Morley Quarry |
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Grace Dieu Viaduct and
Craglets Morley Quarry |
OS ref. SK476179
(Sheet 129) SITUATION
and CHARACTER Morley
Quarry is situated half a mile south of Shepshed and offers new routes in the
"Cornwall Shale Cliffs" vein.
Although the rock is not shale you may wish that it was. Most of the quarry faces north but it is
large enough to have an open aspect and the face to the east is quite sunny. At first
sight the quarry is impressive. A
closer inspection reveals that the entire south wall (it faces north) is
topped by marl deposits which are about 3m thick. So even if you get to the top of the rock, there is a long way
up vertical dried clay to the top. No
doubt the stones embedded in the mud would help . . .
. The only
routes recorded so far are on the small entrance walls. The entire main quarry is unclimbed
[Printer symbol: ‑] but not unclimbable. There are some good lines, but cleaning from the top is
essential. The
quarry is quite old. The small quarry
with the pool (see later) was there in 1835. APPROACH
and ACCESS From
junction 23 on the M1, take the A512 towards Shepshed. After one mile (the second traffic lights)
turn left towards Oaks in Charnwood.
200m up the hill on the left is Morley Lane which leads along, bearing
right just before the cricket club, to the quarry. Limited parking by the gate.
Take note of the warning signs. The
quarry belongs to Charnwood Borough Council who acquired it for
climbing. A small fortune has been
spent clearing the foot and putting up the fences. Unfortunately without clearing the overburden from the top and
scabbing off the loose rock, the place is useless, if not murderous. The
Council have deliberated on what to do.
A shooting range and caravan site have both been proposed. Even
filling it in (hooray). However, all
has come to nothing because local residents want it left alone. So it's still
there beckoning.
THE
CLIMBS On the
right of the entrance lies a steep wall of relatively sound rock forming a
crenellated arête. The first three
routes are here and are on the low part of the wall on the entrance side of
the earth bank. The tree of Derek's
Dilemma is the best landmark. 1
New Rose 7m HVS 5a [Equation: right *] Climb the
wall left of the overlaps starting at the horizontal drill scar. Move up to the horizontal break (peg
runner). Make a difficult move right
to finish on good jugs. 2 Teresa's
Crack 9m VS 4c Climb the
rightward slanting crack 6m left of New Rose. 3 Derek's
Dilemma 7m HVS 4c 2m left
of Teresa's Crack is an obvious tree with a bent trunk. Step off the tree and climb the wall
trending left to obvious flake holds. The next
routes lie on the opposite (left) side of the quarry entrance on a graffiti
covered buttress. 4 Builder's
Arête 15m VD Climb the
slab and up the arête to a loose finish.
Tree and fence belay. 5 Latent
Wall 15m HS 4b Climb the
slab and then move left along the break to climb the wall above direct. Traverse right and finish up the arête. 200m to
the west is a tiny crag above a small pool which gives some interesting
problems. Some think it's a better
place than the main quarry. NOTES Potential
for new routes abounds for those looking for steep loose climbs. It is just possible that if enough people
were stupid enough to climb here then the place might become cleaned up
enough to become safe. But look
around and you will see that large pieces of what looks like safe rock in the
main quarry has recently fallen down and shattered into small fragments. Just like the Blackbrook Reservoir
Crag. But then, the rock is very
similar. Again Precambrian, but age
has not improved the quality. It has
been suggested that one solution to the dilemma of Morley Quarry would be to
place bolts at the top of the clean climbable rock (this is the wall at the
south of the quarry) either by abseil or by long ladder. The routes would terminate at the bolts
and the wall of mud would never need climbing. |
