LEICESTERSHIRE CLIMBSIntroduction and
History |
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Leicestershire
Intro & History Grace Dieu Viaduct and Craglets |
INTRODUCTION It is usually thought that there is little or no
worthwhile climbing in Leicestershire. There are two reasons. The first is
that there really isn't a lot of climbing in Leicestershire and the second is
that the guide book to what there is has been out of print for many years. In this time much has happened. The longer climbs
are all in quarries to which the access is always changing; Huncote and
Whitwick are examples. Even worse, it has also become fashionable to fill
them in, and quarries such as Enderby, Barrow Hill and the lower tier of
Whitwick have mostly disappeared. Even though a guidebook has been in
preparation for many years such external factors have kept undoing the work
and preventing completion. Without the guidebook local knowledge has been
lost and once-popular crags have become overgrown and obscure boulders have
been "lost". A guidebook - any guidebook - has become an urgent
need. And here it is. Speed has been of the essence and it is a collation of
contributions of the many past editors over the years, but brought up to date
and revised with as much current knowledge as can be gathered quickly. There have been the usual discussions on what should
be included and these have mainly been decided on the availability of
information. This guide is not a comprehensive exposition on a developed
area, merely a holding operation. THE ROCKS OF LEICESTERSHIRE Leicestershire is a diverse county, geologically
speaking. The double landscape of Leicestershire - lush smooth valley
contrasting with the bare rugged uplands - is caused by very ancient
mountains of hard (in a physical, not climbing sense) old rock poking through
the more-recent marl deposits. The upland soil is thin and poor and is
frequently rough moorland or old oakwood. Charnwood Forest was described by
Burton in 1622 as "of hard barren soil, full of hills, woods, rocks of
stone, tors and dells of a kind of slate." Things have not changed much
and the ancient summits still have small crags and tors set in areas of great
scenic beauty. However although the rock is good, the climbs are short, rarely
being more than boulder problems. But the hard rock has also been of use
locally. The walls of the fields and old houses are built from it. There are
even slates on the roofs split from it. The places these useful stones
originally came from were the summits where the rocks were exposed. Sometimes
the quarries ate deeply into the hill, but usually the summits, as at Bardon
and Markfield, survived. Slate outcrops were followed downward into deep
pits. The quarrying of the ancient hills has left a network of old quarries
and pits in the hard rock areas of the county. So Leicestershire crags give bouldering on hilltops
and in woods and longer routes in the old quarries. There are two main rock types from the climbing
viewpoint - slate and granite, and both occur as natural tors and as
quarries. The natural tors of slate are usually in woods because the soil is
too poor for much else. The slate quarries are of modest scale, unlike North
Wales, and quite frequently flooded. They are sometimes very deep. The
granite also occurs as natural tors on some hills and almost every village
has an old small quarry, most likely called Parish Pit. The later Victorian
quarries were made possible by the cheap transport of the railways. They are
generally big and intimidating. Leicestershire was producing over a million
tons of granite a year by 1900. However, some quarries, such as Craig Buddon
which produced stone for a dam, are modest and could almost pass as a natural
crag. Recently the quarrying of stone has reached epidemic proportions and
absolutely massive quarries, square miles in extent, and hundreds of feet
deep have appeared. These new quarries have either eaten up the old quarries
or filled them in with overburden from land freshly prepared for quarrying.
None of the massive new quarries has yet been abandoned but it is obvious
that just transporting the fill to refill them will be an enormous nuisance
locally. With luck, they might survive and even leave some climbable rock. The reason that Leicestershire has so many quarries
is that there is no hard rock for roadstone etc. to the south-east. Leicester
granite is the nearest (and thus cheapest) hard rock to London.
Leicestershire produces 40% of the hard rock quarried in England, a vastly
disproportionate share. CRAG ORDER The climbing is concentrated in the hard rock areas
of Charnwood Forest and in a small area of hard intrusive rock south of
Leicester. There are many crags in this guide and putting them
into an obvious order is difficult. The crags south of Leicester (mainly
Huncote) form a natural group but the ones in Charnwood Forest (almost
everything else) would then be an overlarge group. The crags are listed in alphabetical order with a
group of minor crags under M. This is not ideal, but it is as logical as
anything else. Where a minor crag is near a major one, it is listed at the
end of the section on the major crag. Crag locations can be roughly obtained
from the area maps and detailed approach maps are usually given with the
entry. GRADING CLASSIFICATIONS Much has been written on how to grade climbs. In
this guide a combination of adjectival grades and technical grades is used.
