Yorkshire, West

Shipley Glen (136), Baildon, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 13266 38928

Also Known as:

Carving BM14 (Hedges)
Carving no.136 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Once you’ve got yourself to the start of Shipley Glen, from the Old Glen House pub, from the car-park outside walk up the road for 60 yards (if you reach the next small car-parking spot, you’ve gone too far) then step off-road into the vegetation on your left and you’ll see the large flat fractured section of earthfast rock. Get low down and seek out the cup-mark first!

Archaeology & History

This is a very faded and quite basic design and unless you get decent low sunlight, it can be very difficult to discern. On my most recent visit here, conditions weren’t too good, as the photos here indicate.

The main feature is a single cup-mark surrounded by a very wide ‘square’ ring (if y’ get mi drift). It’s possible that this carving was first described and illustrated by the great Yorkshire genealogist J. Horsfall Turner (1894) in conjunction with the missing Brackenhall Green carving — although he did tell that they were, since June 1889, “both now destroyed”. But the carving here does bear a distinct similarity to the one he illustrated and so it may have just been covered in turf (or am I grasping at straws here?!). And despite this resemblance, one or two features in his description aren’t found in the carving that we see today. When John Hedges (1986) added the carving to his survey, he described it simply as:

“Striated, pitted bedrock with crack down centre, in grass and amongst other rocks and bedrock. Carving, centre and W end: enclosure type angular grooves and two cups.”

One of the two cups is presently beneath some shallow vegetation (easily removed if anyone’s passing), but the main feature of the large enclosing square and its central cup is presently exposed and can be seen when your eyes eventually adjust. Interestingly, Hedges shows the existence of a faint ring around the central cup inside of the larger square enclosure. If someone is able to capture a photo of this, please add it on our Facebook page. 🙂

It must also be emphasized that somewhere, not too far from this carving, was once found a very similar design known as the Brackenhall Green carving that possessed the same curious squared-ring feature that we find on this stone.

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Turner, J. Horsfall, ‘Cup Marks, Shipley Glen,’ in Yorkshire County Magazine – volume 4, J.E. Watmough: Idel 1894.

Brackenhall Green, Baildon, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 133 389

Archaeology & History

The lost carving of Brackenhall, in 1888

I first came across a description of this lovely-looking cup-and-ring carving during some research I was doing in the archives at Bradford Central Library in the 1980s—and decided there and then that I had to find it! It was described and illustrated for the first time by William Glossop (1888) when he made a short survey of some of the prehistoric sites on Baildon Hill and Shipley Glen. He told that it was one amidst “a cluster of rocks on Bracken Hall Green”—but was seemingly destroyed not too long after he wrote about it. There was some discussion in the late-1980s that it may have been a petroglyph that was cataloged by John Hedges as carving ‘BM14’ (at SE 13272 38924), due to it possessing a similar ‘artistic’ element (or motif, as some like to call it) and which is also along the Brackenhall plateau by the roadside about 160 yards below the entrance to the Brackenhall centre—but it turned out not to be the case.

A few years after Mr Glossop uncovered this carving, a short note by J.H. Turner (1894) described two cup-marked stones, “both now destroyed” that could be seen in the same area just as you entered “the plateau where the Easter fair is now held”. And his description closely fitted Glossop’s sketch. Turner wrote:

“The cups were three inches in diameter, and one inch deep, in an oblong 18 by 12 inches, with line 6 feet long towards the east. The second oblong, same size, had also an eastern pointer and one cup in the centre. These have both disappeared since June, 1889; I fear by wanton mischief.”

This would seem to be the same carving illustrated by Glossop, although it’s still difficult to say with any accuracy where it was located. The great historian W.Paley Baildon (1913) thought it may have been the same carving which Harry Speight (aka Johnnie Gray) described at the Glen Gate—and it does sound similar, but until we are able to ascertain (i) where Glen Gate was; and (ii) whether it coincided with the location of “where the Easter fair” was held, we must err on the side of caution. Tis an intriguing mystery… (Note: the grid-reference given for this site profile is an educated guesstimate!)

References:

Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – volume 1, Adelphi: London 1913.
Glossop, William, ‘Ancient British Remains on Baildon Moor,’ in Bradford Antiquary, no.1, 1888.
Gray, Johnnie, Through Airedale from Goole to Malham, Walker & Laycock: Leeds 1891.
Turner, J. Horsfall, ‘Cup Marks, Shipley Glen,’ in Yorkshire County Magazine – volume 4, J.E. Watmough: Idel 1894.

