Tag: animism

Skinners Well, Finsbury, London

megalithix

Healing Well (lost):  OS Grid Reference – TQ 313 822

Archaeology & History

Like oh so many of the healthy old springs and streams in that dreadful metropolis, the blood and natural health of Skinner’s Well was killed long ago by the self-righteous arrogance of Industrialists.  Even its precise whereabouts seems to have been forgotten… So we thank the written words of antiquarians to keep its memory alive.

Mentioned as far back as 1197 AD in early fine records of the region (Hardy & Page, 1892) as Skinnereswell — and thereafter in various local history records from 1200, 1244, 1385 and constantly from thereon — the place-name authorities Gover, Mawer & Stenton (1942) told that the prefix ‘skinner’, “clearly derive from personal names,” from “the occupational name skinner, of Scandinavian origin.”  But this isn’t to everyone’s etymological fancy! When A.S. Foord (1910) sought for information on this healing spring, he found the same 1197 account, in which

“Skinners’ Well is there described as lying in the valley between the Nun’s Priory and the Holeburn, in which was a large fish-pond… Strype, in his continuation of Stow’s Survey (1720) say, ‘Skinners’ Well is almost quite lost, and so it was in Stow’s time. But I am certainly informed by a knowing parishioner that it lies to the west of the church (of St. James, Clerkenwell), enclosed within certain houses there.’  The parish would fain recover the well again, but cannot tell where the pipes lie. But Dr Rogers, who formerly lived in an house there, showed Mr Edmund Howard…marks in a wall in the close where, as he affirmed, the pipes lay, that it might be known after his death.”

Mr Sunderland (1915) thought Skinners Well a probable holy well, “because Mystery Plays were were performed yearly around it by the Skinners of London.” Citing as evidence the earlier words of John Stow in his Survey of London, 1603, which he narrated:

“In the year 1390…I read, the parish clerks of London, on the 18th July, played interludes at Skinners Well, near unto Clerkes’ Well, which play continued for three days together; the king, queen and nobles being present.  Also in the year 1409…they played a play at the Skinners Well, which lasted eight days, and was of matter from the creation of the world.  There were to see the same the most part of the nobles and gentles in England, etc.”

Whether this “matter from the creation of the world” was a tale of a Biblical nature, or more related to indigenous creation myths of the waters and lands around Skinners Well, we have no way of knowing.

References:

  1. Foord, Alfred Stanley, Springs, Streams and Spas of London: History and Association, T. Fisher Unwin: London 1910.
  2. Gover, J.E.B., Mawer, Allen & Stenton, F.M., The Place-Names of Middlesex, Cambridge University Press 1942.
  3. Hardy, W.J. & Page, W. (eds), A Calendar of Feet of Fines for London and Middlesex, 1197-1569 – volume 1, Hardy & Page: London 1892.
  4. MacLagan, David, Creation Myths, Thames & Hudson: London 1977.
  5. Sunderland, Septimus, Old London Spas, Baths and Wells, John Bale: London 1915.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Croft Moraig Carving (01), Kenmore, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 79746 47251

Getting Here

The long cup-marked rock

Follow the same directions for the Croft Moraig stone Circle.  Then check out the elongated stone lying in the grass on the southern edge of the circle.  It’s not that hard to find!

Archaeology & History

Nearly 13 yards (11.75m) south of the faded Croft Moraig 2 carving, this cup-and-ring stone on the SSW edge of Croft Moraig is one of at least four that have been found in this megalithic ring.  It has been suggested that the stone on which the carving is found once stood upright. The earliest account I’ve found of it comes from Alex Hutcheson’s (1889) essay in which he wrote:

“At the south-west side and in the line of the outer circle lies the cupmarked stone. It is a recumbent stone, and like the others in that circle lies with its larger axis in the direction of the encircling line. It measures 6 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet broad, and bears on its surface 23 cups. Two of these are connected by straight channels. The largest cup is 2 inches in ‘diameter and f inch deep. Two of the cups are encircled, each with a concentric ring.  None of the other stones exhibit any cups or other artificial markings.”