The system follows that currently used in the BMC Peak District guides. The
sequence of adjectival grades is Moderate (M), Difficult (D), Very Difficult
(VD), Severe (S), Hard Severe (HS), Very Severe (VS), Hard Very Severe (HVS)
and Extremely Severe. The Extremely Severe grade is open ended; E1, E2,
E3...... . Technical grades identify the technical difficulty of crux moves
and the sequence is, in order of increasing difficulty, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b,
4c, 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6c, etc. Again, open ended. ROUTE OUALITY The system of stars, which has found wide
acceptance, has been followed. There are three stars for the best routes and
none for the worst. It should not be assumed that routes without stars are
not worth doing. It is merely that they have no star quality. A negative scale
(including black spots and daggers) is needed to identify the really
unfortunate routes, but this has not been done here. FIRST ASCENTS Where information is available the first
ascensionists together with the date of the first ascent have been recorded.
Where there are several claimants for the same route the Editors have done
their best (which wasn't much) to resolve the problem. CRAG AND ROUTE NAMES Some crag names have been changed, notably
Granitethorpe (previously Sapcote Ouarry), Whitwick Rocks (previously Peldar
Tor) and Nunckley Quarry (previously Kinchley Hill Quarry). Sapcote Quarry is
actually a different one to the climbing quarry and Peldar Tor is not in
Whitwick but along the road towards Leicester. Alternative names for crags have been given where
these are known. Because of the complexity of its ancient Precambrian rocks,
Leicestershire has a very rich geological literature. To relate the climbing
crags to the rocks in this geological literature you have to know what the
crags and quarries were once called. Carvers Rocks is a classic example. It
is never mentioned under that name in the geological literature. Some climbs have had multiple names because of
several claimed "first" ascents and also because routes were
renamed after aid was reduced. There is no perfect way of solving this
problem and again the Editors have done their best (so keep arguing about
it). ACCESS The major problem for climbers in Leicestershire is
access. The county is in a time warp with various interests trying to exclude
climbers. It's like the 30's. Even the public parks have not been without
problems. But it is the quarries with their extensive rock exposures that do
and will pose the greatest problem. The quarries are there to supply hard
rock aggregate to the populous South East. But this also means that for
climbers from the South East the Leicestershire quarries are the nearest
crags. This fact does not help access but is a prediction of potential
demand. AII land belongs to somebody (or some Company) and
they are legally entitled to deny access. THE INCLUSION OF A CRAG OR THE ROUTES UPON IT IN
THIS GUIDEBOOK DOES NOT MEAN THAT ANY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC HAS THE RIGHT OF
ACCESS TO THE CRAG OR THE RIGHT TO CLIMB UPON IT. So far the crags have been lightly used, and whilst
a landowner may have tolerated infrequent visits by local people he may take
a different view if the numbers increase substantially. Under the Occupiers
Liability Act 1984 climbing is classified as a risk activity and the
landowner has no liability towards climbers unless climbing is conducted as a
business on the site (i.e. he charges). Under the most recent Mines and
Quarries Act and the Health and Safety at Work Act there is a legal
requirement for a quarry owner to exclude the public from his workings. There
is no prospect, with current legislation, of the BMC negotiating access
agreements to working quarries, even to disused faces. CONSERVATION Many of the crags in this guide are Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSI's) and restrictions are imposed on the landowner by
English Nature on what can and can't be done. Other crags are in areas of natural
beauty or public ownership. Then there are the quarries - but if they are old
then even they are softened by the years. There is no reason why climbing and
the conservation of such areas should not co-exist if the usual good manners
of the countryside are complied with. So far the only problems in
Leicestershire have been connected with the numbers of visitors to areas and
climbers have been an infinitesimal part of these numbers. But with increased
use this may not be the case, and climbers using the crags should try to
minimise the effect of their passing. Where special restrictions apply they
have been noted in the text. CHIPPING, BOLTING AND PEGGING Many of the routes in this guide have been put up
with the minimum of fixed gear. It is hoped that the Bosch and dangle brigade
will not deface classic crags with bolts and pegs. This applies particularly
to Beacon H!II, Craig Buddon, Pocketgate Quarry and Hangingstone Quarry. Go
to Morley Quarry if you must. Remember the words of Geoffrey Winthrop Young
"Getting to the top is nothing; how you do it is everything". Even
Slawston Bridge has its ethics. On the first ascent of the traverse of Pipe
Wall a hold was chipped. When the route was subsequently done
"clean" the offending pocket was filled with Tetrion (exterior
grade, of course). Hence the name, Tetrion Traverse. This guidebook contains a lot of information. Whilst
a reasonable effort has been made to ensure accuracy it is obvious that
errors must be present. After all it is sixteen years since the last guide
went out of print. So don't regard any information (and that includes the
grades!) as gospel, treat it with circumspection. NEW CRAGS and NEW ROUTES (New
Routes) If you find a new crag (it's been known), or make a
new climb please send details, with dates (and these days, reliable
witnesses) to Ken Vickers, CORDEE, 3a De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7HG.
