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Some Gritstone Climbs

January 01, 1970

Some Gritstone Climbs is a rock climbing guidebook written by British lawyer John Laycock (1887–1960).[1] The book's subtitle, included uniquely on the frontispiece, is Some Shorter Climbs (in Derbyshire and Elsewhere). It was published in Manchester in 1913 by the Refuge Printing Department (then an insurance company). Although focusing on rock climbing in the Peak District, it covers several adjacent cliffs outside this region, and despite its title, referring to the Millstone Grit (or gritstone) geology of many of the cliffs, it includes several cliffs consisting of other rock types, including mountain limestone and red sandstone.

Some Gritstone Climbs
Frontispiece page of Some Gritstone Climbs, by John Laycock, 1913.
AuthorJohn Laycock
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SubjectGuidebooks: Rock Climbing
PublisherRefuge Printing Department, Manchester
Publication date
1913
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages116 pp (first edition)

It is regarded as the first-ever published rock climbing guidebook for the Peak District National Park. Some Gritstone Climbs is one of the earliest guidebooks to rock climbing in the United Kingdom: Climbing in the British Isles by Walter Parry Haskett Smith was published in 1894 and the climbing guide The Climbs on Lliwedd, by J. M. A. Thompson and A. W. Andrew, in 1909.[2]

Physical description edit

The book is 16 cm × 12 cm, contains 14 leaves of plates, and has 116 pages. It has 11 initial pages (including the frontispiece and preface), and 116 pages of content. It is in hardback format, with a dark green cover. The book has three short, single-page appendices: Appendix I (Limestone Climbs), Appendix II (a short list of 'severe climbs'), and Appendix III (a brief bibliography). The book contains a dedication to 'S. W. Herford', referring to Siegfried Herford, a pioneer rock climber and close friend of Laycock. Herford went on to climb the famous Central Buttress route on Sca Fell and was killed at Ypres in 1916, shortly after the book's publication.[3]

Main sections: climbing areas covered edit

The following climbing areas are covered in the book. Some are now known by other names, such as Stonnis Rocks (now more commonly known as Black Rocks), or have ceased to be popular climbing venues, such as Coombes Rocks. All are still subject to modern access arrangements, clearly defined in the relevant current guidebooks. Some of the major climbing venues in the Peak District were omitted, such as Stanage Edge and Wharncliff Crag, due to access restrictions at the time.

Original publication and reviews edit

The manuscript was finished in 1911, but not published for another two years. The book was originally sold for 3 shillings and 6 pence. The Rucksack Club was opposed to the publication of the book as a number of the crags described, including those on Kinder Scout, were on private property and the club was concerned about trespass law. The club committee, influenced by the solicitor Charles Pickstone, withdrew its support. Laycock resigned from the club, of which he was a founder member, in disgust. The book was finally published by the Refuge Printing Department at Strangeways (a branch of the Manchester and Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges and Homes), with financial support from four friends.[4] A very early review appeared in the Yorkshire Ramblers Club Journal in 1913, in which it was noted that the book was "liable to be dismissed by a percentage of mountaineers as a Baby Book on Toy Climbs". It was also stated that: "Mr. Laycock has modelled this unpretentious little volume somewhat on the lines of "Climbs on Lliwedd" and "Climbing in the Ogwen District," and is, I think, to be congratulated on his effort. In one respect he is entitled to unqualified approbation: he has not sinned the sin of understating difficulties".[5] The same review critiqued the selection of crags and climbs, some of the latter being described as "merely fancy gymnastics".

Some Gritstone Climbs has been widely cited in subsequent literature relating to climbing and the Peak District. It was first referenced in its year of publication by a Baddeley Guide to The Peak District of Derbyshire and the Neighbourhood as "A recent work gives an excellent synopsis of climbing in the district on millstone' grit – viz.: "Some Gritstone Climbs in Derbyshire and Elsewhere." By John Laycock. 3s. 9d. net. Refuge Press, Manchester."[6] It was also referenced in the club documents of several climbing clubs at the time, including by the Yorkshire Ramblers' Club in 1913, who stated: "In his little volume, Some Gritstone Climbs, Mr. J. Laycock speaks of the Buxton Boss, an excrescence of gritstone on the side of Coombs Moss, not far from Buxton. If this be the boulder I have in my mind, it is also known as the Buckstone and Robin Hood's Stone and, in addition to presenting several attractive little problems, possesses a peculiar historic interest all its own."[7]