Cup-marks pointed out
Fred Coles 1910 drawing

…Although other cup-marks have subsequently been found on other stones within the circle.  Consistent with the location of cup-and-ring marks elsewhere in the country, Hutcheson found the carved rock to be just in front of “a longish low mound of small stones, like an elongated cairn, which might yield something if it were to be searched.”  Very little of this cairn remains today.

When Fred Coles (1910) came to explore Croft Moraig about 20 years later, he could only discern 19 cups on the stone, most of them the same size, “only two of which differ much in diameter and depth from the rest.”  The cup-and-ring that Hutcheson described and the other missing cups had been overgrown by the grasses, Coles said.  When Sonia Yellowlees described the carving in 2004, she said that 21 cups were visible, “one of which is surrounded by a single ring”—which you can clearly see in the photos below.

Carving 1 with cup-and-ring
Close-up of design

When archaeologist Evan Hadingham (1974) looked at this site, he found deposits of quartz here and thought that their presence may have been relevant to the placement of the carving, noting how such a relationship is found at other circles in Scotland.  In more recent years, rock art students Richard Bradley and others have found similar quartz deposits in or around some petroglyphs a few miles from here; as have fellow students Jones, Freedman and o’ Connor (2011) at some of the rock art around Kilmartin.  In my own explorations of the carvings near Stag Cottage, hundreds of quartz chippings were found that had been pecked into the cups and rings.

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, Rings of Stone, Frances Lincoln: London 1979.
  2. Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 44, 1910.
  3. Hadingham Evan, Ancient Carvings in Britain: A Mystery, Garnstone: London 1974.
  4. Hutcheson, Alexander, “Notes on the Stone Circle near Kenmore,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 23, 1889.
  5. Piggott, Stuart & Simpson, D., “Excavation of a Stone Circle at Croft Moraig, Perthshire,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 37, 1971.
  6. Yellowlees, Walter, Cupmarked Stones in Strathtay, Scotland Magazine: Edinburgh 2004.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Oldfield Hill, Meltham, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Enclosure:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0874 1009

Getting Here

Oldfield enclosure in the field below

From the crossroads at the centre of Meltham, near the church, take the Wessenden Head Road up out of town for about a mile.  Keep your eyes peeled to right (north) for the track leading downhill to Oldfield Hall or Farm.  As you go down the track you’ll see a small cluster of hawthorns running along a small ridge 100 yards or so ahead, at the end of the field, with some line of embankment. This is on the right of the track and is the Oldfield enclosure!

Archaeology & History

The remains of this large quadrangular settlement were first described as of ‘Roman’ origin in Mr Morehouse’s History of Kirkburton (1861), where he told that,

“In the…township of Meltham are the remains of a Roman encampment, on the moor below West Nab, a short distance to the left of the road which leads thence to the village…forming nearly a square of about four chains.  When I visited the place about twenty years since, in company with the owner and other friends, the whole was very distinct and perfect. This piece of ground has since been brought into cultivation, yet the trenches are still visible.  This encampment would appear only to have been made to supply some temporary emergency.”

Joseph Hughes old drawing of the ‘Roman’ camp
Western embankment & ditch

But Mr Morehouse’s speculation of its Roman origin and function are known to be untrue.  The site is in fact of Iron Age origin and was probably in semi-permanent use for long periods between Spring and Autumn. But the ‘Roman’ nature of the site was echoed a few years later, albeit briefly, in Mr Hughes’ History of Meltham (1866), where he told that “querns or hand-mills for grinding corn were found” at the site.

In 1909, the Saddleworth antiquarian Ammon Wrigley excavated the site but found little that could enable a correct dating of the enclosure. It was explored again a few years later by Ian Richmond and then again by J.P. Toomey in the 1960s.  Bernard Barnes (1982) summarised their respective findings, telling:

“Rampart of rubble and earth 7 feet wide faced with drystone walling; original height c.10 feet; V-shaped rock-cut ditch, 5½ feet deep and 6 feet wide, and a counterscarp bank similar to inner rampart with drystone revetment surviving to 4 courses.  Northeast entrance had double timber gateway.  Pre-rampart palisade trench on at least 2 sides of the enclosure with vertical posts 2 feet apart.  Finds include 2 stone discs, rough out beehive quern, iron slag and very small fragments of pottery.  Site dated to Iron Age.”

