Trowbarrow

In the last couple of weeks, I have been putting in some serious milage up and down the M6 to Cumbria. First trip, Ben had finished his exams, so I took him up to stay with Mark and then, second trip, there was the collection and move out as Mark has finished year 2 of Uni and needed to clear his room.

Of course, I took the opportunity to spend a couple of nights up there each time and, of course, we went climbing; we always go climbing!

This is Trowbarrow, just outside the Lake District, near Silverdale at the top end of Morecambe Bay. Once a limestone quarry, Trowbarrow is now a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, mainly because of the fossils in the rock. Climbing is allowed, but there are restrictions on abseiling down certain walls.

A notice board by the entrance gave some information about the quarry.

Limestone extraction first began here in 1857 after the building of the Carnforth-Ulverston railway. Work continued for just over 100 years and was done entirely by hand throughout that time!

The work was done from the top down, using ropes to lower off the crag face. Holes were drilled and explosives laid. After blasting, the rock was broken down with sledgehammers, pickaxes and crowbars, loaded into trucks and lowered down the incline to the railway.

In an experimental procedure, the limestone quarried from Trowbarrow was mixed with hot tar from the gas works in Carnforth and, in 1904, used to surface Blackpool promenade.

Since quarrying ceased, Trowbarrow has become a refuge for wildlife, including grasses and orchids, but also some mammals which are finding it increasingly difficult to find habitats on farmland.

All day long, people were telling me they'd seen rabbits. I sat and I watched and I scanned the undersides of boulders...

Finally, as we were walking out at the end of the day!

I spotted rabbits :)