From East Riddlesden, go up the road (over the swing-bridge) that takes you onto the moor-edge (ask a local if you have trouble). Go all the way up till you hit the road which encircles the moor (it’s called the Silsden Road where you hit it). Turn left for several hundred yards till you see the microwave tower just on the hillock to your right on Pinfold Hill (not the larger TV towers just below the forest). Walk up there, then follow the edge of the walling till you hit the old Pinus sylvestris trees of Robin Hood’s Wood where 2 walls meet. Go over the gate and walk to your right for about 200 yards, following the line of the walling. You’re there!
Archaeology & History
Cluster of cups on W edge
A newly-discovered cup-marked stone, located for the first time on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, by Michala Potts, who was out on an amble with some long-haired halfwit whizzing about getting excited about stupid cup-markings on stones, dragging her back and forth and leaving her in the middle of a bog! On one occasion when this ‘ere fruitbat wandered off (again!), leaving her alone in the middle of the hills, she decided to check out some rocks a bit further up the slope where she’d been left alone. And there, along the edge of some walling, right on the edge of the much-denuded Robin Hood’s Wood, a short distance west of Rivock, a curious stone popped out and caught her attention!
Was this a cup-marking she saw before her!? It certainly was! But she didn’t call out to this halfwit who’d left her to her own devices. She let him just wander off to his sad heart’s content, whilst she got into the nitty-gritty of checking the stone out, uncovering the essentials of the carving while he bimbled off like a freak! And what a nice carving it was she found…
Baldwin Stone – looking westFirst sketch of the stone
Although no accurate measurements were made of the stone (it was bigger than 10-inch!), at least 17 cup-markings were counted here: one singular and very well-preserved cup, alone on its southern edge, right by the walling. But the main feature of the design is a cluster of cup-marks (at least 11) on the western side of the rock — one part of this cluster having the appearance of the figure 5 on a dice! Several other well-defined cups occur on the central and more northern end of the rock.
Eventually, her sad stone-wandering fella returned, forlorn, having found no new carvings of his own (poor soul!). And so she took his poor little hand, and took him to see the little prehistoric treasure she’s uncovered — and her sad little man got all smiley and … well, you know what they’re like!
Additionally however, for the archaeo’s amongst you: if you come wandering up here to check this carving out, you’ll notice the remains of many large upright stones in a lot of the old stone walls round here. Many of these are the remains of Iron Age walling.
Nice n’ easy. Get to the Haystack Rock and walk on the path west (past the Three Cups Stone) and where the path swings round following the edge of the small Backstone valley, keep going for 150 yards or so. Keep your eyes out for the remains of walling in the Green Crag Settlement on your left. This flat stone is amidst the heather in and amongst the enclosure (hence the name). If you walk back and forth hereabouts for a short period, checking for flat stones amidst the heather about 20 yards off the path, you’ll find it!
Archaeology & History
Top-left section of CR-288
This is another one of those carvings which had been seen by a number of people, bimbling about across this part of the moor, before it saw the literary light of day in Hedges Carved Rocks book (1986). It’s a nicely-preserved design, usually covered over by much heather growth, but is worth the exploration if you like your cup&rings. The drawing of this stone however (in both Hedges and Boughey & Vickerman) does not convey the actuality of the carving, as we can see here. But that’s the case with many cup-and-rings: linear precision and the artisty of the carving are two very different things. As we can see here, one section of the stone has a defined ‘enclosure’ of cups etched upon the rock surface: something that is clearly missed in the archaeologist’s drawing. Check it out y’self and see what you think!
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Very close to the edge of the M9, this old water source is thankfully still visible, though not in its original state. At the bottom of the ridge, loosely enclosed in the grounds of St. Thomas Well House, we find that the original well has been submerged into the pond which covers it.