Slinger Stone, Rivock, Silsden, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 07540 44730

Getting Here

A real pain-in-the-arse to find this one, and even describing how to get there is troublesome—but I’ll try my best! I think the best starting point would be from the track that runs through Rivock plantation. Follow directions to reach the Ripple Stone carving, then walk 35-40 yards east to the ornate multiple-ringed stones of Rivock (067) and company. Now comes the tricky bit. From here walk, zigzag fashion (it’s the only way y’ can do it!) up the slope ever-so-slightly east of due south until you reach the top of the slope, where the land levels out. If you walked in a dead straight line from the triple-ringed Rivock (66) carving, it is almost bang on 100 yards. Anyhow, now you’re on top of the slope, zigzag about and look for the large flat oval-shaped stone. Take your time—you’re gonna need it!

Archaeology & History

Laid amongst the dense mass of cheap crappy pine trees that plagues some of our upland countryside depriving the land of necessary nutrients for animals, flowers and other trees, this impressive multiple cup-and-ringed marked rock lies sleeping. It was rediscovered in 2017 by local hunter Chris Slinger during one of his many ventures through the undergrowth. I’m informed that one of his compatriots reckons that he already knew about it some forty years prior to Chris claiming it—but as yet we have no way of knowing that for sure, so the name of the carving goes to Mr Slinger. And it’s a beauty—one helluva beauty!

This large, flat, ovoid-shaped stone, roughly 10 feet by 7 feet across, is virtually covered from head to foot in large and not-so-large cup-and-rings at varying levels of erosion. The carving appears to have been partitioned, so to speak, into two sections that are clearly defined by a carved line that runs the breadth of the stone. On the top, larger section above this main line are about 30 cup-marks, with perhaps a dozen of them having rings around them—some complete, some incomplete—scattered about in the usual non-linear manner. One or two of the cup-and-rings may have double-rings, but due to dark conditions in here none of us could be sure. On one visit, a local lady (Liz of Fell Edge if I remember rightly) noticed that the largest cluster of cup-and-rings near one quarter of the stone seemed to be arranged in a similar form to the Swastika Stone, 1.9 miles northeast of here!

On the lower smaller section of the carving, beneath the main line if you like, there’s not quite as much going on. At least twelve cup-marks are apparent here, at least five of which have rings around them. The main little bunch of these are pushed right up against the long carved line, seemingly communicating with other rings on the top-side of it. In some photos it looks as if, in this section of the stone, carved lines link the cup-and-rings on each side of the main dividing line (if y’ get mi drift). There’s a lot going on here. It’s a pretty complex carving as you can see: one of the best in the Rivock cluster and one that I’d like to spend more time with, if only to get a complete picture of what the carving looks like in full as we’ve not yet got to the outer edges of the stone itself, meaning that there may be more of it beneath the vegetation.

I was hoping to get some much better photos of this site and clear back more of the covering foliage, but as the carving is now all but covered in dense forestry, we may have seen the last of it for a few decades. Even worse, there’s the great possibility that the carving will be destroyed when the forestry lads come to cut down the trees—through no fault of their own—as they’ll have no idea that it’s directly beneath their machinery. It would be good if some local volunteers could perhaps completely clear and protect this stone to avert such a likely disaster a few decades from now. A small metal fence with a little notice-board would do the trick!

Acknowledgements: Firstly, to Chris Slinger for rediscovering the carving; then to the modern stone-fondlers Rod ‘Koot’ Chambers and Sean Dillon for beginning the cleaning process, and for their photographs in this site profile; and then to Sarah Walker, Sarah Jackson and Marianna, for helping to bring the entire stone into view.

Oxenhope Cross, West Yorkshire

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Cross: OS Grid Reference – SE 03111 35206

Getting Here

If you’re coming up to Oxenhope from Keighley, up the A6033 road, when you reach the school on the right-hand side of the road, a one-way street (Cross Lane) is where you need to walk down, for 200 yards, and keep your eyes peeled in the walling just before Cross Farm Court. Alternatively, via Haworth, go along Marsh Lane for a few hundred yards until your reach Moorhouse Lane on your left. Go down here for ⅓-mile (0.5km) and then go up Cross Lane on your right. About 120 yards up, in the walling just past the entrance into Cross Farm Court is where you’ll find it.

