Tony Jarratt (1949 to 2008)

In mid 2007 Tony and I were discussing the amazing historical caving archive contained within his Log Books. I suggested that I photographed them and was surprised that Tony agreed since, to my knowledge, he had never loaned them to anyone. I also think that Tony was surprised that someone would be daft enough to photograph them.

Tony also informed Richard Witcombe and myself that he would be delighted if the Log Books could be uploaded to the MCRA web site and then they could be a resource for the caving community.

Tony’s Log Books provide a complete record of all the caving trips that he undertook between 1964 and 2008. Many of us will remember Tony in the Hunters or in Bat Products completing Log Book entries.

Each entry consists of the following – Cave Name, Area, Location, Duration of the trip, Who was also on the trip and a description. In addition some entries are annotated Dive, Rescue, Discovery, Connection.

The main caving areas that Tony caved in are Mendip, Scotland and India (Meghalaya) but Tony caved all over the world.

The Log Books have not been electronically indexed (as yet), but Tony has included a written index to each book in its final pages. There is however a Word Document available for download listing all the discoveries Tony has been involved with.

There are 2871 pages and Tony spent 11,481 hours underground.

Have Fun

Alan Gray

Electronic Transcriptions by Peter Burgess

Peter has been steadily working on the task of transcribing Tony's handwritten pages into electronic documents, which have the great advantage that they can be searched. The fruits of his labours are available for download as PDF files: A massive thank you Peter from the MCRA, and keep up the good work!

Tony's Log Books

Location/owner: Wells Museum. Photographed/scanned by: Alan Gray. Indexed by Peter Burgess (volumes 1-5), Alan Gray (discoveries).

Volume 01 (1964 to 1974)
Volume 01 (1964 to 1974)
An electronic transcription of this volume compiled by Peter Burgess is available for download: JRatVol1.pdf (7MB PDF).
Volume 02 (1974 to 1981)
Volume 02 (1974 to 1981)
An electronic transcription of this volume compiled by Peter Burgess is available for download: JRatVol2.pdf (11MB PDF).
Volume 03 (1982 to 1988)
Volume 03 (1982 to 1988)
An electronic transcription of this volume compiled by Peter Burgess is available for download: JRatVol3.pdf (2MB PDF).
Volume 04 (1988 to 1992)
Volume 04 (1988 to 1992)
An electronic transcription of this volume compiled by Peter Burgess is available for download: JRatVol4.pdf (5MB PDF).
Volume 05 (1992 to 1994)
Volume 05 (1992 to 1994)
An electronic transcription of this volume compiled by Peter Burgess is available for download: JRatVol5.pdf (1MB PDF).
Volume 10 (2002 to 2003)
Volume 10 (2002 to 2003)
Notes for Log Book Number 10: Pages 130, 143 and 154 were blank. Pages 131 to 142 had been removed from the Log Book.