Brynmawr Caving Club is based in Brynmawr, Gwent, South Wales, right in the middle of one of the best caving regions in Britain. The caving areas in the immediate locale are the Clydach Gorge, the Llangattock Escarpment and the Central Northern Outcrop. All of these contain some fine caves, some of which are among the finest and longest cave systems in the British Isles. Such caves as Agen Allwedd (Aggy), Ogof Y Daren Cilau, Ogof Craig Yr Ffynnon, Ogof Carno and Ogof Draenen are all at the most fifteen minutes drive from the town centre. (For more info. on the local and not so local caves, follow the link opposite). The club has always been most active within these areas but also travels further afield to the other South Wales caving areas as well as regular trips to such places as Yorkshire.
The history of Brynmawr Caving Club goes back to the 1950's when it was formed by Brian Price of Aggy fame and associated with Brynmawr Grammar School (source - "Caver's View of the Clydach River"). It became defunct in the mid 1960's and was "resurrected" in 1969 by Bill Gascoine, Colin Edmunds and Pete Wetton. Now in our thirty-first year, we are still going strong and now have (probably) the second largest membership in South Wales.
Apart from regular trips just to experience the underground world, members will be found actively involved in original exploration. There are many extensions and discoveries in the area that can be attributed to club members. The recent major discoveries of Ogof Carno and Crescent Cave were made by members of BCC as well as extensions in Ogof Draenen, Ogof y Darren Cilau as well as many small excavations.
If you are interested in discovering more about the diverse, often awesome, frequently beautiful, underground world that exists near to Brynmawr, then joining a caving club is probably the best and safest way to do this. Caving clubs have a wealth of experience available in their members, and usually more than willing to introduce newcomers to the sport to the delights of getting wet and muddy.
New members are always welcome, experienced and inexperienced alike, just come along to one of our monthly meetings at the Hobby Horse Inn, Greenland Road, Brynmawr and make yourself known. We meet on the first Monday of the month, unless that day is a bank holiday in which case we meet on the following Monday. We try to start at 8:30pm, although this can be a bit variable. Meetings are always very informal with more emphasis on the social side of things, with a large quantity of beer usually being consumed. The club constitution allows for three forms of membership: ordinary membership, family membership and junior membership. For more information, please contact the club secretary.
Brynmawr is situated about ten miles up the A465 Head of the Valleys road from Abergavenny and roughly twenty-five from Cardiff.
