Being fairly early we were fortunate in having a small party, the guide reckoned when it’s busy they can have over 50 people, we were just 18 including a few small kids who, fortunately, weren’t too noisy! There’s quite a few steps up and down, and some low points, so you need to be reasonably mobile, one downside of the newest parts is there’s a lot of metal grating for floors, steps and bridges which is a nuisance for a walking stick.
The caves were the location for the first ever cave dive in the UK, back in 1935, using traditional bottom walking diving suits complete with the brass helmet, lead boots and a surface compressor feeding air through a hose, hardly ideal for negotiating tight cramped spaces! It’s still one of the most popular places for cave diving in the UK with some chambers being very difficult and technical, the deepest UK cave dive of 90m was also there.
The witch is probably the most famous legend around the caves, put simply the locals appealed to the Abbot of Glastonbury for help in ridding themselves of the witch and he despatched a monk, Father Bernard, who reportedly had had a relationship destroyed by the hag. When he came to the chamber now known as The Witch’s Kitchen he couldn’t see her so he scooped some water from the underground River Axe and blessed it. He sprinkled the holy water around until some landed on the witch causing her to be turned to stone. That’s the story, anyway, but skeletal remains and artefacts were found in around 1912 so there may be some truth there.
After the caves you can walk through the old paper mill, built to harness the river power, it closed in the early 1970s when Madame Tussauds bought the whole site (it’s now held in Trust by Gerry Cottle’s children). There is a small cave diving display and some exhibits from the paper making, plus various other attractions. Unfortunately it was a bit early for anything substantial to eat in the restaurant so settled for coffee and biscuits - the pleasant lady who served me did check I was OK carrying the tray!
I couldn’t leave without the other thing that the caves have become famous for, cheddar cheese! The conditions are apparently perfect for ageing cheese so having seen where this happens I bought a piece in the gift shop.
The second visit of the day was to Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum, the site of the first steam pump on the Somerset Levels. The Levels are drained by a series of ditches and drains but eventually you have to get the water to go uphill! At Westonzoyland that meant lifting it 6 feet up to the River Parrett. The original setup used a scoop wheel but after the ground settled and that became ineffective it was replaced by Mr Amos’s Machine, a steam driven centrifugal pump.
It’s a slightly odd pump engine having two cylinders, one either side of the main flywheel which drives the pump impeller via a crown wheel and a long shaft. It also seems strange, given the ready availability of water, that it’s fitted with condensers which cool the exhausted steam and pump it back into the boiler, I’m guessing this was to minimise the work of operating the pump which was generally the responsibility of one man and his wife.
The museum does have a Light Railway, sadly not operating today, it’s not original to the site but helps demonstrate the type of lines used in construction in the area , it also helps with machinery moving. There’s a decent collection of steam engines of various types, most of which work. I particularly noticed this winch engine as it was built in Sunderland and used at Hemyock Dairy for moving milk wagons in the sidings there.
Was the museum worth the 35 mile round trip? Probably for me yes, even though it’s small and wasn’t really geared up for visitors today - they were mainly working on various bits of machinery and left me alone to wander round. I’d love to go back on a steaming day though, ideally when the railway is also operating.
I’m now sat sitting back in the pub with another pint of Gorge Best before I wander back to the site.
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