Folklore
I’ve not yet found the mythic origins behind the dedication to this site, though St. Thomas’ Day is the winter solstice on December 21, and his mythic status was that of didymus, or twin. In Yorkshire, folk customs surrounding this figure have been found to be inextricably intertwined with death rites, Robin Hood and shamanism! But this Stirlingshire site is as yet silent. The presence of numerous prehistoric burials very close by may have something to do with its dedication, as such sites would heighten the likelihood of there being ‘heathen’ practices close by, to which the said ‘St Thomas’—or one of his emissaries—could subdue with their christian figure. But that’s pure speculation on my part…
References:
Attwater, Donald, The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, Penguin: Harmondsworth 1965.
Morris, Ruth & Frank, Scottish Healing Wells, Alethea: Sandy 1982.
Fleming, J.S., Old Nooks of Stirling, Delineated and Described, Munro & Jamieson: Stirling 1898.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Stirlingshire – volume 2, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.
From the village of Midgley, high above the A646 Halifax-to-Todmorden road, travel west along the moorland road until you reach the sharp-ish bend in the road, with steep wooded waterfall to your left. From here, across the road (roughly) there’s a track onto the moor. Go up this, keeping to the line of the straight walling uphill by the stream-side (instead of following the path up the quarries) all the way to the top. Here you’ll see the boundary stone of Churn Milk Joan. Take the footpath to its side for up onto the moor 250 yards or so, taking a right turn into the deeply cut footpath and walk along for several hundred yards, keeping your eyes to the north (right). You’ll see the rocky cairn of Miller’s Grave not far away in the heather, near to the large rounded boulder known as Robin Hood’s Pennystone.
Archaeology & History
Ascribed by some as neolithic, and others as Bronze Age (the more probable), here is a curious archaeological relic: curious, inasmuch as it’s received very little attention from archaeologists. It’s quite a large monument — and perhaps the fact that it has always seemed to be in isolation from other prehistoric remains has held it back a little. But recent ventures here have brought about the discovery of more cairns (though singular small ones), neolithic walling, hut circles and other prehistoric remains that have never previously been reported.
Miller’s Grave, Midgley Moor (in VERY heavy rain!)Central stone aligning north to Nab End
It’s a decent site aswell. Mainly consisting of the usual mass of smaller stones piled up and around one main point; in the middle of this ‘tomb’ is a large split glacial erratic boulder, which may have been the original focus of the builders. Some may even ascribe a coupla cup-markings on this ‘ere central rock form — but they’d be pushing it a bit! This large central feature aligns to the high peak of Nab Hill several miles north, above Oxenhope. Whether this feature was of any significance in the cairn’s construction is debatable (though as north represents death in pre-christian peasant lore, this ingredient has to be noted).
Profile shot – looking NELooking SE, with small cairn in foreground
The cairn is a goodly size: some 4 feet tall and about 50 foot across at its greatest diameter. Some of the stones near the centre of the stones have been put there in more recent years. In previous centuries, treasure-seekers came here in the hope that they’d uncover gold or other trinkets and stripped off much of the original cover, moving many rocks to the edges. Others were also stolen from here to make some of the grouse-butts, not far from away. In a foray to the site on 5.9.10. we were lucky to find the heather had been burnt back and found, some ten yards to the north and to the southwest, the remains of small, outlying singular cairns (though these need excavating to ascertain their precise nature).
Calderdale Council’s archaeology notes on Miller’s Grave tell it to be “situated on the summit of Midgley Moor”, which is quite wrong. The summit of the moor is some distance west of here, near where an old standing stone called the Greenwood B stone (75 yards south of the Greenwood Stone) and the much denuded remains of other prehistoric sites could once be found — though I’m not sure that they, nor the regional archaeologist for Upper Calderdale has ever been aware of them.
