Some Gritstone Climbs
Frontispiece page of Some Gritstone Climbs, by John Laycock, 1913.
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| Author | John Laycock |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Guidebooks:Rock Climbing |
| Publisher | Refuge Printing Department : Manchester |
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Publication date
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1913 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 116 pp (first edition) |
Some Gritstone Climbs is a rock climbing guidebook written by British lawyer John Laycock (1887–1960). 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. 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.
The book is 16 cm × 12 cm, contains 14 leaves of plates, and has 116 pages. It has 11 initial pages (including frontispiece and preface), and 116 pages of content, with 3 appendices. It is in hardback format, with a dark green cover. 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.
The following climbing areas are covered in the book. Some are now known by other names, such as Stonnis 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.
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