Another enclosure of similar period can be found a few hundred yards to the south.

…to be continued…

References:

  1. Abraham, John Harris, Hidden Prehistory around the North West, Kindle 2012.
  2. Barnes, Bernard, Man and the Changing Landscape, Eaton: Merseyside 1982.
  3. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  4. Hughes, Joseph, The History of the Township of Meltham, John Russell Smith: London 1866.
  5. Morehouse, Henry James, The History and Topography of the Parish of Kirkburton, H. Roebuck: Huddersfield 1861.
  6. Toomey, J.P., An Iron Age Enclosure at Oldfield Hill, Meltham, Brigantian: Huddersfield 1976.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ashlar Chair, Burley Moor, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Legendary Rock:  OS Grid Reference – SE 12075 44833

Ashlar Chair, looking southeast

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.111 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.115 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  3. Druid’s Chair
  4. Etching Stone

Getting Here

There are two large boulders here, one of which was deemed the Ashlar many moons back. You can approach it from the lazy way: park y’ car at the top of the road by the Whetstone Gate TV masts and walk east right along the boundary path till you get here. The better way is from Twelve Apostles: from there walk a coupla hundred yards north to the Lanshaw Lad boundary stone, where a small path heads west. Along here for another coupla hundred yards, then hit the footpath south for the roughly the same distance again. You’ve arrived!

Archaeology & History

The Ashlar Chair is ascribed in folklore, said Harry Speight (1892), “to be a relic of druidism,” as one of its titles in ages past was the Druid’s Chair.  In the nineteenth century it also became known as the Etching Stone, (Smith 1961-63) but it has retained its present title for more than two hundred years.  Shaped more like a couch than a chair, its present title—the Ashlar—is important in ritual Freemasonry, which has two aspects to it: the ‘rough’ and the ‘perfect’.  The first represents the neophyte; the latter, the illumined one.  Oaths are sworn on the ashlar, and laws are spoken from it.  In its higher aspect it is representative of the spiritual maturity  of evolved man.

Ashlar Chair on 1851 map

Although there are no public records as to who gave the site its present name, the land which lays before it, The Square, is an even greater indicator that this rock was was considerably more than just a curious place-name, for the open moorland that is overseen from Ashlar Chair—The Square — is 396,000 square yards of flat open heathlands that have never been archaeologically explored.  The Square is also one of the most important elements of Freemasonry: representing the manifest universe, its laws are spoken from the Ashlar. (Jones 1950)

Between the two of them, represented here in the landscape near the very tops of these moors, we have a form of late geomancy, although the names of our geomancers are nowhere to be found.  It is obvious though, simply from the name of the land, that dramatic ritual of some form was enacted here.  In recent times, ritual magickians from differing Orders have found the place most effective, as have wiccan folk and other pagans who have frequented it at the summer solstice.  The possibility that some members of the Grand Lodge of ALL England (a legendary Masonic Order, said by the modern London masons not to have existed until the eighteenth century) gave this place its name is not unreasonable.  Records show that in the fourteenth century at least one member of the Order, Sir Walter Hawksworth, frequented ritual circles on these moors; and another member of the same Lodge from the nearby Washburn valley was an ally to the Pendle and Washburn witches who, we know, met on these moors at Twelve Apostles stone circle and probably the Ashlar.  But it proves nothing I suppose. (I tend to believe (not a necessarily healthy viewpoint) that the Grand Lodge did use the Ashlar as one of their moot points, along with the Pendle and Washburn witches.)

Its primary geomantic attribute is as an omphalos.  Geographically the Ashlar Chair is the meeting-point of Bingley, Burley, Morton and Ilkley moors and, metaphorically speaking, when you stand here you are outside the confines of the four worlds yet still a purveyor of them.

