Forest Rock (Stone Hole)
Pantheon of hard bouldering.
Pantheon of hard bouldering.
Known locally as Stone Hole and formally as Great Hill Quarry
Forest Rock looks like an alien spaceship that has happened to crash-land smack in the middle a quaint English village. The weirdness of the crag is not limited to its situation. Problems here are not like those found anywhere else in this part of the world and the style will feel unfamilar and unforgiving to limestone crankers and grit wizards alike. Kneepads, soft shoes and big biceps will all come in useful here.
The crag has a couple of climbs below Font 5, a few more up to 6C, but it is at 7A that the crag really gets going. The difficulty increases as you venture deeper in the cave and as the angle changes from slab to wall and then to very steep indeed. For problems in the very back, like Cracked Up 7B, you may need a torch. Must-do climbs are Sorcerer 5+ (E1 5b to the top), Saucy 6B, Cracked Up 7B, Own Narrative 7B+, Anti-Hero 7C and Enchantress 7C. That'll do for starters but there are many more great problems with grades reaching the lofty heights of 8C.
Access. Please keep to small teams and keep the volume down, access is very sensitive and rowdy behaviour is likely to draw the wrath of those who live close to the crag. You are allowed to be there, but try to remember that you are in the middle of a quiet village and to be as courteous as possible. Keep loud noises to a minimum in the cave as they will reverberate into the neighbouring houses. A small way of giving something back to the local community is to take a bin bag and clear out any rubbish you find in the cave. Please also refer to the Leicestershire Climbs Facebook page for updates on access.
Public toilets are located a couple of minutes walk north along Main Street in the public car park; please make use of these rather than the bushes next to the houses/nursery.
The label 'Forest Rock' has recently been subject to debate following calls to return crags and hills to the names by which they are locally, historically or formally known. The cave itself is known locally as Stone Hole, the rock above it as Forest Rock, and its formal name is Great Hill Quarry. Unlike the case of Madawg Rock Shelter ('Biblins Cave'), where visiting climbers brashly renamed a place that already had a name (see Davies, 2021), this crag has three names, all of which are legitimate in their own way.
The crag has a couple of climbs below Font 5, a few more up to 6C, but it is at 7A that the crag really gets going. The difficulty increases as you venture deeper in the cave and as the angle changes from slab to wall and then to very steep indeed. For problems in the very back, like Cracked Up 7B, you may need a torch. Must-do climbs are Sorcerer 5+ (E1 5b to the top), Saucy 6B, Cracked Up 7B, Own Narrative 7B+, Anti-Hero 7C and Enchantress 7C. That'll do for starters but there are many more great problems with grades reaching the lofty heights of 8C.
Access. Please keep to small teams and keep the volume down, access is very sensitive and rowdy behaviour is likely to draw the wrath of those who live close to the crag. You are allowed to be there, but try to remember that you are in the middle of a quiet village and to be as courteous as possible. Keep loud noises to a minimum in the cave as they will reverberate into the neighbouring houses. A small way of giving something back to the local community is to take a bin bag and clear out any rubbish you find in the cave. Please also refer to the Leicestershire Climbs Facebook page for updates on access.
Public toilets are located a couple of minutes walk north along Main Street in the public car park; please make use of these rather than the bushes next to the houses/nursery.
The label 'Forest Rock' has recently been subject to debate following calls to return crags and hills to the names by which they are locally, historically or formally known. The cave itself is known locally as Stone Hole, the rock above it as Forest Rock, and its formal name is Great Hill Quarry. Unlike the case of Madawg Rock Shelter ('Biblins Cave'), where visiting climbers brashly renamed a place that already had a name (see Davies, 2021), this crag has three names, all of which are legitimate in their own way.
Ben Turner has written a guide for the cave which can be found at CademanBouldering.com or downloaded below. Route descriptions for the full crag can be found at the archived LeicestershireClimbs.co.uk
| forest_rock_stone_hole_guide.pdf |
Parking: Park courteously on Church Hill, Woodhouse Eaves, LE12 8RT.
Approach: The crag is in the small park area next to Forest Rock Day Nursery.
Approach: The crag is in the small park area next to Forest Rock Day Nursery.
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This storm heralded the break-up of the weather for the day, and it was a very wet party which stopped at the drive to Charnwood Lodge, or pushed on towards the smoky hospitality of the "Forest Rock."
- Excursion to Charnwood Forest, W. W. Watts (1902)
A quarry in the village of Woodhouse Eaves, at the back of the church and school, affords a fine section. The slate was good enough to be worked, and a cave has been cut out to a depth of some yards ; but the quarry has long since been abandoned.
- The Precarboniferous Rocks of Charnwood Forest, Hill and Bonney (1877)
Naturally enough, a man in the heyday of his strength and keenness, having earned his spurs in remoter climes, yearns to try his mettle where he will meet foemen worthy of his steel. Cock of his own dunghill, he longs to fight a main in a nobler area and against sterner stuff.
- The Cream of Leicestershire, E. Pennell-Elmhirst (1883)