Folklore
In F.A. Leyland’s (c.1869) extensive commentary to Watson’s History of Halifax (1775), he relates a fascinating tale which seems to account for the name of this old tomb:
“About ninety years ago,” he wrote, “that is, towards the end of the eighteenth century – one Lee, a miller, committed suicide in Mayroyd Mill near Hebden Bridge. The jury at the inquest held on the occasion returned a verdict of felo-de-se, and the body was buried at Four Lane Ends, the Rough, in Midgley. The fact, however, of the body of one who had laid violent hands upon himself, lying in unconsecrated ground at a point where the highways met, and at a spot which the inhabitants passed early and late, oppressed the people of the neighbourhood with an irresistible dread. Persons going to market and passing from village to village, feared and avoided the unhallowed spot, until the feeling increased to one of insupportable terror; and, in the night time, a multitude collected with torches to disinter the body. This was speedily effected and violence was even offered to the dead. A man named Mark Sutcliffe, and others, who attempted to prevent the exhumation, were stoned* by the mob, and the body was hurried to the cairn on Midgley Moor, where it was hastily interred. Here however, it was not allowed to rest; the isolation of the body, though buried in a lonely spot, was yet apart from the common cemetery where the dead lie together in their special domain; and this invested the surrounding district with a superstitious awe difficult to describe. The body was still too near the haunts of the living; and, to the perturbed imagination of the inhabitants, the unquiet ghost of the suicide constantly brooded over the hills. As this was not to be endured, the body was at last removed from the cairn, and finally buried in the churchyard of St. Thomas a’ Beckett’s, Heptonstall. Although the interment of Lee, at the cairn, has conferred upon the spot the name of the Miller’s Grave, it cannot be doubted that the large quantity of heavy stones which we find heaped together at this place…was piled up in distant times…”
Modern pagan folklore ascribes the name of this site to relate to Much, the Miller’s Son: acquaintance of the legendary Robin Hood, whose ‘Penny Stone’ boulder is just 100 yards west of here.
Follow the directions for getting to the great Badger Stone carving. From here, walk eastwards on the footpath for about 400 yards. Hereabouts walk off the path and down the slope just a few yards and amble back and forth, checking the various stones. Keep doing this until you find it! (luckily, this stone’s marked on the OS-map) There are several other reasonable carvings nearby on the same plain…the Green Gates Stone (or carving no.257) for one!
Archaeology & History
The Pitchfork Stone (after Hedges, 1986)
First found (or rather, recorded) by our old friend Stuart Feather and described in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group’s Bulletin in 1961. It’s status was all-but-secret until Hedges edited the Ilkley Archaeology Group’s Carved Rocks work in 1986. The stone’s a simple design as the illustration shows: an urn-like vessel with a cup in the middle; but the attached groove at the bottom gave one anonymous chap (who dared to use the modern name of RombaldII!) the idea of it looking like a pitchfork – so the name sticks!
The enclosing “lines” that make up the pitchfork aspect of the carving are pretty enhanced (as we can see in the photograph here) and may, just may, be the result of a more recent petroglyphic artist.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Feather, Stuart, ‘Mid-Wharfedale Cup-and-Ring Markings – Nos. 2 & 3, Ilkley Moor,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 6, 1961.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
In terms of getting here, follow the directions given by H.C. Collins (1946), who reached here from Healey, north of Rochdale. “Once past Lousy Hillock the track continues in front of Brown House Reservoir… The track climbs Faffelty Brow under the lea of Man Stone Edge on the left”, above the Rossendale Way footpath. You can of course come straight up from Whitworth, heading up the eastern hill over Lobden golf course. The site’s to the northeast edge of the course.
Folklore
I first read of this a couple of decades back, in Jessica Lofthouse’s (1976) folklore book, but her pronunciation of the site — which I sought and sought, without success — made finding the place really troublesome. Thankfully, the local guidebook of Harold Collins (1946) has brought this site into focus once more and, it would seem, the probable site of prehistoric archaeological remains. But until we get over here and have a good look round, that aspect of the Man Stone will have to await assessment.
Collins (1946) described the “huge stone on the moortop on the left of the track” he’d been walking along, telling how “according to legend it bears the imprint of a human hand and was thrown (here) from Blackstone Edge by Robin Hood.”
