Rivelin Rocks are a

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for pa ...

edge or escarpment in the upper

Rivelin Valley The River Rivelin is a river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It rises on the Hallam moors, in north west Sheffield, and joins the River Loxley (at Malin Bridge). The Rivelin Valley, through which the river flows, is a -mile-long woodlan ...

at grid reference , west of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

just off the

A57 road The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, England, Lincoln via Warrington, Cadishead, Irlam, Patricroft, Eccles, Greater Manchester, Eccles, Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and Manchester, then through t ...

in the county of

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, England.

Overview

The rocks reach a height above sea level of approximately and are popular with

rock climbers Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

and to a lesser extent with walkers, although never overcrowded. The land on which the rocks lie is private and the landowner has protested in the past about damage done to trees and footpaths and has threatened to bar access for visitors. The edge has many trees growing close to it although a good view of parts of the edge can be obtained from the A57 road to the south. Sheep grazing fields stand immediately north of the edge and these are fenced off leaving room for only a narrow path quite close to the edge. The summit of the rocks gives good views of the lower of the

Rivelin Dams Rivelin Dams are a pair of water storage reservoirs situated in the upper part of the Rivelin Valley, west of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. The dams are owned by Yorkshire Water and provide water to 319,000 peoplePeak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

. The rocks in fact fall just inside the boundary of the national park. Additional attractions for the climber is that the rocks are south-facing and are often bathed in sunlight and warmer than some of the neighbouring climbing edges; the quality of the rock is also good, being extremely grippy. The first recorded ascent of the Needle was in 1950 by Don Wooller using the Spiral Route.http://www.ukclimbing.com.
Gives Don Wooller as first ascender of Rivelin Needle. Famous British climber Joe Brown climbed the Needle in 1954 by the Original Route.www.rockfax.com
Joe Brown climbed needle in 1954. The main face of the rocks also has some excellent climbs, The Brush Off, Blizzard Ridge and Auto da Fe all being highly rated routes. Descent from the Needle is by

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to Bela ...

from a metal chain at the top.www.rockfax.com.
Gives basic description of climbing on edge. The isolated western part of the crag is named White House Buttress after a house situated just below the edge, which formerly belonged to

Arthur Balfour, 1st Baron Riverdale Arthur Balfour, 1st Baron Riverdale (9 January 1873 – 7 July 1957), known as Sir Arthur Balfour from 1923 to 1929 and Sir Arthur Balfour, 1st Baronet, from 1929 to 1935, was a British steel manufacturer. Balfour was the son of Herbert Balfou ...

and has become a care home in recent years.

Access

Rivelin Rocks are reached via a muddy public footpath that leaves the A57 road opposite the dam wall of the lower Rivelin Reservoir; the path goes through

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

and then enters a dense

silver birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found a ...

wood passing a sign that says you are entering a conservation area. The path forks in the wood; the left-hand branch leads gently uphill towards the rocks until the base of the crags are reached, then it is a short steep scramble up to the top of the rocks, finding an accessible gap in the crags. The view from the top give a good prospect of the lower Rivelin Reservoir. The area of the main edge just behind the needle has been quarried at some time in the past.

References

{{Climbing areas of the Peak District Climbing areas of England Geography of Sheffield Hills and edges of South Yorkshire Escarpments of England