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Farmer in hole world of trouble
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| Lee Ford's Land Rover in the swallow hole at Ilsington Farm |
A GIANT hole opened up beneath this Land Rover as it was crossing a field of long grass on a farm.
David Ford, of Ilsington Farm, Tincleton, near Dorchester, said his 34-year-old son, Lee, had driven out at night to look for some cows.
Mr Ford said: "Lee had gone out to search for some cattle which had been let out into mowing grass when someone left a gate open.
"He could have been killed because he was going along and he suddenly went into a swallow hole.
"We have had several on the farm before but Lee couldn't see this one because of the grass and because it was at night. He would not have been there at all if the cattle had not been let out.
"We'll put a tractor on the Land Rover and pull it out.
"These swallow holes happen when water washes away the ground. It drops just like an hourglass until the ground goes in one big hit."
Dorset County Council earth science manager Richard Edmonds said that swallow holes were common in Dorset which has thousands of them.
He added: "This man was certainly on the right kind of geology for this to happen.
"He was on chalk which is a soft white limestone and basically what can happen is that the chalk gets deeply weathered over millions of years and rain falls and creates what is called a solution pipe.
"These are often filled with gravel and typically a reddish type of clay and this can subside and cause a hole."
He added that Dorset has numerous similar sites all over the county with one of the best examples being in Wareham Forest.
11:44am Wednesday 21st May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Fabian, Weymouth on 8:36pm Wed 21 May 08
David Ford, of Ilsington Farm, [quote]Tincleton, near Dorchester, said his 34-year-old son, Lee, had driven out at night to look for some cows.[/quote]
For a spot of cow tipping?
David Ford, of Ilsington Farm,
Tincleton, near Dorchester, said his 34-year-old son, Lee, had driven out at night to look for some cows.
For a spot of cow tipping?
Posted by: Westie, West Dorset on 9:19pm Wed 21 May 08
If he had found the cows whilst driving across the field... would he have asked them to Moo' ve over ?
If he had found the cows whilst driving across the field... would he have asked them to Moo' ve over ?
Posted by: DingDonG, Wilds of Wiltshire on 10:15pm Wed 21 May 08
Guess this could be one bit of agricultural land that won't be "swallowed up" by proprty developers!
Anyway, glad Lee came to no harm, must have been a shock for him.
Guess this could be one bit of agricultural land that won't be "swallowed up" by proprty developers!
Anyway, glad Lee came to no harm, must have been a shock for him.
Posted by: Tru Belle, purbeck on 8:34am Thu 22 May 08
Richard Edmonds said swallow holes were common in Dorset. How common is common?
Richard, do you have a map of possible sites??
Do big potential land developers know about this? Would any of us fall into one and vanish for good?
Is this why we have coastal erosion, and cliffsides collapsing?
This is such an interesting topic, perhaps you would write an article to tell us more about things like that.
Richard Edmonds said swallow holes were common in Dorset. How common is common?
Richard, do you have a map of possible sites??
Do big potential land developers know about this? Would any of us fall into one and vanish for good?
Is this why we have coastal erosion, and cliffsides collapsing?
This is such an interesting topic, perhaps you would write an article to tell us more about things like that.
Posted by: local resident, weymouh on 9:42am Thu 22 May 08
I agree, write a follow up article. It sounds interesting.
I agree, write a follow up article. It sounds interesting.
Posted by: MIG, Poole on 7:53pm Thu 22 May 08
They are not just confined to agricultural land. A similar type of event can occur in urban areas when damage to a surface water drain goes undetected. One such hole appeared in Bournemouth Railway Station car park not many years ago.
And no, I believe that it's not the same thing that causes coastal erosion. it is, however, a similar effect that produced Lulworth cove and the various blow holes at Portland Bill.
They are not just confined to agricultural land. A similar type of event can occur in urban areas when damage to a surface water drain goes undetected. One such hole appeared in Bournemouth Railway Station car park not many years ago.
And no, I believe that it's not the same thing that causes coastal erosion. it is, however, a similar effect that produced Lulworth cove and the various blow holes at Portland Bill.
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