Significance edit

Some Gritstone Climbs is regarded as "the first pocket climbing guidebook".[8] The book is significant for its early date, its rarity, and for the historical perspective on both the format and the sport.[9] It was one of the earliest British climbing guides to use a system of detailed Grade (climbing) for specific climbs. It included the following different classifications for climbs: Moderate; Moderately Difficult; Difficult; Decidedly Difficult; Distinctly Difficult; Very Difficult; Severe. This extended the simple 4-grade system published in Owen Glynne Jones 1900 book Rock Climbing in the English Lake District.[10] Laycock pioneered much of the early exploration at many of the cliffs included in the guide. For example, at Helsby, where 'The Overhanging Crack' was considered at that time to be one of the hardest "gritstone" climbs in England.[11] Laycock's guide was the first to document climbs at many of the crags featured in the book, such as Blackstone Edge, and it has been regarded as the first 'modern' approach to climbing guides.[12] Some cliffs, such as Laddow Rocks, had already been documented in private climbing club publications,[8] and in the 1903 book Moors, Crags & Caves of the High Peak and the Neighbourhood by Ernest A. Baker,[13] but Some Gritstone Climbs was the first to collate cliffs and climbs into a regional guide. It was never republished and exists solely as the original 1913 1st edition.

As noted by subsequent gritstone pioneers such as H. M. Kelly: "Laycock's little book Some Gritstone Climbs has had a much greater influence than its size and subject would indicate".[14] It is regarded by climbing historians as a historical 'snapshot' of the pioneering explorations of 'the first gritstone tigers'. It also disseminated information, publicized recent new ascents, and allowed the next generation of climbers to develop newer and harder routes. For example, it was in the hands of Piggot, Wood, and Wilding in 1920 when they made the first ascents of Lean Man's Climb, Sand Buttress, and Lone Tree Gully at Black Rocks.[8]

Use in subsequent climbing guides edit

A supplement to Laycock's book was published in 1923 as Recent Developments on Gritstone, edited by Fergus Graham. This was in response to new explorations in Yorkshire and the Peak District and was jointly published by The Rucksack Club, Gritstone Club, and the Yorkshire Ramblers' Club. This in turn started the trend for increasingly regular regional climbing guides, both in the Peak District and elsewhere in the UK. This led, after the Second World War, to the first series of guidebooks to cover all the gritstone crags in the Peak; a publication pattern that continues to the present day. This series commenced in 1948 with The Climbs on Gritstone Series, Volume 1: The Laddow Area, edited by Harry Parker.[15] Subsequent volumes were published for The Sheffield Area, 1951 (Volume 2);[16] Kinder, Roaches and Northern Areas, 1951 (Volume 3);[17] Further Developments in the Peak District, 1957 (Volume 4);[18] West Yorkshire Area (Volume 5).[19] These and other guidebooks used the format, grading system, and approach of Laycock's original Peak guide, but with a more succinct style. Like the original book, these later guides acted as a 'snapshot' of their generation, and a basis for the next advances in rock climbing standards in the Peak District.

References edit

  1. ^ Todmann, Alan. "John Laycock 1887–1960 Manchester and Singapore". Genealogy.com. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  2. ^ Marsh, Terry (2010). Great Mountain Days in Snowdonia. Cicerone Press. ISBN 978-1-85284-581-0.
  3. ^ Laycock, John (1913). Some Gritstone Climbs: Some shorter climbs on Derbyshire and elsewhere (1st ed.). Manchester: Refuge Printing Department.
  4. ^ Douglas, Ed; Beatty, John (2018). Kinder Scout (1st ed.). Sheffield: Vertebrate Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-911342-50-2.
  5. ^ "Reviews: Some Gritstone Climbs". Yorkshire Ramblers' Club Journal. 4 (13). Leeds: Yorkshire Ramblers Club: 196–201. 1913. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  6. ^ Byrde, Mountford John (1913). "A Guide to the Peak District of Derbyshire and the Neighbourhood". Thomas Nelson and Son. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  7. ^ "Chippings: Buckstone". 4 (13). Leeds: Yorkshire Ramblers Club. 1913: 165–173. Retrieved 19 October 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ a b c Byrne, E.; Sutton, G. (1966). High Peak: The story of walking and climbing in the Peak District. London: Seeker & Warburg. p. 256.
  9. ^ Moss, Alan (2013). British and Irish Climbing Guidebooks 1894 to 2011. British Mountaineering Council.
  10. ^ Jones, Owen Glynne (1900). Rock Climbing in the English Lake District (Second ed.). Didsbury, Manchester: E.J. Morton (1973). ISBN 0901598992.
  11. ^ Rouse, Alan (1976). A Climber's Guide to Helsby and the Wirral. Cicerone Press. p. 73. ISBN 0902363174.
  12. ^ "Blackstone Edge – Historical Information". Lancashire Rock. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  13. ^ Baker, Ernest (1902). Moors, Crags & Caves of the High Peak and the Neighbourhood (1st. ed.). Manchester: John Heywood Ltd.
  14. ^ Kelly, H.M.; Doughty., J.H. (1936–37). "A Short History of Lakeland Climbing, Part 1 (1802–1934)" (PDF). Fell & Rock Climbing Club Journal. Fell & Rock Climbing Club. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  15. ^ Parker, Harry, ed. (1948). Climbs on Gritstone Series Volume 1: The Laddow Area. Birkenhead: Willmer. p. 68.
  16. ^ Byne, Eric, ed. (1951). Climbs on Gritstone, Volume 2: The Sheffield Area. Birkenhead: Willmer Brothers. p. 171.
  17. ^ Allsopp, Allan (1951). Some Gritstone Climbs, Volume 3: Kinder, Roaches and Northern Areas. Birkenhead: Willmer Brothers. p. 153.
  18. ^ Byne, E.; White, W. (1957). Gritstone Climbs, Volume 4: Further Developments in the Peak District. Birkenhead: Willmer Brothers. p. 205.
  19. ^ Allsopp, A.; Evans, B. (1957). Climbs on Gritstone, Volume 5: West Yorkshire Area. Birkenhead: Willmer Brothers. p. 140.

