About the walls list

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The amazing curved pillar of Excalibur at the Bjoeks wall in Groningen, the Netherlands.
© Alan James, Apr 2009
One of the most frequently-asked questions on the newsgroup uk.rec.climbing is "Are there any climbing walls in London/Sheffield/Exeter/Bude/etc?" Which suggests that (1) people have trouble finding climbing walls in their area (they're not in Yellow Pages, you know); and (2) they often use the Internet to try to find them. Clearly then a database of UK climbing walls on the Internet could be really useful in helping people find facilities in or near the area where they live or work.

Not only that, but what if you could also find out what times they'd be open, what they cost, what facilities they have, and what other people think of them? That's what Charles Arthur thought when he was investigating the emerging technology of the Internet in 1994. And that's where this started.

Wall nameTownUpdated
Westway Sports CentreLondon05/May
Oxford University Sports CentreOxford05/May
Rock Over Climbing -...Manchester03/May
Boulder CentralWest Bromwich02/May
The Castle Climbing CentreLondon01/May
Rock City /Rockcity (Hull...Hull30/Apr
Kendal Wall, Lakeland Climbing...Kendal29/Apr
Hi ROCKHayling island28/Apr
RGU:SPORTAberdeen26/Apr
Teesside UniversityMiddlesbrough,24/Apr
Top 10 most recently updated walls

The UK Climbing list of indoor walls was originally based on the list published in On The Edge magazine in November 1994, used with their permission. In 1997 we added the BMC's info, again with their permission.

With the creation of ukclimbing.com, the entire database was reviewed and checked starting in September 1999. It took four months, which involved calling more than 200 walls, correcting more than 100 phone numbers, and hearing some amazing explanations for why the public is not allowed to climb at certain locations. Our favourite was "The wall burnt down."

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Cutting loose
© archiecb, Feb 2011
We now reckon that this is the most accurate, up-to-date and useful database of UK climbing walls on the Net - better even than the BMC's. And did we mention that there is a scrollable, zoomable map showing you the location of every wall? There is. You won't find that anywhere else either.

We will carry out periodic checks to ensure that the listing remains as up-to-date as possible But how accurate and complete the list is really depends on you - if you think something is missing (such as a review of a wall you've been to) or out-of-date, let us know. We love getting reviews. Don't assume someone else will do it - if everyone does that, the information doesn't get updated, and it's much better to get an update twice rather than not at all. You can use the Add new wall for adding walls that we're missing, and each wall page has a form for you to submit corrections and leave comments. Any problems? please email the Database Editor.