Dalkey Quarry
Encyclopedia
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
located in the Dublin suburb of Dalkey
Dalkey
Dalkey is suburb of Dublin and seaside resort in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century...
. It was used for quarrying during the 19th century, and is now part of Killiney Hill
Killiney Hill
Killiney Hill is the southernmost of the two hills which form the southern boundary of Dublin Bay . Crowned by an obelisk, the hill is 153 metres high and offers beautiful views over the surrounding areas : Dublin to the northwest; the Irish Sea and the mountains of Wales to the east and...
Park, a public park. It is one of Ireland's most significant rock-climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
crag
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s.
History
Dalkey Hill
Dalkey Hill is the northernmost of the two hills which form the southern boundary of Dublin Bay . Dalkey Hill is 140 metres high and offers beautiful views over the surrounding areas : Dublin to the northwest; the Irish Sea and the mountains of Wales to the east and southeast; and Bray Head and...
in order to supply granite for the construction of the new harbour pier at nearby Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...
, as well as for the construction of the South Bull Wall (part of the outer defences of Dublin Harbour) and as flagstone for Dublin streets. In the 1840s, stone from the quarry was exported to Newfoundland by Bishop Michael Fleming
Michael Anthony Fleming
Michael Anthony Fleming was Catholic bishop of St. John's, Newfoundland. He was principally responsible for changing a small mission with several priests in four parishes into a large diocese with over 40,000 congregants and was the single most influential Irish immigrant to come to Newfoundland...
and used in the construction of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
. The quarry was connected to Dún Laoghaire by a light railway, part of whose alignment was used to build the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway
Dalkey Atmospheric Railway
The Dalkey Atmospheric Railway was an extension of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway to Atmospheric Road in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland. It used part of the Dalkey Quarry industrial tramway, which was earlier used for the construction of Kingstown Harbour...
. The remaining part of the route is now a public footpath known as The Metals, and much of the original granite paving survives. Many of the current houses on nearby Ardbrugh Road may have been originally built as quarry staff cottages, though most quarrymen originally squatted or lived in primitive tents. Quarrying continued sporadically thereafter, finally ending in 1917.
In 1914 most of the land was added to the existing Killiney Hill Park, opening it to the public.
In 1998, the local authority which owns the land drew up proposals to turn the quarry's West Valley into a caravan
Travel trailer
A travel trailer or caravan is towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent . It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation, without relying on a motel or hotel, and enables them to stay in places...
halting site
Halting site
A halting site is a facility constructed for the accommodation of Irish Travellers and other nomadic groups. They are common in Ireland, mainly on the periphery of towns, where they are maintained by local authorities, and include spaces to park caravans and vehicles, electricity and sanitary...
for travellers
Irish Traveller
Irish Travellers are a traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin, who maintain a separate language and set of traditions. They live predominantly in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.-Etymology:...
. The move met with huge opposition from local residents, climbers, and environmentalists, and the plans were eventually dropped .
In May 2010 Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council angered climbers when they removed several large boulders from the quarry, disrupting climbing routes and potentially damaging other climbing routes in the process..
Layout
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
", and closed to climbing; the East Valley which contains many important climbs; and the West Valley, which also contains many important climbs. Between the East and West valleys is a broad ridge along which the quarry railway used to run; this is used to gain access to the Upper Tier, which contains the quarry's highest cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s. The Upper Tier is traversed by a tarmac
Tarmac
Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...
path leading to the Killiney Hill car-park at one end, and a set of steps leading to the top of the hill at the other end; the path and steps are popular with strollers. The hilltop path follows a wall which skirts the top of the cliffs, and passes an old signalling tower which was used by the British military to signal to the neighbouring Martello tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
s during the 19th century.
Environment
Apart from the one path and steps, the quarry is not landscapedLandscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...
but is left wild; as a result it is heavily forested, and gorse
Gorse
Gorse, furze, furse or whin is a genus of about 20 plant species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green...
and bramble
Bramble
Brambles are thorny plants of the genus Rubus, in the rose family . Bramble fruit is the fruit of any such plant, including the blackberry and raspberry. The word comes from Germanic *bram-bezi, whence also German Brombeere , Dutch Braam and French framboise...
thrive. The thick vegetation is home to a wide range of wildlife including fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
es. In recent years, peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
s have nest
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
ed in the cliffs of the Upper Tier; climbing in the vicinity of the nests is banned during the nesting period.
Climbing
Irish Mountaineering Club
The Irish Mountaineering Club is a mountaineering club based in County Wicklow, Ireland, although most of its members come from the Dublin Region. Its activities encompass all aspects of mountaineering, but its climbing activities are most prominent...
(IMC), and a handwritten guidebook was published. These were the first significant steps in the development of climbing in Ireland; many of those first climbs remain popular and challenging routes for today's climbers.
Throughout the following decades, clearing of vegetation and loose rock by an increasing population of climbers uncovered many more quality climbs, and improvements in climbing techniques and equipment increased grades
Grade (climbing)
In rock climbing, mountaineering and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a climbing grade to a route that concisely describes the difficulty and danger of climbing the route...
dramatically. The current guidebook
Climbing guidebook
Climbing guidebooks are used by rock climbers to find the location of climbing routes at crags or on mountains. Guidebooks also offer condensed information about local restaurants, bars and camping areas; often include sections on geology and local climbing history; and may contain many pictures to...
, published in 2005, lists about 300 climbs, at grades up to E7. The climbs are nearly all single-pitch
Pitch (vertical space)
-Climbing:In rock climbing and ice climbing, a pitch is a steep section of a route that requires a rope between two belays, as part of a climbing system...
, between 10m and 35m in length. Climbs vary greatly in nature, with steep finger-cracks and bare slabs featuring prominently. Being granite (with some bands of quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
), friction is usually good, but being quarried, not as good as weathered granite. Protection
Protection (climbing)
To make climbing as safe as possible, most climbers use protection, a term used to describe the equipment used to prevent injury to themselves and others.-Types of climbing:...
varies but is generally good; in accordance with local ethics, there are no bolt
Bolt (climbing)
In rock climbing, a bolt is a permanent anchor fixed into a hole drilled in the rock as a form of protection. Most bolts are either self-anchoring expansion bolts or fixed in place with liquid resin....
s on any climbs in the quarry, and the few remaining piton
Piton
In climbing, a piton is a metal spike that is driven into a crack or seam in the rock with a hammer, and which acts as an anchor to protect the climber against the consequences of a fall, or to assist progress in aid climbing...
s are rarely replaced when they eventually break.
The quarry is a very important facility for Dublin climbers; on summer evenings the chirping of birds mingles with the jangling of climbing gear
Climbing equipment
A wide range of equipment is used during rock climbing. The most popular types of climbing equipment are briefly described in this article. The article on protecting a climb describes equipment commonly used to protect a climber against the consequences of a fall....
and calling of climbers to their partners. After climbing, Dalkey's pubs (especially the Ivory, previously called McDonaghs) play host to climbers who meet to quench their thirsts and talk about the day's events and plan future trips.
External links
- http://wiki.climbing.ie/index.php/Dalkey_Quarry - Irish Climbing Online Wiki: Dalkey Quarry
- Dalkey Quarry Rock Climbing Guide