Bibliography edit

  • Baker, E. (1902). Moors, Crags & Caves of the High Peak and the Neighbourhood. Manchester: John Heyword Ltd.
  • Byne, E.; Sutton, G. (1966). High Peak: The Story of Walking and Climbing in the Peak District. London: Seeker & Warburg.
  • Laycock, John (1913). Some Gritstone Climbs. Manchester: Refuge Printing Department.
  • Thompson, Simon (2010). Unjustifiable Risk: The Story of British Climbing. London: Cicerone Press.

January 01, 1970
some, gritstone, climbs, rock, climbing, guidebook, written, british, lawyer, john, laycock, 1887, 1960, book, subtitle, included, uniquely, frontispiece, some, shorter, climbs, derbyshire, elsewhere, published, manchester, 1913, refuge, printing, department, . Some Gritstone Climbs is a rock climbing guidebook written by British lawyer John Laycock 1887 1960 1 The book s subtitle included uniquely on the frontispiece is Some Shorter Climbs in Derbyshire and Elsewhere It was published in Manchester in 1913 by the Refuge Printing Department then an insurance company Although focusing on rock climbing in the Peak District it covers several adjacent cliffs outside this region and despite its title referring to the Millstone Grit or gritstone geology of many of the cliffs it includes several cliffs consisting of other rock types including mountain limestone and red sandstone Some Gritstone ClimbsFrontispiece page of Some Gritstone Climbs by John Laycock 1913 AuthorJohn LaycockCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishSubjectGuidebooks Rock ClimbingPublisherRefuge Printing Department ManchesterPublication date1913Media typePrint hardcover Pages116 pp first edition It is regarded as the first ever published rock climbing guidebook for the Peak District National Park Some Gritstone Climbs is one of the earliest guidebooks to rock climbing in the United Kingdom Climbing in the British Isles by Walter Parry Haskett Smith was published in 1894 and the climbing guide The Climbs on Lliwedd by J M A Thompson and A W Andrew in 1909 2 Contents 1 Physical description 2 Main sections climbing areas covered 3 Original publication and reviews 4 Significance 5 Use in subsequent climbing guides 6 References 7 BibliographyPhysical description editThe book is 16 cm 12 cm contains 14 leaves of plates and has 116 pages It has 11 initial pages including the frontispiece and preface and 116 pages of content It is in hardback format with a dark green cover The book has three short single page appendices Appendix I Limestone Climbs Appendix II a short list of severe climbs and Appendix III a brief bibliography The book contains a dedication to S W Herford referring to Siegfried Herford a pioneer rock climber and close friend of Laycock Herford went on to climb the famous Central Buttress route on Sca Fell and was killed at Ypres in 1916 shortly after the book s publication 3 Main sections climbing areas covered editThe following climbing areas are covered in the book Some are now known by other names such as Stonnis Rocks now more commonly known as Black Rocks or have ceased to be popular climbing venues such as Coombes Rocks All are still subject to modern access arrangements clearly defined in the relevant current guidebooks Some of the major climbing venues in the Peak District were omitted such as Stanage Edge and Wharncliff Crag due to access restrictions at the time Alderley Edge an escarpment of red sandstone in Cheshire near Manchester Almscliffe Crag a Millstone Grit crag between Leeds and Harrogate Alport Stone also known as Alport Height and the adjacent Andle Stone Beeston Castle a sandstone face below Beeston Castle in Cheshire Blackstone Edge a gritstone escarpment on the Pennine Way above Rochdale Bosley Cloud also known as The Cloud is a partially quarried gritstone outcrop on the Derbyshire Staffordshire border Brassington Rocks an outcrop of dolomitic limestone near Wirksworth Derbyshire Castle Naze a gritstone outcrop on Combs Moss near Combs Derbyshire Coombes Rocks a small gritstone outcrop near Glossop Derbyshire Cratcliff Tor and Robin Hood s Stride a gritstone outcrop near Bakewell Derbyshire Black Rocks or Stonnis Rocks near Cromford Derbyshire Harboro Rocks an outcrop of dolomitic limestone near Brassington Derbyshire Hathershelf Scout an escarpment of millstone grit near the village of Mytholmroyd Yorkshire Helsby Cliff a sandstone cliff in