Lofthouse (1976) told similarly when she was describing the folklore of Robin Hood’s Bed, about six miles east of here, by the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, saying,
“Robin was a mighty hurler as well as a bowman without peer. To while away waiting time in the Bed he took a large boulder from the giant’s overspill at hand, threw it and watched its course. Six miles away on Monstone Edge that boulder dropped, a feat amazing , and has been called Robin Hood’s Quoit ever after!”
But the “quoit”, said Lofthouse, was there centuries before any legendary Robin Hood — as it would have been. As far as I can find though, no such prehistoric relic ‘officially’ exists upon this hill. But as those of us who’ve been into seeking these old sites know, that doesn’t necessarily mean a thing. Henry Fishwick’s (1889) notes about the markings on the rock — “and certain impressions on its surface are said to be the marks of the fingers and thumb of the thrower” —may also prove fruitful.
Adding fuel to an authentic animistic history is the existence, once, of the Old Man’s consort: his Old Woman, or Cailleach, whose well and other landscape features existed to the north. Much of our peasant history is clearly just beneath the surface in this unexplored archaeomythic region…
References:
Collins, H.C., Rambles round Rochdale, Thomas Yates: Rochdale 1946.
Fishwick, Henry, History of the Parish of Rochdale, James Clegg: London 1889.
Lofthouse, Jessica, North Country Folklore, Robert Hale: London 1976.
Follow the same directions for getting to the Idol Stone, then walk just 30 yards further up the path and it’s the big rock on your left-hand side. Y’ can’t miss it!
Archaeology & History
Main section of cup-marks
This nice big boulder can be quite a temperamental chap, depending on how the light plays with the rock surface. I’ve got some photos of this old stone where you can see next to nowt on it; where as others show clearly aspects of the design that aren’t on the archaeo-images. But such is the nature of cup-and-rings I s’ppose!
Unlike its rather linear companion a few yards away, this great boulder has the more typical scattering of faded cups, lines and at least one cup-and-ring, etched with seemingly little purpose or structural design. But as we know, the very notion of structural design in forms consistent to modern mind-sets were anathema to the neolithic people who were etching these patterns on rocks. Indeed, even the notions of these images as ‘art’ as defined in modern times, has no relationship to the intrinsic reality of either cup-and-rings or reality per se, as experienced by our ancestors. And I think we find an explicit affirmation of this in the Cluster Stone here.
Close-up of cup-and-ring
Natural cuts in the rock have been heightened, for whatever reason, so that today the division between Nature’s marks and the mark of humans have become ambiguous as time has worn the features. The clustering of cup-marks on certain parts of the rock was surely indicative of (what we would term) separate events/forms, whose mythic relationship were, however, intrinscially related. This may be representative of a landscape map, or a series of events – but each would relate to one and other. But, of course, we truly don’t know, so think I’d best shut up!
Cluster Stone design (after Hedges 1986)
The carving itself, as we can see today, has perhaps as many as 40 cup-marks on it (Boughey & Vickerman safely vouch for 26), with five or six lines running across the surface, some of which have been modified by ancient peoples. The cup-and-ring on the stone is quite distinct. Neolithic or Bronze Age walling runs just a few yards away from here, but the precise line it takes has not been accurately assessed.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Follow the same directions to reach the Pancake Stone. Then walk eastwards along the footpath on the moorland edge. After about 400 yards, keep your eye out to your right on the moorland proper where you’ll see this large boulder, seemingly isolated, of similar shape to the Haystack Rock, but a bit smaller. That’s it! If you end up near the stream (Rushy Beck) you’ve gone way past it.
Archaeology & History
Four of the cups on this lichen-rich surfaceLittle Haystack (after Hedges 1986)
Found in the middle of the Green Crag Slack Plain, this large Haystack-Rock-shaped boulder stands out. It sits amidst a cairn-field with other neolithic remains nearby. The carving itself aint that impressive, and some parts of it seem almost dubious. But both Hedges, Boughey and Vickerman include it in their surveys, describing the cup-marks and curious lines on its northeastern surface. It’s nowt special to be honest. You’d expect a bit more from the size of this old stone; but as those folk who know their rock art well will tell you, size aint everything when it comes the splattering of cups on a rock’s surface. We have four distinct cups pretty close to each other (as the photo shows), with another possible cup-and-ring and accompanying lines nearby.