Details should also be written up in the New Routes Books which are held by
Roger Turner Mountain Sports, 52 London Road, Leicester LE2 OOD and Canyon
Mountain Sports, 92 Granby Street, Leicester LE1 1 DS. This guide owes most to the two previous Leicestershire
guidebooks edited by Ken Vickers. Many people have helped in getting and
checking the information in this volume; in particular: S. Allen, F. Ball, J. Bates, A Blowers, C.
Carrington, M. Chaney, J. Codling, B. Davis, I. Dring, S. Gutteridge, J.
Hart, M. Hood, T. Johnson, D. Jump, J. Lockett, G. Lucas, C. Maddocks, J.
Mitchell, J. Moulding S. Neal, R. Pillinger, R. Ramsbottom, A. Reynolds C.
Robinson, M. Sheldrake, P. Stidever, P. Wells and Bill Wright (BMC) There must be others whose names have been lost from
the various copies and rewrites of manuscripts. But getting the information
is not all. It still needed word processing into the format of this guide.
This was done by Gwen Massey and it is true to say that without her this
guide would not have seen the light of day. Thanks, Gwen, for such a
professional job and keeping cheerful through it all. Thanks also to
Loughborough University for the use of equipment and providing Library
facilities. |
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An example of what has been lost. This is
Cacophany in the old Enderby Quarry, taken in 1962, before the quarry was
filled in. The groove on the right was never climbed and Is now lost under
30m of rubbish and earth. This is Pete (Skully) Cross shortly before he fell
off, pulled out all the micro-pegs, and hurt his back. He now lives in
Australia. |
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As the number of climbs in the country has
proliferated the idea of awarding stars for quality evolved so that the best
climbs could be identified. The system really needs extending to the crags
themselves rather than the individual climbs. For example: how does Stanage
compare with Lawrencefield? Or Cloggy with Dinas Bach? Or Stanage with
Cloggy? Leicestershire needs such a system because the range of quality of
the crags in this guidebook is enormous. The best crags are of national
importance and the worst are insignificant rocks buried in overgrown
woodland. In any assessment of crag quality it is obvious that the total
length of climbing is important, as also is the star quality of the routes,
together with atmosphere and pleasantness. One could discuss endlessly how to
do this, just like grading routes and awarding stars. As a first effort (and
it is quite good enough to assess the Leicestershire crags) we can award
"points" based on the number and length of climbs together with
their star quality. Each metre of climbing on an ordinary no-star route
counts one point. For a one-star route each metre counts two points, for a
two-star route It counts three points, and for a three-star route each metre
counts four points. When applied to the Peak District, a few selected
crags give the following approximate scores
For Leicestershire the list is as follows:
The obvious anomaly is that a brilliant, but
underdeveloped, crag would score zero points. In this guidebook Grace Dieu
Viaduct (with a possible 400 points) falls into this category. Bardon Hill is
lowly rated because it is so underdeveloped. A recent visit revealed that SHEET HEDGES QUARRY
(around SK526083), near Groby, looks as if it is about to be abandoned. This
granite quarry has been worked from mid-Victorian days to the present and
contains much rock exposure, a lot in long continuous faces. "Contains
more rock than all of the rest of Leicestershire" had been said. Hard to
believe if you've ever seen Bardon Hill. Further enquiries confirm that the quarry has
reserves for only another three years. However, planning permission has been
sought to quarry the causeway between the two pits. This is about 20 million
tons and would extend the quarry life by 40 years. Because the application
does not seek to extend the boundary of the quarry it is likely, but not
certain, that permission will be granted. Earliest reports of climbing in Leicestershire date
from the nineteenth century. Ernest Baker and Kyndwr Club members scrambled
on the limestone of Breedon Hill (see Moors, Crags and Caves, 1903). Not
surprisingly, quarrying has since erased their efforts. Climbing must have
taken place between the wars at Beacon Hill, Hangingstone Rocks and
Pocketgate Quarry but no record exists. The first recorded routes still
intact were the work of Peter Harding in 1945-46, who apparently climbed
"all obvious lines" on Carvers Rocks and Anchor Church Caves, which
must have included most of the existing routes up to VS. From 1949 to the
middle 50's, Peter and Barrie Biven, and Trevor Peck were active, their most
notable contribution being Christ (HVS,5a, now E1, 5b) on Hangingstone Quarry
in 1954, together with several classic problems at Beacon Hill, Hangingstone
Rocks, Bardon Quarry, and Bradgate Park. By 1959 Ken Vickers and Dave Draper had arrived on
the scene. They formed the nucleus of the Leicester Association of Mountaineers,
and were responsible for discovering and developing a number of crags, among
them being Craig Buddon, Markfield Quarry and Whitwick Quarry and the Sixties
were greeted with a steady flow of new routes from them and their friends.