Cheshire Kinder Scout a range of gritstone cliffs on the edges of a peat plateau near Edale in Derbyshire Laddow Rocks a gritstone cliff near Crowden Derbyshire Whimberry Rocks a gritstone escarpment now known as Wimberry Rocks above Dovestone Reservoir near Greenfield Lancashire Windgather Rocks a gritstone edge near Whaley Bridge Derbyshire Original publication and reviews editThe manuscript was finished in 1911 but not published for another two years The book was originally sold for 3 shillings and 6 pence The Rucksack Club was opposed to the publication of the book as a number of the crags described including those on Kinder Scout were on private property and the club was concerned about trespass law The club committee influenced by the solicitor Charles Pickstone withdrew its support Laycock resigned from the club of which he was a founder member in disgust The book was finally published by the Refuge Printing Department at Strangeways a branch of the Manchester and Salford Boys and Girls Refuges and Homes with financial support from four friends 4 A very early review appeared in the Yorkshire Ramblers Club Journal in 1913 in which it was noted that the book was liable to be dismissed by a percentage of mountaineers as a Baby Book on Toy Climbs It was also stated that Mr Laycock has modelled this unpretentious little volume somewhat on the lines of Climbs on Lliwedd and Climbing in the Ogwen District and is I think to be congratulated on his effort In one respect he is entitled to unqualified approbation he has not sinned the sin of understating difficulties 5 The same review critiqued the selection of crags and climbs some of the latter being described as merely fancy gymnastics Some Gritstone Climbs has been widely cited in subsequent literature relating to climbing and the Peak District It was first referenced in its year of publication by a Baddeley Guide to The Peak District of Derbyshire and the Neighbourhood as A recent work gives an excellent synopsis of climbing in the district on millstone grit viz Some Gritstone Climbs in Derbyshire and Elsewhere By John Laycock 3s 9d net Refuge Press Manchester 6 It was also referenced in the club documents of several climbing clubs at the time including by the Yorkshire Ramblers Club in 1913 who stated In his little volume Some Gritstone Climbs Mr J Laycock speaks of the Buxton Boss an excrescence of gritstone on the side of Coombs Moss not far from Buxton If this be the boulder I have in my mind it is also known as the Buckstone and Robin Hood s Stone and in addition to presenting several attractive little problems possesses a peculiar historic interest all its own 7 Significance editSome Gritstone Climbs is regarded as the first pocket climbing guidebook 8 The book is significant for its early date its rarity and for the historical perspective on both the format and the sport 9 It was one of the earliest British climbing guides to use a system of detailed Grade climbing for specific climbs It included the following different classifications for climbs Moderate Moderately Difficult Difficult Decidedly Difficult Distinctly Difficult Very Difficult Severe This extended the simple 4 grade system published in Owen Glynne Jones 1900 book Rock Climbing in the English Lake District 10 Laycock pioneered much of the early exploration at many of the cliffs included in the guide For example at Helsby where The Overhanging Crack was considered at that time to be one of the hardest gritstone climbs in England 11 Laycock s guide was the first to document climbs at many of the crags featured in the book such as Blackstone Edge and it has been regarded as the first modern approach to climbing guides 12 Some cliffs such as Laddow Rocks had already been documented in private climbing club publications 8 and in the 1903 book Moors Crags amp Caves of the High Peak and the Neighbourhood by Ernest A Baker 13 but Some Gritstone Climbs was the first to collate cliffs and climbs into a regional guide It was never republished and exists solely as the original 1913 1st edition As noted by subsequent gritstone pioneers such as H M Kelly Laycock s little book Some Gritstone Climbs has had a much greater influence than its size and subject would indicate 14 It is regarded by climbing historians as a historical snapshot of the pioneering explorations of the first gritstone tigers It also