaps this goes deeper. next time we go ill take the spade and av a dig.

[Olliebeak]

Be careful in all the caves, James - but especially the one to the far right - as you look at them. It slopes quite steeply downwards towards the back. That's where we saw a couple of fellas go down and disappear - they had ropes and helmets with lights on, so there must be some kind of tunnel down there. We couldn't see anything at all from where we were standing, but they obviously go somewhere. It is steep and looks as though it could get slippery.

Ollie

Edited by Olliebeak, 12 September 2004 - 10:08 PM.

[Dave]

We could really do with getting hold of that often referred to Reporter article about the caverns from years ago. I wonder if anyone ever mapped them?

[Olliebeak]

Surely St.Helens Library should have a copy of any article like the one you mention Dave?

Are there any booklets or local history information on the caverns?

Ollie

[Archie]

You're so right Mac. Me and my dog Gripper were always running about on unfeasibly wide streets, looking distinctly black, red and blue. We were always trying to cheat our way to a £5 prize, but we only seemed to get rotten eggs. I blame Mum and Dad....they were so two dimensional. And they didn't help by putting me into Bash St School, with Smiffy and the others. I tried, but everything our teacher Chalky White said, seemed to go over my head. (Well, he was tall).

After I left school, it got worse. At one point I almost joined the RAF in Rockfist Rogan's outfit, but I got airsick. Then I tried getting into sport. Roy of the Rovers never picked me for his side. Devastated, I looked for a transfer to the Victor, or The New Hotspur, but it was too late. I found myself out of work, and to add insult to injury, they got a pair of 'Toons to play me and Gripper in a cheap TV series of my life.

My final mistake was marrying Beryl the Peril. Things went Ok at first, but she soon turned out to be a right slag. She left me and the last I heard she'd gone off with Desperate Dan, 'cos he liked her Cow Pie.

It's too late for me now, but I don't want other kids to make the same mistakes I did. Tell them that if they want a decent life, they should start off in Bunty, ..or Robin, ..or they could try People's Friend, ....if they're gay.