Anne and Tony Oldham

Tony Oldham and his wife Anne are cavers for many decades. But beneath caving, both of them were writing and publishing cave related articles. Together they wrote the small book Discovering Caves in 1972, which is a collection of show caves and mines in Great Britain. Tony was the editor of the magazine The British Caver and publishes books about caves and mines in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Tony died on Saturday 15-MAR-2025 after a short battle with cancer at the age of 85.

• Texts by Anne and Tony Oldham on showcaves.com
• The Caves of Han and Rochefort by Anne Court (1968).
• Sontheimer Höhle - Laichinger Tiefenhöhle by Tony Oldham (1965).
• Nebelhöhle by Tony Oldham (1965).
• Bärenhöhle by Tony Oldham (1965).
• Cueva de Nerja by Tony Oldham (2000).
• Bibliography for the Cueva de Nerja by Tony Oldham (2000).
• Lydstep Caverns by Tony Oldham. Excerpt from Caves of West Wales.
• King Arthur’s Cave, excerpt from Tony Oldham, Keith Jones (2003): Caves of the South Eastern Outcrop.
• Lydstep Caverns by Tony Oldham. Excerpt from Caves of West Wales.
• St Ninian’s Cave by Tony Oldham.
• Weathercote Cave, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Yordas Cave, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Royston Cave, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Chislehurst Caves, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Redcliffe Caves, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Ingleborough Cave, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• History of Poole’s Cavern by Tony Oldham (2002).
• Speedwell Cavern, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• The Caves of Cheddar Gorge, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Kents Cavern Description, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Peak Cavern, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Smoo Cave, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Smoo Cave by Tony Oldham (2002). Extensive description with a survey.
• Wookey Hole, text from: Tony and Anne Oldham (1972): Discovering Caves - A guide to the Show Caves of Britain.
• Greece 1987 by Anne Oldham (1987).
• Greece 1987 by Anne Oldham (1987).
• The Caves Of Meghalaya, by Tony Oldham (2003).

Literature

• Tony Oldham, Keith Jones (1996): The Caves of the Forest of Dean, Part 11 in the Series "Limestones and Caves of South Wales", new 1996 edition, 47pp., 22 maps/surveys.
  Includes such classics as Redhouse Swallet and Slaughter Stream Caves etc.
  SB GBP 5.00 post free.
• Tony Oldham, Keith Jones (1995): The Caves of the South Eastern Outcrop, Part 8 in the Series "Limestones and Caves of South Wales", 1995, 25pp., 10 surveys/maps etc.
  Includes such classics as Otter Hole.
  SB GBP 3.00, post free.
• Tony Oldham (1999): The Mines of the Forest of Dean and surrounding areas, [1999], 63 pp surveys, illus., NGR of mines etc.
  Coal, Iron and even a Gold Mine! Companion edition to the above two books.
  SB GBP 8.50 post free
• Tony Oldham (1998): The Forest of Dean in the Mining Journal and other References, [1998] 18 pp illus.
  One of my favourite pastimes is reading The Mining Journal. I started at the beginning, Vol. 1 1835 and being a slow reader, I have only got as far as 1851, although I have flittered through later journals as well. Using quantity as a yardstick, rather than quality I tend to rate each entry by length instead of content. Often, I have quoted verbatim, and if I remember, this is enclosed in inverted commas. Col or column refers to the length, or part of the length of a page, about 16 inches. I have used the GBP sign instead of the small letter L [cf lamina] and tried to retain original punctuation. Three full stops, [thus ... ] denotes a Mogadon attack or lack of interest and I have omitted a small or large chunk of text. This bibliography not only covers the Forest of Dean Mines, but includes its mine workers, mine owners, the Mushets - the legendary iron smelters, and to a lesser extent the railways. This is not just a boring index but a pot-pourri of anecdotes, like the two men who survived a 510 foot plunge down a shaft when the rope broke. How? Sorry, you will have to buy the book!
  SB GBP 3.50 post free
• Tony Oldham (): The Caves and Mines of Anglesey,
  vi + 36 pp illus., surveys.
  Anglesey is overshadowed by the great Parys Mountain copper mine. This book describes many of the smaller mines including the long forgotten coal mines at Berw. Usual gazetteer style: name, NGR, description and references.
  SB GBP 4.00
• Tony Oldham (2003): The Mines of Ireland, [June 2003] i + 45 pp, surveys. Until the publication of the first edition of this book some years ago, very little was known about the mines of Ireland. By researching scientific [and the not so scientific] journals I have accumulated a wealth of information on the mines both north and south of the border from Bronze age to present day. For each mine a short description is given, followed by a list of references, and if known the NGR. A recent visit describes the present day remains. I have also attempted to provide eejit proof directions for finding the mines. Useful reference work.
  SB GBP 6.00 post free
  Also available on a floppy disc. A more useable format as one can do a word search etc. 3.5" Winword 6.0 format. GBP 5.00
  Also available on a CD-ROM. Same format/benefits as the floppy disk, but also includes many colour photographs. About 700 mb. How would you like that as an attachment?! GBP 5.00

Above books are available directly from Tony Oldham:
Tony Oldham, 26 Railway Terrace, Cwm Parc, Treorchy, CF42 6LW, United Kingdom
Email:

• See also
• Search DuckDuckGo for "Tony Oldham"