Archaeology & History

Very little seems to be known about the remains of this cross, embedded into the old walling. When it was described by Brigg & Villy (1914), they could find no information about it, and surmised that it marked the original track or road to Oxenhope from both Haworth and Halifax, “on the line of the old road by Withens.” Ostensibly it would seem to have been a wayside cross, marking old trackways (ley hunters take note!).

Visitors looking at it today can see that it’s barely noticeable. It looked no different even in Brigg & Villy’s days. It simply consists of only part of the original head of the cross, “the shaft having been broken off flush with the horizontal limb.” Some of the other stones that make up the bottom of this very poor-looking excuse of a cross were probably not part of the original, but were assembled into the wall to at least leave of memory of what it used to look like. It’s in a sorry state to be honest. A historic plaque should be placed here.

References:

Brigg, J.J. & Villy, F., “Three Ancient Crosses near Keighley,” in Bradford Antiquary, New Series 6, 1921.

Stump Cross, Bramley, Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cross (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 2546 3537

Archaeology & History

In medieval times an old stone cross was erected at the edge of Bramley where two old tracks once met, and which today is the junction where Broad Lane meets with Outgang Lane. The cross is long gone – and even the stone cross base on which it stood no longer existed when the Ordnance Survey lads came here in the 1840s. All that remained when they came here were the place-names which have forever kept a memory of its former existence: Stump Cross Stile and Stump Cottage. It was mentioned, albeit briefly, in Wardell’s (1890) survey of Kirkstall Abbey where he told simply that a

“stone cross formerly stood some distance south of the Abbey by the side of the Old Road to Bradford, at the junction of the lane leading to Bramley, called the Outgang, but no remains of it are left; the site, however, is still known by the name of ‘Stump Cross Stile.’ Whether this cross marked the extent of some boundary, or was erected by the monks or others for the purposes of devotion for wayfarers, I am unable to ascertain.”

References:

Wardell, James, An Historical Account of Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire, Samuel Moxon: Leeds 1890.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Killingbeck Cross, Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cross (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 3071 3463

Archaeology & History

In James Wardell’s (1890) work on Kirkstall Abbey he describes several of the long lost stone crosses that used to exist in the area. This one,

“formerly stood by the road side at the south end of Sheepscar Bridge, in Leeds.”

The cross had already been destroyed by the time the Ordnance Survey lads explored the area in the 1840s, as there’s no showing of it on any of their maps. Wardell further stated that it was,

“called Killingbeck Cross, from being erected by either the Abbot of Kirkstall or the Vicar of Leeds, of that name.”

References:

Wardell, James, An Historical Account of Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire, S. Moxon: Leeds 1890.

Intake Farm, Hawksworth, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 15867 41244

Getting Here

In Hawksworth village, less than 100 yards past the primary school, take the footpath on your left into the open fields. 200 yards down the fields, go over the stile on your right, into the next field and walk diagonally across it (SW) for 250 yards until you reach the wall; then walk alongside it, west, for another 150 yards where the walling goes due south and walk down here for 135 yards, going through the gate at the bottom into the next field and, at the bottom of this one go through the gate and bear right. OK, now walk along the wall-side for 55 yards and you’re just about standing on it! Alternatively you can reach it via the Hawksworth Spring (1) and (4) carvings, following the wall along for roughly 150 yards till you reach the gate. Go through here and walk diagonally NNW across the field for nearly 150 yards where you’ll see the stone stuck out in front of the wall.

Archaeology & History

My first sight of this came about as I walked alongside the walling. Approaching the stone, I noticed what looked like a recent cup-like marking with a curved line emerging from it on its eastern surface; but it didn’t look too old and was more like the scratch-marks you see sometimes when farmers have been dragging rocks along to be used in walling. So I shrugged in slight disappointment—until the far-side, the western-side of the stone came into view.

Sloping ever-so-slightly down into the ground, the surface of the stone had a cluster of quite worn, shallow, but distinct cup-markings between one and two inches across, four of which ran in a line from the top to the edge of the stone in a slight curve. As I walked round it, looking from different angles, it became obvious that two or three other cups existed—mainly from the top to the western side of the rock. One seemed to exist near the edge, whilst two other faint ones sat to the side of the line-of-four—almost creating a square formation. From some angles it looked as if there may be faint lines running between some of the cups but (as usual) the sunlight didn’t really help highlight them and they could just be faded erosion lines.

