An austere crag with a long climbing history - the most impressive cliff in Northumberland some would argue. The well-preserved remains of the Roman Wall and the superb views northwards add to the ambience of the place. There is a lot of good climbing here, much of it in the lower grades, often up strong natural lines.
But ... (there is always a 'but') the crag is north-facing and set at a height of 500m; conditions can often best be described as a little 'fresh'.
The rock is a layer of fine grained dolorite (basalt) that was injected between older rocks 295 million years ago, and underlies much of northern England. On cooling, the rock formed pillars that give the crag its characteristic blocky structure. This means that there can be large loose areas of rock and the fine grained texture leads to it being impossibly slippery if conditions are at all wet. The cliff is called Highshield Crag on some maps.