Ogof Foel Fawr

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Ogof Foel Fawr is a short but interesting cave located above the upper car park of Herbert's Quarry. The cave is situated on the grassy slopes of Foel Fawr and is connected to Ogof Pasg in the quarry face to provide a through trip.
Length 423m
Altitude 543m
Grid SN 73523 18744
Ogof Foel Fawr was first explored by the South Wales Caving Club in 1958. In 1988 after some resurveying of caves in the area, Hereford Caving Club realised the proximity of Ogof Foel Fawr to Ogof Pasg and over a period of several months a connection was dug through a calcite floor to connect the two caves with a total of 834 metres of passage. The cave is located on the flanks of Foel Fawr directly overlooking the upper car park for Herbert's Quarry.
Black Mountain Central Google map showing the location of Ogof Foel Fawr and other caves in the area. No known access restrictions. The 3m deep entrance pothole is located on the grassy slopes of Foel Fawr and is hard to see until you are directly upon it. A short climb down leads to a small chamber where a further climb down leads into the Main Passage. To the left is a 4.5m pitch which leads down to a rift passage that can be followed for 60m to reach a 5m free climbable pot that leads into the Shaky Series, a total of 60m of passages that end near the quarry face.
From the climb down into the Main Passage the way on is ahead for 20m to a large pot in the floor of the passage. Traversing above and to the left of the pot leads to about 60m of low crawls over calcite floor that eventually become too low.
The main way on is an ascending calcited boulder slope at the opposite side of the pothole in the main passage floor. At the top of the climb is a passage on the right that descends for 15m before becoming too tight, but the main way on is the obvious passage on the left at the top of the slope. This starts off as a walking passage, but gradually lowers after about 60m to a series of crawling and stooping passages over calcite floors. Eventually the passage reaches a junction where to the left, the main way on is a tight squeeze over a large fallen slab. The squeeze over the fallen slab is not passable by cavers of above average build, but a body size tube to the left of the slab provides a still cosy alternative route to the other side. Carrying straight on at this junction before the slab follows a fresh draught to Bone Chamber with an aven above, that presumably connects to a shakehole on the surface. Below the boulder pile a crawl leads to about 30m of low passages which ends at a clay dig with a static sump pool.
Beyond the fallen slab a low passage leads to the connection with Ogof Pasg where an awkward maneuver through a hole and up through a calcite floor leads to Ogof Pasg. A handline may be useful for the climb down the pothole in the main passage.
Pitch 1 (Shaky Series) 7m ladder plus long belay.
See Ogof Pasg description for details of the pitch rigging if a through trip is being considered. Cambrian Cave Registry for Ogof Foel Fawr
UK Caving Wiki Entry for Ogof Foel Fawr
Survey of Ogof Foel Fawr
Descent 86 Article p31 Ogof Pasg - Ogof Foel Fawr Connection | Arthur Price
See also entry for Ogof Pasg
Caves of South Wales | Tim Stratford | ISBN: 1-871890-03-9 | Published by Cordee
The Caves of Carmarthen | Tony Oldham
Non of note The photographs and information of this page has been provided to help cavers planning trips. Caving can be a dangerous activity, if you are interested in exploring caves please join a caving club so you can enjoy a safe introduction to this sport. Local caving clubs are listed on the links page or you can visit the 'New To Caving' website for more options.
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