Nature’s cups-and-grooves on the Ashlar

Upon the large rock itself it are carved the faint initials, “MM, BTP, ISP and IG, 1826.”  Several early records described cup-and-ring designs on the Ashlar: firstly in Forrest & Grainge’s (1868) archaeological tour; then in Collyer & Turner’s Ilkley (1885); and lastly by the great Yorkshire historian and topographer Harry Speight (1892, 1900), who said “it bears numerous cups and channels.”  Although we can see some of these on top of the Ashlar, they are mainly Nature’s handiwork.  It is possible that some man-made cup-and-rings once existed on the rock, but if so they have eroded over time.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  2. Collyer, Robert & Turner, J.H., Ilkley Ancient & Modern, William Walker: Leeds 1885.
  3. Forrest, C. & Grainge, William, A Ramble on Rumbald’s Moor, among the Dwellings, Cairns and Circles of the Ancient Britons in the Summer of 1867 – Part 1, W.T. Lamb: Wakefield 1868.
  4. Jones, Bernard E., Freemason’s Guide and Compendium, Harrap: London 1950.
  5. Speight, Harry, Chronicles & Stories of Old Bingley and District, Elliott Stock: London 1892.
  6. Speight, Harry, Upper Wharfedale, Elliott Stock: London 1900.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Panorama Woods (236), Ilkley, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10395 47039

Faint cup-and-ring carving

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.68 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.236 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

From Ilkley, take the Wells Road heading towards White Wells, bending round the bottom of the moor, making sure you keep left along Westwood Drive (not further up the moor along the Keighley Road).  Keep along Westwood Drive – it becomes Panorama Drive after a while – until you come to the small copse of woods on your right, a short distance before the end of the road.  Go along the footpath by the wall at the side of the house, bending into the woods after 10 yards.  Another 10 yards on, you’re near the edge a drop down the slope, where a number of large rocks are seen.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

Carving 236 (after Boughey & Vickerman)

A singular cup-and-ring carving can be seen, rather faintly, near the nose-end of this large mossy stone, close to the edge of the ridge.  It is one of a small cluster of carvings that remain in this small bit of woodland.  Other highly ornate carvings could once be seen in the same stretch of woodland — where the rich houses now stand — amidst remains of a prehistoric enclosure or settlement of some sort.  All remains of this settlement have been destroyed, which is a pity as it may have given us helpful information about the nature of this carving and its nearby relatives.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Panorama Stones, Ilkley, TNA: Yorkshire 2012.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  3. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Rivock Well, Silsden, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Healing Well:  OS Grid Reference – SE 07782 44863

Getting Here

Rivock Well pool

From the B6265 valley road between Bingley and Keighley, just near Riddlesden Hall, take the road up and over the canal into Riddlesden, bearing left up past West Riddlesden Hall and up Banks Lane. As you reach the T-junction at the top, where you hit the Silsden Road that goes round the moors, park up.Cross the road and follow the footpath diagonally across the bottom of the field, then when you hit the track, follow it up through the closed gates into the woods.  A half-mile along the track, watch out for the dark pool a few yards beneath you on your left.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

The spirit and feel of this pool is a curious one: still, calming, but with a slight sense of unease at times.  It felt like this before the large forestry plantation was planted around it — so it’s good to know it’s kept its spirit intact.  I’m not quite sure how long it will last though… The small spring of water from just above the edge of the pool which in part feeds it, tastes good and refreshing after a good downpour, but sometimes in recent years the waters have slowed somewhat compared to earlier decades — an unhealthy state of affairs that’s happening all over the world.

A favourite haunt for very colourful dragonflies, deer, pheasant and other animals, very little has been written about this site.  Said by place-name authorities to get its name from an old oak that once stood by its side, the name must be pretty old as no remains of such a tree has been mentioned by any antiquarians in the last 200 years.  But the first element in the place-name “riv-ock” is an intriguing puzzle.  Does it mean simply a split oak?  Or was it a more regal in nature, and derive from the old Gaelic Righ, (proncounced ‘ree’) meaning a King’s Oak?  More probably the name relates to the “well by the twisted oak,” from the dialect word, rive, or ‘twisted’.  However, when we begin exploring dialect variations on this word, a whole host of possible meanings emerge!

