Langcliffe Quarry Enterprise Centre near Settle has become the new home for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s southern ranger service. 

Rangers were joined at an opening event on Monday 13 October by representatives from Langcliffe Parish Council, Settle Town Council, neighbours and partners.  

Located close to the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the workshop and office at Unit 13 will enable rangers to efficiently carry out rights of way maintenance in Ribblesdale and Malhamdale. 

The former southern ranger base, Stonedykes Barn, located between Langcliffe and Stainforth, has now closed following the end of its lease.  

Cutting the ribbon to officially open the new base, Julie Hutton, Chair of the Authority’s Finance and Resources Committee and Member Champion for Corporate Management said: “I have always worked in the rural economy, and it is great for me to see this ranger base alongside the business centre here at Langcliffe. It demonstrates for me how business and conservation can come together. I want to thank all the officers and Members who have worked so hard to bring this project to fruition. 

“The opening of Unit 13 also reinforces our commitment to our rights of way programme. Our objective for the next five years, as agreed by the National Park Management Plan partnership, is to manage and maintain the standard of all public rights of way in the National Park, so that, on average, 90% remain ‘easy to use’. This new ranger base will help us to do that, not least in the much-visited Yorkshire Three Peaks area. 

“We are proud to be moving into the Langcliffe Quarry Enterprise Centre and pleased to be partnering with North Yorkshire Council to perform additional conservation tasks around the site such as the targeted removal of invasive species to protect priority habitats, installing new signage, maintaining bird boxes and the monitoring of peregrines nesting at the site”.       

The Langcliffe Quarry Enterprise Centre lies beneath the 50 metre sheer limestone rock face of Stainforth Scar. It is located within the Settle-Carlisle Railway Conservation Area and considered to be a site of national significance for its industrial archaeology, owing to the presence of the limeworking industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

An interpretation trail is located close by allowing people to discover the site’s industrial heritage, such as Hoffmann Kiln, and the diverse wildlife that has reclaimed the former quarry and limeworks.