Belfry Bulletin Number 064

BB64/2 A VERY HAPPY XMAS TO ALL OUR READERS ALL OVER THE WORLD ******************************************* ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND DINNER The Annual General Meting will be held in our room in Old Market Street, Bristol on January 31st. 1952. It will be followed by the Annual Dinner; this will be held at the Whiteladies Restaurant, Whiteladies Road, Bristol, and the tickets are 7/6 each. You are advised to apply as soon as possible for Dinner tickets as there is always a rush for them.

The Postal Ballot Form which you will receive with this BB must arrive by post not later than 30th. Jan. BUT forms may be handed in up to the start of the A.G.M. The Committee will be pleased to receive any further resolutions to be included in the Agenda for the A.G.M. ******************************************** Club Library The Club Library his had the following additions since the last BB: National Speleological Society Bulletin No. 13.

W.C.C. Journals for 8ept & Oct. ******************************************** CAVES OF THE SAUERLAND By JACK WADDON. Although caves are to be found in several parts of Germany, the most important area is the extensive limestone uplands of the Sauerland, in South Germany, which contains also some of the most picturesque scenery in the country.

Since the limestones which I had seen elsewhere in Westphalia had been in a ‘Muschelkalk’ (a Triassic limestone not found in England) I expected to find the same situation in the Sauerland. However, it became apparent that here the rock was much older, and as far as I could see from fossils which I found in the area, the limestone was laid during the Devonian or Early Carboniferous era. I subsequently found my conclusions verified by a local guide, which stated that the local rock was ‘Devonian Kelkstein’.

The caves of the Sauerland do not differ greatly from those of South-West England. The air temperature inside the caves is constant at 12 deg. C. The average rate of stalactite growth is about 7mm in 10 years. ******** The Dechenhohle Situated amongst steep, pine-clad hills, 6½ km. west of Iserlohn, near the village of Letnatha, is the Dechenhohle, probably the best known cave in Germany.

The cave was discovered in 1863, during the construction of the railway which runs outside the cave. Since then it has been highly commercialised. There are 15 medium sized chambers to the cave, which is about 400 metres long. The cave contains a large amount of stalactite formations, much of which is stained by various other minerals. Some of the stalagmite pillars which adorn the cave are over 3 metres high and 30 cm. thick.

Straws are to be found in some parts of the cave, but most appear to have been broken off. I found some small amounts of aragonite in various parts of the cave, but not in large quantities. There are one or two examples of stalagmites growing on the tops of others which have toppled over, thus producing qeerly shaped formations.