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Hodge Close Quarry is a flooded, green slate quarry, nestled amongst some beautiful countryside but with obvious signs of historic mining works having taken place throughout the Tilberthwaite Valley. Mining probably started around the 1780s, and with a few periods of inactivity, continued through until 1964. It is located 4.6 kilometres (2.9 miles) north of Coniston and 12 kilometres (7.4 miles) west of Ambleside. It has become a popular, well-trodden area for hikers and, over the years, a key location for rock climbing, abseiling, and scuba diving. Hodge close is attached to neighbouring Parrock Quarry, also open to the elements, but here nature has fully reclaimed the rocky features of once busy mining operations, giving the appearance of something out of Conan Doyle’s, The Lost World. (read more)