The stone’s worth looking at though. It stands out amidst the mass of single- and double-tombs scattered across the moorland plain — sitting amidst a veritable necropolis no less.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Follow the same directions as to reach the Tree of Life Stone carving. From here walk 7 or 8 yards east. You can’t miss it!
Archaeology & History
Coped Stone carving (after Boughey & Vickerman)
About 20 feet away from the more renowned Tree of Life Stone — and seemingly linked to it by a small stretch of ancient walling that runs between the respective stones — is this rather large boulder close to the walling with at least seven cup-marks on it. A number of vague lines run down and around the edges of some of the cups, but they can be somewhat hard to see if the light conditions aint right (I don’t recommend trying to suss it out on dark grey overcast days — unless you’ve got awesome eyes!). Immediately next to this rock is a large collection of small stones, looking to be the remains of some man-made construction from time past. The nature of this pile of rocks has yet to be ascertained, but it would be reasonable to assume that it was at one point earlier a much larger pile that has been plundered for use to make the drystone walls hereby. Less than 10 yards below this and the Tree of Life Stone carving is a line of ancient walling, at least Iron Age in nature, possibly earlier, running for some distance east-west up and across the moorland.
Cup-marks near top of the stone
The carving was described for the first time, albeit very briefly, by Eric Cowling (1937) in his lengthier description of the Tree of Life Stone, saying how “a small coped stone to the east has several scattered cups” on its surface — meaning this old thing! Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey (2003) describe it as a “medium-sized, upstanding, worn rock. Seven or eight possible cups, mostly at the top of S face, but one at its bottom of E face.”
…And the poor old fella has had nowt else said of it until now! I reckon this carving will only be of interest to the most serious of meditators or hardened rock-art freaks!
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Cowling, Eric T., “Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 131, 33:3, 1937.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of Mid-Wharfedale, William Walker: Otley 1946.
From Bingley, take the B6429 road up to Harden. After going up the wooded winding road for a few hundred yards, stop where it levels out. Cross onto the right-hand side of the road and walk up the slope a little, veering to your right. You’ll notice a small disused building just off the roadside, in overgrowth, with a pool of water. You need to be about 100 yards up the slope above it!
Archaeology & History
Elm Crag Well, Bell Bank Wood, Bingley
This is a beautiful old place. If you walk straight up to it from the roadside, past the derelict building, you have to struggle through the brambles and prickly slope like we did – but it’s worth it if you like your wells! However, if you try getting here in the summertime, expect to be attacked on all sides by the indigenous flora! The waters here emerge from a low dark cave, in which, a century of three ago, someone placed a large stone trough. When I first came here about 25 years ago, some halfwits had built an ugly red-brick wall into the cave which, thankfully, someone has had the sense to destroy and rip-out.
Shown on the 1852 Ordnance Survey map and highlighted as a ‘spring,’ Harry Speight (1898) gives a brief mention to this site, though refers us to an even earlier literary source when it was first mentioned. In John Richardson’s 18th century survey of the Craven area, he makes reference to an exceedingly rare fern, Trichomanes radicans, which was later included in Bolton’s classic monograph on British ferns of 1785. In it, Bolton wrote that the very first specimen of this plant was “first discovered by Dr. Richardson in a little dark cavern, under a dripping rock, below the spring of Elm Crag Well, in Bell Bank.”
Elm Crag Well
The waters from here come from two sides inside the small cave and no longer run into the lichen-encrusted trough, seemingly just dropping down to Earth and re-emerging halfway down the hillside. But the waters here taste absolutely gorgeous and are very refreshing indeed! And the old elms which gave this old well its name can still be seen, only just hanging on to the rocks above and to the side, with not much time left for the dear things.
References:
Bolton, James, Filices Britannicae: An History of the British Proper Ferns, Thomas Wright 1785.
Speight, Harry, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley, Elliott Stock: London 1898.
