Whitwick Quarry
Echoes of former glory
Echoes of former glory
Also known as Forest Rock Quarry
This block is mentioned in the old Leicestershire Climbs guidebook as the "short problems on natural granite on the face-overlooking the gardens to the south". The block gives a good f6B+ and a few other easier climbs.
Whitwick Quarry used to be the centre of climbing in the county, with over 100 routes up to 110 feet long. Unfortunately none of the quarried rock remains above ground, but at least we still have this bit.
Whitwick Quarry used to be the centre of climbing in the county, with over 100 routes up to 110 feet long. Unfortunately none of the quarried rock remains above ground, but at least we still have this bit.
Route descriptions are available on UKClimbing.com
Parking: There is space for two cars in a layby opposite 162 Leicester Road, Whitwick, LE67 5GJ but parking can be found elsewhere on this road too.
Approach: Head up the hill to the clearing at the top. Turner right at the yellow post. Follow the path along the quarry fence. Take a right turn after passing through a gap in an old fence. The crag will become visible on your left. ViewRanger Map.
Approach: Head up the hill to the clearing at the top. Turner right at the yellow post. Follow the path along the quarry fence. Take a right turn after passing through a gap in an old fence. The crag will become visible on your left. ViewRanger Map.
This old granite quarry ... was once the centre of climbing in Leicestershire with over 100 recorded climbs. Now, alas, most of it has been filled in and many classic routes of the early 60's and 70's have been lost.
1999: I alight the bus in Whitwick, older and wiser, and with the aid of the original climbing guidebook (1973), make my way out of the village, towards the quarry. But when I get to where the quarry should be, the quarry’s gone! I’m standing in a meadow (once a vast hole in the ground), decked in rope, slings, nuts and crabs, surrounded by cows; and only the last 30 feet of Regalia Buttress – the final pitch of what was once a route of some 150 feet in height - are still poking out of the ground.
I mourn the landfilling of Whitwick Quarry to this day, even though it's over thirty years since I was last there. And you had to be careful to stand on the bits of the footholds that were rock not paint for optimal friction.
There is a happy ending to the sad demise of Forest Rock Quarry. Originally, the infilled quarry was restored to hillside pastureland, but in 1995, the creation of the National Forest Company enabled Hanson Aggregates to further improve and restore the old quarry site. Hanson submitted a successful bid to the National Forest Company in 1995, and the land was planted with more than 20,000 native trees and shrubs over the following two years. The newly planted woodland has now transformed this site, blending sympathetically with nearby mature woodland and creating valuable new wildlife habitats in the area, including meadow grasslands and a spring fed pond.