Ancient people who lived on these moors obviously used this well — and no doubt had old tales of its medicinal virtues, but sadly these are lost.  All we have to remind us that our ancestors came here are the numerous cup-and-ring stones found at Rivock Edge itself, a short distance southeast of here…

References:

  1. Whelan, Edna & Taylor, Ian, Yorkshire Holy Wells and Sacred Springs, Northern Lights: Dunnington 1989.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Rivock End, Riddlesden, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 07782 43878  

Getting Here

Clusters of cup-markings

From the B6265 valley road between Bingley and Keighley, just near Riddlesden Hall, take the road up and over the canal into Riddlesden, bearing left up past West Riddlesden Hall and up Banks Lane. As you reach the T-junction at the top, where you hit the Silsden Road that goes round the moors, park up.  Turn left and walk along the Silsden Road, counting the field on your left, moorland-side.  At the fourth, go through the gate uphill, keeping to the walls on the right and going through the second gate up.  Walk straight on for nearly 130 yards (119m) where you’ll see this group of three earthfast rocks right next to each other.

Archaeology & History

‘Ring of cups’ motif

Not included in any pervious archaeological survey, this is a fine cup-marked stone with at least 25 cups etched into this average-sized rock, halfway up this field of stones.  When this carving was rediscovered on Friday, 6 January, 2012, it was noticed that a couple of cup-marks were peeking out from the edge of the grasses covering the rock — and so a careful and gradual uncovering of the rock itself was slowly exposed and see if the initial suspicions of an authentic carving were correct.  Thankfully it turned out right!

When first spotting this, I undercovered more beneath the soil, although it’s not clear how much of this stone is covered in carvings, as the Earth has grown considerably over the top of it.  There is also what seems to be a geological curiosity on the eastern section of the stone; whereby some apparent ‘cups’ seem to have been created by natural process.  However, these have been added to by human hands at a distant time, long ago.  The cup-marks themselves vary in size, from small ones barely an inch across, to larger ones measuring some 3-inches in diameter; and oddly, the cups seem to get larger the further west you travel across the stone!  More research is needed at this site to ascertain the a more complete image of the petroglyph.

…to be continued…

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dave’s Stone, Rivock, Riddlesden, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 07634 44209

Getting Here

Rock with cup-markings

From the B6265 valley road between Bingley and Keighley, just near Riddlesden Hall, take the road up and over the canal into Riddlesden, bearing left up past West Riddlesden Hall and up Banks Lane. As you reach the T-junction at the top, where you hit the Silsden Road that goes round the moors, park up. Takes the footpath across the road and walk straight uphill, all the way to the top just above where the tree line ends and you’re on the moorland flat.  Bear right, over one wall, then walk 20-30 yards further and the stone in the photo here should be roughly under thine nostrils!

Archaeology & History

There’s no previous record of this as a cup-marked stone, so it needs adding here.  I’ve gotta admit that I’m not 100% sure about it as a real prehistoric carving — but considering the dubious nature of the nearby Carving no.58 and the Rivock Nose Stone, this is roughly somewhere in-between in terms of its legitimacy as an ancient carved stone.  Certainly I’ve come across other cup-markings, adjudged by newly-qualified ‘professionals’ as fine, but which I find highly questionable — so this one that Dave Hazell came across a couple of years ago should certainly be added to their professional rock art catalogues.