These included the classic Virago (VS, now E1 ) on Craig Buddon, and the
first routes on Whitwick and Enderby Quarries. By the time the 1966 guidebook
came out The Brand and Huncote Quarry were established on the climbers' map,
and Hangingstone Quarry sported the area's first Extreme in Christ Almighty,
albeit with some doubt about the amount of aid employed. Several names came to the fore after publication of
the guide including David Cooper, Chris Burgess, David Holyoak, John Gale,
Godfrey Boulton and Roger Withers. Some were members of what had become the
Leicester Mountaineering Club, and all were keen on unearthing new routes,
sometimes literally. 1968 saw the ascent of Red Wall Arete (HVS, now gone) at
Whitwick, and a year later John Harwood freeclimbed the technical Stretcher
(HVS) at Huncote, then the most important climbing ground in Leicestershire.
Also at Huncote, David Cooper created the excellent Little Nightmare (HVS now
E1 ) and the immense Girdle Traverse (HVS), as well as many routes of lesser
quality. The early Seventies saw no great steps forward in difficulty, with
possible exception of Trespass (El,5c, now gone) at Whitwick, a fierce
problem which rated HVS in Ken Vickers' 1973 guide. In the realm of
bouldering, however, the Slawston Bridge era had arrived, giving the next
generation of climbers a material advantage in training facilities. The
hardest problem here at the time was an eliminate on the Pipe Wall by Chris
Hunter, still rated hard for 6a. From 1977 a group of Leicester University climbers became
the driving force, headed by John Moulding and Paul Mitchell. Partnered by
various combinations of Bob Conley, Stephen Boothroyd, Fred Stevenson and
Peter Wells, their campaign opened on Whitwick Quarry, which received a
number of new routes. Notable were Mr. Kipling's Country Slice (El,5b, now
gone), Freebird (E2,5c, now gone), a spectacular free version of The Nuts,
and Born To Be Wild (E3,6a, now gone), a very sustained crack line. Sadly,
all these were on the now-buried lower tier. Huncote gave its share of the
action in Heat Treatment (E2,5b), based loosely on the old Rack Direct, and
The Crimp (E3,6a,5c) climbed without recourse to aid. Hangingstone Quarry
became a minor forcing ground, with routes such as Weekend Warrior(E3,5b),
Christ Almighty free (E2,5c), and the superb Old Rock'n'Roller (E2,5c), the
free version of Cloister Groove. Moulding managed a flawed lead of Sheer
Heart Attack (E4,6a), using the only protection peg as a toehold.
Nevertheless, this remained for some time the hardest route in the county,
and is still regarded as a testpiece with a recent bolt for protection. It is
interesting to speculate on the origins of Holy Ghost (E3,5c) given its
ancient lineage and old grade of HVS. Also involved with development during this period were
Steve Gutteridge and Simon Pollard, both of the Leicester Bowline Club.
Pollard freed Three Peg Wall (E1 6a) on Carver's Rocks and Sorcerer(E1,5b) on
Forest Rock while Gutteridge created, amongst other things the , immaculate
Starship Trooper(6a) on Beacon Hill. Slawston Bridge stayed ahead in the
technical stakes with the Pipe Wall traverse at 6b/c. In 1981 Steve Allen and John Codling ushered in the
rnodern era, and within two years had accounted for most of the obvious
challenges. Climbing together and sharing leads, they were responsible for
first ascents, or first free ascents, of the following routes: Modular
(E4,6b) on The Brand, formerly A1; Arrows of Desire at Markfield (E3, 6a);
the extremely strenuous Sorcerer's Apprentice (E4,6b) on Forest Rock;
Catchpenny Twist (E3,5c, now gone) - a free climb based on The Plague, Tumble
Trier (E3,5c, now gone) and Pagan (E4,6b, now gone), all on Whitwick and a
stream of high quality lines in Huncote Ouarry. These include Firing Squad
(E4,5c), Eton Rifles (E4,6b), Intensive Scare (E4,6a) and the desperate Steeleye Span (E4,6b/c). Allen and
Codling were ' probably the first climbers to place protection bolts in
Leicestershire, at least partly because in situ pegs were prone to
disappearance. And so to the future. Despite access problems and
the steady encroachment by commercial interests on the remaining climbable
rock, new routes continue to appear. The working quarries are producing acres
of new rock but unfortunately modern blasting techniques shatter the rock
more than the older methods, leaving a less suitable medium for climbing in
the immediate future. This probably means that recently closed quarries may
provide scope only for the truly dedicated. However, some classic crags must
inevitably remain untouched by quarrying and Slawston Bridge will hopefully
resist weathering well into the next century - but maybe the Council will
straighten the bend in the road. |
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