It was obvious that a section of the stone on its southern edge had been broken off in the not-too-distant past, raising the idea that the design may originally have been larger than its present form. This thought returned when I walked another 60 yards west along the wall and came across a broken section of stone that had been placed into it, pretty recently, and on its vertical face noticed a single cup-mark in a good state of preservation, indicating that it had either been cut recently or instead been dug out of the ground not too long ago and shown intself to the world after a sleep of several millenia. Look at it when you have a gander at the main carving here and make up your own mind….

Hawksworth Spring (04), Hawksworth, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 15802 41206

Getting Here

Take the same directions as if you’re going to visit the Hawksworth Spring (1) carving. From here, the small footpath at its side keeps going uphill, curving to the right and following the line of walling. After about 20 yards where the land begins to level out, keep your eyes peeled for a small elongated earthfast rock, less than three feet long, just to the left of the path and only three or four yards away from the wall. If the leaves have covered the stone, get on your hands and knees and scrub around a bit. You’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

This was a frustrating find as there are several elements on the stone, only one of which I could be 100% certain about – and that’s the singular cup-marking on the top-left of the stone. Just next to this is what looks to be another one, unfinished, cut into a natural fissure in the rock—but the daylight was frustrating, allowing only glimpses of visual clarity on the stone. At the other end of the stone, as the photo shows, are what stand out as two or three more cup-marks, but these seem geophysical in nature—although examples such as these scatter the works of Boughey & Vickerman (2003; 2018) as authentic, which shows the problem we all have as rock art students. Anyhow, at least one of these cups is the real deal. I’ll let the computer-tech lads sort the rest of it out for us…

Hawksworth Spring (03), Hawksworth, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 15807 41196

Getting Here

Once you’ve located the carvings of Hawksworth Spring (1) and (2), walk up the slope towards the topmost section of the walling where the land begins to level out. Hereby you’ll see the Hawksworth Spring (4) carving (if it’s not covered in leaves) several yards below the wall. Turn around and look diagonally to your left, into the trees, where you need to walk into and beneath the overhanging holly branches. Here you’ll reach the large earthfast rock whose edge rests up against the trunk of a larger tree. You can’t miss it!

Archaeology & History

I’m not 100% convinced that this a prehistoric design, despite it being listed as such in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey—although, to be fair, they do suggest it as being “doubtful.” The two most notable so-called “cups” have more of a recent hallmark to them and the other elements are troublesome to see with any certainty, but they may be geophysical in nature. Their description of it told us this was a “fairly large fine-grained rock with some included pebbles. Two pairs of cups, one pair connected by groove”. Make of it what you will….

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.

Glen Gate, Baildon, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – SE 1347 3882

Also Known as:

Carving no.143 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Archaeology & History

In Johnnie Gray’s (aka Harry Speight) early work on Airedale (1891), he described a number of the prehistoric sites on and around Baildon Moor and Shipley Glen. Almost all of the things he wrote about have been identified, but a cup-and-ring stone at “Glen gate” (as he called it) remains elusive. He wrote:

“After crossing the stream from the Glen gate, and going about thirty paces, we come upon…an incised stone, whereon are a number of circling lines and cup-like cavities — one at each corner, with a long line branching off to the north-east; but this stone unfortunately has got broken, and lying on the main path is much defaced.”

The exact location of this has proven difficult as the name ‘Glen gate’ was obviously a local one as it wasn’t included on the Ordnance Surveys of the period. There are two named “gates” hereby: one is Prod Gate at the east end of Prod Lane, and the other is Trench Gate a few hundred yards west at the other end of Prod Lane. But the most likely gate of the two would be Prod Gate. When Speight wrote his words, a stream existed that crossed the track about 70 yards west of Prod Gate, whereas no such water-course existed anywhere close to Trench Gate. And so we assume that he was writing about “the stream from the Glen (Prod) Gate.”

Having said all that, there are no known petroglyphs like the one that Speight described anywhere hereby. There are a couple of so-called “carvings” that have been included in so-called official surveys (Boughey & Vickerman 141 and 142; aka ERA- 2445 and ERA-2446) another 150 yards or so on the left-side of the road that could have been regarded as contenders, but these stones have just a mix of modern and natural markings and can be discounted. In all likelihood, this impressive-sounding petroglyph was broken up and destroyed when the proper road was laid in the middle of the 20th century; or perhaps broken up and stuck into one of the garden walls along the roadside. Either way, the carving seems long lost.

References:

Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Gray, Johnnie, Through Airedale from Goole to Malham, Walker & Laycock: Leeds 1891.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.