disseminated information publicized recent new ascents and allowed the next generation of climbers to develop newer and harder routes For example it was in the hands of Piggot Wood and Wilding in 1920 when they made the first ascents of Lean Man s Climb Sand Buttress and Lone Tree Gully at Black Rocks 8 Use in subsequent climbing guides editA supplement to Laycock s book was published in 1923 as Recent Developments on Gritstone edited by Fergus Graham This was in response to new explorations in Yorkshire and the Peak District and was jointly published by The Rucksack Club Gritstone Club and the Yorkshire Ramblers Club This in turn started the trend for increasingly regular regional climbing guides both in the Peak District and elsewhere in the UK This led after the Second World War to the first series of guidebooks to cover all the gritstone crags in the Peak a publication pattern that continues to the present day This series commenced in 1948 with The Climbs on Gritstone Series Volume 1 The Laddow Area edited by Harry Parker 15 Subsequent volumes were published for The Sheffield Area 1951 Volume 2 16 Kinder Roaches and Northern Areas 1951 Volume 3 17 Further Developments in the Peak District 1957 Volume 4 18 West Yorkshire Area Volume 5 19 These and other guidebooks used the format grading system and approach of Laycock s original Peak guide but with a more succinct style Like the original book these later guides acted as a snapshot of their generation and a basis for the next advances in rock climbing standards in the Peak District References edit Todmann Alan John Laycock 1887 1960 Manchester and Singapore Genealogy com Retrieved 19 October 2012 Marsh Terry 2010 Great Mountain Days in Snowdonia Cicerone Press ISBN 978 1 85284 581 0 Laycock John 1913 Some Gritstone Climbs Some shorter climbs on Derbyshire and elsewhere 1st ed Manchester Refuge Printing Department Douglas Ed Beatty John 2018 Kinder Scout 1st ed Sheffield Vertebrate Publishing p 74 ISBN 978 1 911342 50 2 Reviews Some Gritstone Climbs Yorkshire Ramblers Club Journal 4 13 Leeds Yorkshire Ramblers Club 196 201 1913 Retrieved 29 October 2017 Byrde Mountford John 1913 A Guide to the Peak District of Derbyshire and the Neighbourhood Thomas Nelson and Son Retrieved 19 October 2012 Chippings Buckstone 4 13 Leeds Yorkshire Ramblers Club 1913 165 173 Retrieved 19 October 2012 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help a b c Byrne E Sutton G 1966 High Peak The story of walking and climbing in the Peak District London Seeker amp Warburg p 256 Moss Alan 2013 British and Irish Climbing Guidebooks 1894 to 2011 British Mountaineering Council Jones Owen Glynne 1900 Rock Climbing in the English Lake District Second ed Didsbury Manchester E J Morton 1973 ISBN 0901598992 Rouse Alan 1976 A Climber s Guide to Helsby and the Wirral Cicerone Press p 73 ISBN 0902363174 Blackstone Edge Historical Information Lancashire Rock Retrieved 19 October 2012 Baker Ernest 1902 Moors Crags amp Caves of the High Peak and the Neighbourhood 1st ed Manchester John Heywood Ltd Kelly H M Doughty J H 1936 37 A Short History of Lakeland Climbing Part 1 1802 1934 PDF Fell amp Rock Climbing Club Journal Fell amp Rock Climbing Club Retrieved 19 October 2012 Parker Harry ed 1948 Climbs on Gritstone Series Volume 1 The Laddow Area Birkenhead Willmer p 68 Byne Eric ed 1951 Climbs on Gritstone Volume 2 The Sheffield Area Birkenhead Willmer Brothers p 171 Allsopp Allan 1951 Some Gritstone Climbs Volume 3 Kinder Roaches and Northern Areas Birkenhead Willmer Brothers p 153 Byne E White W 1957 Gritstone Climbs Volume 4 Further Developments in the Peak District Birkenhead Willmer Brothers p 205 Allsopp A Evans B 1957 Climbs on Gritstone Volume 5 West Yorkshire Area Birkenhead Willmer Brothers p 140 Bibliography editBaker E 1902 Moors Crags amp Caves of the High Peak and the Neighbourhood Manchester John Heyword Ltd Byne E Sutton G 1966 High Peak The Story of Walking and Climbing in the Peak District London Seeker amp Warburg Laycock John 1913 Some Gritstone Climbs Manchester Refuge Printing Department Thompson Simon 2010 Unjustifiable Risk The Story of British Climbing London Cicerone Press Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Some Gritstone Climbs amp oldid 1222603678, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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