Northumbrian Climbing Guide |
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| Causey Quarry | What the symbols & colours mean |
| Grid Ref: NZ204560 Aspect: N Routes: 39 Max Length: 80 Average Length: 15 | |
| Altitude: 0 mtrs Walk in: 0 mins Route quality: ** Bouldering quality: * |
       14 | Click here for StreetMap | ||
The quarry is between Sunniside and Stanley in County Durham about 8 miles from Newcastle.From Sunniside follow the A6076 towards South Stanley for 3 miles until a large white pub (The Causey Arch) is reached. Turn right into the Causey Park picnic area. Park in the picnic area car park and descend on foot following signs directing one to Causey Arch and the gorge, to reach the crag in 5 minutes.
The X30/X31 buses leave about half hourly from Eldon Square, ask for The Causey Arch Hotel. Click for timetable | |||
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General:
This is an old sandstone quarry important for its proximity to Newcastle. The routes are of a high standard and the rock is reasonably sound and well provided with trees for belays. The quarry is in a sheltered situation and is often in condition in poor weather, but soil runoff from the wood on top of the crag means that some cleaning of the harder routes is advisable.
Rock:
Coal Measures Sandstone Carboniferous Westphalian Sound sandstone, but usually dirty. Other interesting stuff:
It's worth a trek up the valley to have a look at the rather impressive Causey Arch brige, the oldest surviving single arch railway bridge in the world.
History:
The crag was discovered in the nineteen fifties by Nev Hannaby after a tip off from a fellow coal worker. Nev lived a short walk from the crag, which rapidly became the Wednesday evening venue for the 'Crag Lough Group' of Nev, Albert Rosher, Eric Rayson and Geoff Oliver. Many of the classic lines were done at this time and named, but the details are now stored in Nev's memory banks. The Mangler, climbed by Nev, was called Causey Crack and another one of Nev's lines, Telstar, was The Corner.
Activity continued in sporadic bursts, with Bob and Tommy Smith launching their careers with The Dangler in the late 1960's, Karl Telfer adding Sandman in the mid 70's and in the early 1980's the Perplexity and Mauler roofs were cracked by Paul Linfoot and George Haydon respectively. |
