Harehope Quarry

I had heard of Frosterley “marble”—a misleading name for what is actually a dark, durable limestone. It can be cut and polished like real marble, but unlike the genuine article, it is riddled with fossils, mainly solitary corals, which create peculiar patterns when sliced open. It has been used extensively in buildings of note, including Durham Cathedral.

So imagine my delight when we stumbled upon a “viewpoint” (that circular wall in the bottom left of the photograph) at Harehope Quarry, once the proud home of this so-called marble. There was just one minor problem: the viewpoint was set so far from the edge of the quarry that one could not, in fact, “view” anything. Intriguingly, the coping stones of the wall bore an assortment of curious names—Dun Kit’s Bastard, Twee Toms, and The Thick Cockle Post, to name but a few. What on earth did they mean? A quick internet search informed us that Harehope Quarry is now a nature reserve, with “access to the site by permissive footpaths.” Well, that sounded promising.

It was not. The “permissive footpaths” turned out to be laughably short and certainly did not lead to the lake. Apparently, “access is not permitted due to the deep water and unstable quarry faces on site.” Of course, such grave concerns do not apply to anglers, who must, one assumes, undergo rigorous safety training before being entrusted with a fishing rod.

Oh dear, “deep water and unstable quarry faces”? How very inconvenient for those of us who merely wish to enjoy a pleasant walk through a nature reserve. Perhaps catch sight of the odd waterfowl. My deepest apologies for my inappropriate sarcasm to such trivial matters as, let me check, gravity and drowning. Clearly, our wish for access should be weighed against rather over-cautious concerns for life and limb. Perhaps a compromise is in order? An interpretive dance, maybe, performed while tightrope-walking across the lake from a crumbling ledge? Safety, after all, is just a tiresome technicality.

And we never did find out what or who Dun Kit’s Bastard is.