Category Archives: Slate quarries

A Blackpowder Blast From the Past

Posted on February 26, 2013 by

IUSED to blow up huge chunks of Cumbrian hillside for a living. I stopped doing it not through any regard for conservation or the environment, but because I’d noticed that none of my more senior colleagues ever reached retirement age … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Explosives, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Quarrying, Railway goods wagons, Ranting, Slate quarries, Walking | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments

Memories – Misty, Water-Coloured and Unreliable

Posted on November 21, 2012 by

Even the best and the clearest of mountain memories cannot be relied on . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Camping, Climbing, Environment, Glencoe, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Quarrying, Slate quarries, Walking, Writing | Tagged , , , | 27 Comments

Swindale – and this is Alvar Lidell . . .

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

Swindale has grit, bog, remoteness and bed linen. It’s a valley with attitude but no railway wagons . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Quarrying, Railways, Slate quarries, Walking | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Kentmere – In the Footsteps of the Forgotten

Posted on September 29, 2011 by

Looking for history in the abandoned quarries of the Lake District Continue reading →

Posted in Climbing, Environment, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Life, Mountains, Quarrying, Slate quarries, Walking | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Yew Crag Incline and the Quarryman’s Bedstead

Posted on July 26, 2011 by

Searching for history in abandoned slate workings above Honister Pass . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Climbing, Environment, Geology, Hiking, History, Mountains, Quarrying, Slate quarries, Walking | Tagged , , | 2 Comments