Aghinrawn Cave
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Location
Aghinrawn Cave (H1218 3341)
Description and history of diving
On the hill to the east of Monastir Gorge a small bog drains to an even smaller stream which after a short distance sinks in low cave entrance (this should not be confused with the nearby Aghinrawn River, which sinks at Monastir cliff). It can be followed downstream in crawling and crouching passage. A 'skylight' offers a bypass to the entrance crawls.
Sump 1 was dived in 1977 by Mike Boon, 5 m long with a maximum depth of 3 m. After this 15 m of low passage leads to sump 2. In January 1984 digging lead to the engineering of a bypass around the boulder choke that is reached after the two waterfall pitches. Sump 1, a 50 cm diameter tube, was then dived by Tim Fogg to -3 m.
References
Irish Speleology, 3.2, 1985
Irish Sump Index, 1988
The Caves of Fermanagh and Cavan, 1997
Surveys
None entered.
Recent dives
14/04/09 - divers Chris Jewell and Dave Garman; support B. Lawton and H. Patton
Previously dived in 1977 by Mike Boon. He reported a short 5 m sump, followed by a short section of cave to a 2 m pot into the next sump which was undived.
The divers choose to use 4 L cylinders and wetsuits. The final stages of the carry are extremely muddy and the final approach to the sump was via a low gravel/silt duck. This resulted in a free flowing reg for CJ which had to be rectified and cleaned out before proceeding. Sump 1 was low and silty and only passed on the second attempt. CJ then went back through to let DG know, and collect the line reel for Sump 2. The pot into Sump 2 reported by Boon had disappeared – possibly due to high water. CJ dived directly across the pot and descended against the opposite wall, hoping to find a passage. A small airbell was encountered initially but then the pot descended straight down in extremely poor vis. The diver could not read gauges or computer and at some distance down was pleased to find a muddy floor or bank into which to place two silt screws, cut the reel and head for the surface to see how far down he had been. This turned out to be 11 m, which with no buoyancy and just 4’s was deemed deep enough. DG then made a brief dive to the end of the line but laid no line. There was no noticeable flow at the end of the line.
