Distance = 3 miles
Start: SK202550
End: SK197576
Andrew and Ellen have very kindly allowed me to share this video they made of their drive past Roystone Grange and other green lanes nearby - Green Laning around Roystone Grange.
Clearly marked from Ballidon Quarry as a public road this byway is a well maintained mainly tarmac lane. We drove it at the height of summer (10 July 2011) enjoying the Red Kites soaring in the blue sky overhead, the very pleasant scenery and the lovely warm sunshine.
The lane winds around the edge of the large quarry but there is no clue that you are so close to the extensive workings except for the warning signs. The actual site is well concealed behind the grassy hill. A little further along and the lane passes a chapel like building to the left. This is the 19th century pump house which held the huge water cooled steam engine that powered the pneumatic drills used in the quarry. A plaque on the wall of this relatively modern building informs the visitor of Roystone Grange, a monastic sheep farm that was here between the 12th and 14th centuries. 'The low turf-covered walls up the slope to your right are all that now remain of the grange hall and one of the barns that went with it.'
© 2011
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