Close-up of the cupmarks

It’s simple enough: a four-feet long stone, whose top east-facing edge has been worked in more recent centuries by the miners who dug on the slopes below (perhaps to turn it into a gatepost?).  There are three notable ‘cups’ that are clearly visible on the photos here.  The topmost cup is something pretty recent, having had industrial attention given it; the largest cup may be natural; but the one in the middle seems to be what our English Heritage rock-art enthusiasts term a legitimate prehistoric petroglyph.  It certainly seems a good one!  Have a look for yourself and see what you reckon! It’s in a good spot and is certainly worth the wander, if only to have a look at other cup-and-rings in the region.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 302 337

Archaeology & History

Remains from Briggate’s tomb

We don’t know for sure whether the burial site that once stood near Leeds city centre was a cairn, a tumulus, or just a stone-lined cist (stone grave), but due to the prevalence of similar prehistoric sites in the neighbourhood, it’s most likely to have been a small tumulus that once existed here.  All trace of it has obviously gone.  The most detailed reference we have of this place was the account given by the 19th century Leeds historian, James Wardell (1853), who thankfully gave us the drawing of remains found within the tomb and who wrote:

“In the year 1745, a most interesting discovery occurred, of an urn containing ashes, calcined bones, and a stone axe perforated for a shaft, which were found by a carpenter at a depth of about two feet, on sinking a tenter post, in a field near to the top of Briggate, in Leeds. The urn was of rude formation, imperfectly baked, and ornamented after the usual maimer of the Britons, with encircling rows of indentations; it measured about twelve inches in height, and was placed with its mouth upwards, having a cover, wliieh was broken by the workman. The whole of these artielt^s were taken pos- session of by Mr. Alderman Denison, the owner of the field, who resided near ; their subsequent fate is unknown, and their loss as a local one is to be deplored; but fortunately small sketches of them were made at the time, which has enabled me to give the drawings contained in Plate I. These relics lay claim to an earlier date…and have appertained to some warrior of the prehistoric period, whose simple, yet solemn funeral rites, were here performed, and in memory of whom the cairn, or the barrow was raised.”

There is a remote possibility that the position of St. John’s Church, a short distance north of Briggate, may have had some relationship with this sacred burial site.  St. John was the christian church’s midsummer saint.

References:

  1. Wardell, James, The Antiquities of the Borough of Leeds, John Russell Smith: London 1853.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Rivock Edge (60), Silsden, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 07476 44475

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.22 (Hedges)
  2. Roof Stone

Getting Here

Cup-mark on top of the rock

From the B6265 valley road between Bingley and Keighley, just near Riddlesden Hall, take the road up and over the canal into Riddlesden, bearing left up past West Riddlesden Hall and up Banks Lane. As you reach the T-junction at the top, where you hit the Silsden Road that goes round the moors, park up. Cross the road and follow the footpath up the field, but walk up the side of the field-wall where the woods are, all the way to the top. On the flat, you’ll see a gap in the woods on your left, and the triangulation pillar atop of Rivock Edge 150 yards away.  Head towards it, watching out for one of the natural rocks rising near the middle of the grasses. It’s one of them!

Archaeology & History

Faint cup-and-ring, centre of photo

Exactly halfway between the cup-marked Niplet Stone and the large flat Carving 58 (Boughey & Vickerman survey) is this natural long upright rock, shaped in the form of a house-roof, with its apex running along an axis SE-NW, its sloping sides dropping either side into the deep wet heather.  Upon its crown is what may be a singular cup-marking, almost perfectly formed, though is just as likely to be Nature’s handiwork as much as anything else.  But on its western-face, within the mass of old lichen painting the rock surface, a more distinct man-made cup-mark has been cut.

On its eastern face, close to where the rock meets the boggy Earth, a singular faint cup-and-ring design can be made out, albeit a somewhat mis-shapen one.  It’s easily missed if the lighting isn’t too good as it’s very eroded indeed.  The carving was first described in Mr Hedges (1986) survey, where he told:

“Rough grit rock with ridge, in crowberry and heather with cup and ring on E edge and possible cups and grooves.”

The stone’s certainly worth visiting, as a number of other cup-and-ring stones scatter this region — half of them officially recorded, but nearly as many again that aren’t.  It’s a good area to explore.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, “The Prehistoric Rock Art and Megalithic Remains of Rivock & District (parts 1 & 2),” in Earth, 3-4, 1986.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  3. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
  4. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-marks,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 55, 1989.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian