Ribblehead Quarry

Start

Park at Ribblehead Quarry off B6255, on the other side of the tracks to Ribblehead Station (LA6 3AS). To get there go past Station Inn if heading towards Ingleton, under railway bridge and immediately left up unmade track. Parking circle is 400 metres on left

Accessibility

Rough terrain underfoot, slippery limestone rocks, steep quarry edge and wall stiles

Facilities

Café, toilets, and visitor centre at Ribblehead Station

Distance

6.5 kilometres - 2 ½ - 3 ½ hours

Route & Map

Explore an old limestone quarry which is slowly being reclaimed by nature and visit an old settlement on the slopes of Ingleborough.

From parking area continue a further 50 metres along the track to a gate on your right. This is Ingleborough Nature Reserve with an information board and a stone replica of the Ingleborough skyline.
Follow green mainly wooden posts straight into quarry. Look around the quarry floor before taking a track to left of the pond. Go up slope and follow path round and through a gate. After gate take right hand path which runs close to the edge of the quarry.
Follow green wooden posts to another gate beyond the quarry face. After this gate at second wooden post turn right through narrow cut in limestone rock. When you reach flat open ground this is the ancient farmstead of Gauber.
Climb the mound above the settlement and look back for a better view. Find a small box-shaped chamber on top of the mound, which is a ‘cist’.
Head towards Ingleborough in the distance aiming for a gate in stone wall 100 metres away. There is no obvious path so cross the uneven field and go through the gate marked with a blue spot for ‘Ingleborough Ridge Walk’.
Follow the clear path to another gate in next wall. On either side of the wall are tall stones called ‘orthostats’, the remains of a medieval wall.
Turn left after gate following path parallel to stone wall. Cross step stile next to gate. The path now becomes a wide, often muddy, farm track and soon bends right.
Descend through fields on farm track to B6255. Turn left onto main road for 100 metres until a cattle grid on your right where a tarmac lane is signposted to ‘Scar Top and Three Peaks Barn’. THIS IS A VERY BUSY ROAD SO TAKE EXTREME CARE.
Follow this lane down to valley bottom and continue for 2 kilometres, crossing two more cattle grids, and passing through open fields. Enjoy views of the Ribblehead Viaduct.
Cross over stream and take right hand fork to ‘Ribblehead’.
Walk along track to Gunnerfleet Farm where you turn right, cross bridge, go past barns and continue on to Ribblehead Viaduct. Go under the arches, turn right at junction of paths and follow the main track back to the start.

Route Options

What to look for

1. The Quarry is now part of the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve, but began in the late 1800s to provide limestone for building the Settle Carlisle Railway. In 2000 it was donated by Hansons to Natural England, and has been left alone to see how nature reclaims it.

2. The stone bench recreates the Ingleborough skyline. There are holes to pour water down showing how water flows through the cave systems. Ribblesdale has a huge number of caves. Some have been excavated and gives glimpses of life long ago. 130,000 years ago, the climate was warmer and herds of rhinos and elephants roamed this area. 11,000 years ago, a hunter lost an antler harpoon point, which was dragged into a cave by scavenging hyenas.

3. Gauber farmstead dates back to before the Norman Conquest and families lived and farmed here well over a thousand years ago! The foundations of three buildings, a long house, kitchen and workshop around a central yard, can be seen in the grass. This was excavated in the 1970s and animal bones, coins and iron objects were found.

4. People have lived and farmed this land for thousands of years. Sleights Pasture contains a large chambered Neolithic stone cairn (29 metres across and 1.6 metres high). It was excavated in the 1800s and contained a stone coffin with an entire human skeleton. It is badly damaged but you can still make out the shape.

6. Between the 12th and 16th centuries, the monks farmed sheep so well that this became the main farming activity. Since then, Dales farms have traditionally reared sheep, along with a few beef cattle, with dairy herds in the lower valleys.

7. In the late 18th and 19th centuries cattle were driven long distances from Scotland providing ‘meat on the hoof’ to the growing towns of Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Great cattle fairs were held at places like Gearstones (near Ribblehead).

8. The B6255 may have been a major Roman route through the Pennines from the Lune Valley in the west to Bainbridge in the east. It was a trade route for goods such as metalwork, fabric, pottery and jewellery as well as news and fashions.

9. During the late 18th and 19th centuries, common farmland was enclosed by drystone walls under the Enclosure Acts. Some of these walls date from this period and give the land its ‘patchwork’ look, although others are much older.

info@peopleandthedales.org

Ribblehead Quarry

What to look for