Caves and Swallets - Gower - page 281

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME

Mole Talpa europaea

Water shrew Neomys spp.

Bear Ursus spp.

Fox Vulpes vulpes

Wolf Canis lupus

Lion Panthera leo

Roe deer Capreolus spp.

Ox Bos spp.

Horse Equus caballus

Vole Microtus spp.

Thrush Turdus spp.

Gull Larus spp.

Razorbill Alca torda

Guillemot Uria aalge

Puffin Fratercula arctica

Towards the end of the 1930s the first serious exploration of the Gower caves took place following
the formation of a Welsh group of the Mendip Exploration Society. Led by Brigadier E. A. Glennie, they
visited numerous caves, until the outbreak of war in 1939 put a stop to their activities. A few years later,
however, between 1943 and 1946, E. E. Allen and J. G. Rutter carried out the first thorough survey of
the Gower caves. They visited and surveyed not only the bone caves, but also the lesser-known holes, 90
in all. The results of this work were published in two volumes (1946) and these still form an important
reference source for those interested in the Gower caves.
Recreational caving in Gower really began in 1946 when the South Wales Caving Club was formed.
During the 1950s a member of the club, Maurice Taylor, and his two sisters, Marjorie and Eileen, spent
seven years searching Gower for new caves, finding quite a number of these and also reopening and
lengthening other caves. The Club has played an important role in producing accurate surveys of many of
the Gower caves, including Llethrid Swallet (Fig. 160). In the late 1980s Melvyn Davies, the warden for
the former Nature Conservancy Council, who had a keen interest in caves, also spent much of his spare
time exploring and recording holes. In total he found 95 cave sites where 'the hole was big enough for a
humanbody'.SincethenfurtherexplorationshaveextendedthelistandthetotalnumberofGowercaves,
that is those large enough to admit people, is now an incredible 128, but it is unlikely that there are many
more to be found.