LAWRENCEFIELD

The deeply recessed quarry (named after the extensive moor behind the old workings and called Laurencefield on the Harvey Dark Peak map) has been a haunt of climbers since the 1950s. Initially a selection of easy free routes were developed around the pool before the place was developed into an aid playground with climbers hammering a way up the many thin cracks that split the vertical back wall that rises above the green and greasy pool. By the early 1970s standards of technical ability and the quality of protection, allied to the fact that the majority of the cracks were now wide enough to admit fingertips, meant that many of the aid routes became excellent free climbs in a new route gold rush not see before or since. Although playing second fiddle to nearby Millstone Quarry, Lawrencefield quarry remains a well-liked venue, with a good set of climbs, a selection of easier and immensely popular routes around Gingerbread Slab and the hard classics on the steep smooth walls around the pool, there is something here for most tastes.

Routes

49 trad routes (D...E6) Graded List of Routes List of First Ascents