A tale of two quarries
Earlier this year, I had a sudden and painful attack of social responsibility, and so I did two things – I wrote to my MP about the ongoing situation at Longstone Edge, and I went to a work meet at Horseshoe Quarry. Both of these were entertaining, in their own way – the MP (who I would suspect divides her time between London and her constituency on the outskirts of Birmingham) appeared to be having some trouble with the concept of a park containing any plant larger than a stinging-nettle or serving any function other than that of a receptacle for litter, fighting youths and canine bowel movements, while the Horseshoe bash was enlivened by free cakes and various people being shouted at by the Safety Lady for going too near the Dangerous Rocks (5+), picking up litter the wrong way, and being within 90ft of the chainsaw man without having attended an official chainsaw-watching course. All good fun, and the sort of thing that leaves one with a warm fuzzy glow of Doing The Right Thing.
So, to summarise – I spent a day making a quarry nicer to climb in, and I complained about the expansion of another quarry.
I went for a walk past the huge quarry at Longstone Edge recently. It’s got bigger since the last time I was there. Quite a lot bigger, actually.
But I am ashamed to admit that my first response was not “Omigawwd! It’s an outrage! Our national parks are being KILLED TO DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” but “Hmm, looks like a nice line over there, wonder what grade it’d get?”
I’d suspect I’m not the only passing climber to have had that reaction.
Before anyone gets the flamethrower out, I certainly don’t think we need any more quarrying at Longstone Edge, and I don’t think that the Peak National Park, or indeed any other National Park, needs any more huge muddy holes in the ground.
But, in many years time, when the dust has finally settled and quarrying on Longstone Edge has long since finished, I can see the climbers colonising, the bolts appearing (Gary Gibson will probably be awfully old by then, but I’m sure it’s possible to invent a zimmer-frame-mounted bolt gun), and then parties of 22nd-century volunteers turning up to eat cakes, pick up litter and be shouted at by the Safety Lady. There may even be chainsaws.
I wasn’t around when it happened, so I don’t know for sure, but I do sometimes wonder how much fuss people made about Furness, aka Horseshoe, Quarry when the hole first started being dug? Come to that, I wonder how much fuss was made about the quarried areas of Froggatt at the time?
I think it will be interesting to see how the Great Longstone Edge Row looks in many years time – as a great environmental crime (which, from today’s point of view, it is), or as the creation of a new venue.
However, speaking from today’s point of view . . . the sooner they stop digging, the better.
