Churchyard Cross, Prestbury, Cheshire

Cross: OS Grid Reference – SJ 9007 7692

Archaeology & History

Prestbury Cross (by R.A. Riseley)

Many churches strive to find evidence in the greater antiquity of their foundations than the industrial age; and even those whose origins are medieval hope to find much older roots.  Such is the case with this Norman church of St. Peter, where just such an antiquity was found in the middle of the 19th century, embedded in the old walling where it had been encased many centuries before.  Thought to have been carved around the 8th century, the design on the stone typifies much ‘Celtic’ art, as it tends to be called, such as are found all over northern England.  As we can see here, the main feature is a series of curved and interlocking lines covering most of the rock face (sadly, no swastika occurs on this stone, but it’s common on many others of this period).  The old vicar of the church — Harold Rogers — takes up the story:

“About the year 1841, when part of the chancel work was taken down, some fragments of curiously ornamented sandstone were discovered embedded in the masonry.  They were carefully removed, put together, and placed in the churchyard where, protected from injury by a glass case, they may now be seen.  The carved ornamentation on this ancient relic was probably executed about the 8th century, and it is conjectured that the stone formed part of a cross placed there by some early Saxon converts…to commemorate the spot where the gospel was first preached in this locality.”

A brass inscription attached to the encased carved stone informs the visitor the same information.  The proximity of this early carved stone to the River Bollin and, very probably, an ancient ford crossing, implies the waters here were held as sacred in ancient days and hence the supplanting of the ornate carved cross at this position in the landscape.

References:

  1. Rogers, Harold W., Prestbury and its Ancient Church, Arthur Clownes: Macclesfield n.d. (c.1960)

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Badger Stone, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 11074 46049

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.88 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.250 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  3. Grainings Head Stone

Getting Here

Allen's 1879 drawing
Allen’s 1879 drawing

Although there are several routes to this site, for those who are not used to walking or find maps difficult to read [get a life!], it is best approached from the Ilkley side of the moor.  Follow the old track that cuts the moor in half past the remains of Graining Head quarry where the moor begins to level out.  Once here cut straight east until you find the footpath which, after a while, you will see leads to a wooden seat right in the middle of nowhere.  Here is our Badger Stone.

Archaeology & History

An eroded but quite excellent cup-and-ring stone — one of the very best on Ilkley Moor — comprising nearly a hundred cups, ten rings, what seems to be a half-swastika design, plus a variety of other odd motifs.  It’s one of the best carvings on the entire moor and has been written about by many folk over the years.  First described in an early essay on cup-and-ring stones by J. Romilly Allen (1879) — who must have visited it in poor light, as some elements of the carving weren’t noticed — he described it as a “sculptured stone near Grainings Head”, saying:

“This stone…is a block of gritstone 12ft long by 7ft 6in broad, by 4ft high.  The largest face slopes at an angle of about 40° to the horizon, and on it are carved nearly fifty cups, sixteen of which are surrounded with single concentric rings.  At the west end of the stone are a group, three cups with double rings and radial grooves.  At the other end, near the top, is a curious pattern formed of double grooves, and somewhat resembling the “swastika” emblem… At the highest part of the stone is a rock basin 8in deep and 9in wide.  On the vertical end of the stone are five cut cups, three of which have single rings.  This is one of the few instances of cup and ring marks occurring on a vertical face of rock.”

Badger Stone on 1910 map

The title “badger” dates back to at least medieval times when, as the Yorkshire historian Arthur Raistrick (1962) explained, the word represented “a corn dealer, corn miller or miller’s man.”  It is likely that this traditional title goes much further back, probably into prehistory, as grain was one of the earliest forms of trade.  Very close to this sacred old stone are place-names verifying this, like Grainings Head and Green Gates.  A little higher upon the moor is the twelfth century Cowper’s Cross (which used to have cup-markings etched upon it) where, tradition tells, a market was held that replaced an older one close by.

The Badger Stone carving
Close-up of cup-and-rings

Our Badger Stone rests beside the prehistoric track which Eric Cowling termed “Rombald’s Way” (after the legendary giant, Rombald, who lived with his old wife upon these hills): an important prehistoric route running across the mid-Pennines.  This ancient route runs east-west, traditionally the time of year when agricultural needs are greatest at the equinoxes.  This may have been the time when any ancient grain traders met here. (In modern times a number of archaeologists have emphasized such routes as “trade routes”: a notion that derives from the modern religion of Free Market Economics in tandem with the rise of Industrialism and social Darwinism, much more than the actuality of them as simple pathways or means of accessible movement).

There are accounts from other places in Yorkshire about these badger men.  We find a number of other “badger” stones, gates, ways, stoops and crosses on our Yorkshire hills.  One of them in North Yorkshire, wrote Raistrick (1962), “is an ancient trade way.”  In Richmond, North Yorkshire, around the time of the autumn equinox, Badger men from across the Dales followed the old routes over the hills into town, held annual festivities and sold their grain. (see Smith 1989; Speight 1897)  It is perhaps possible that our old Badger Stone would have been a site where some form of indigenous British Demeter was revered.

Sketch of Badger Stone carving

Some elements of the Badger Stone carving have what could be deemed as primitive human images (anthropomorphic) mainly on the northwestern side of the rock, emerging from the Earth Herself.  And certainly amidst the same portion we have a very distinct ‘solar’ symbol, very much like the ones found at Newgrange and, for that matter, many other parts of the world.

Some New Age folk have given the fertility element to the Badger Stone a deeper status, using imagination as an aid to decode these old carvings.  When feminist New-Age writer Monica Sjoo visited Badger Stone she described it as “erotic”, with the carvings giving her a distinct impression of “vulvas” and she also thought orgies of sorts had been enacted here. (Billingsley & Sjoo, 1993)  The vulva imagery is a well-known idea to explain cup-and-rings and in some cases this will be valid; but when I passed an illustration of this rock-art to a number of people (all women), there was not a vulva to be mentioned — merely the OM symbol, sperm entering the egg, a snail, a bicycle, a willy, a paw-print, eyes, a face, a tadpole, cartoon breasts, the rear end of a dog, grapes, letters, numbers, ears and a snake!  Awesome stuff!  Take a look at the design yourself and see what you can see in it.  Answers on a postcard please! (The dilemma of making specific interpretations of these carvings is that we tend to approach them with dominant ego perspectives, many of them reflecting little more than our own beliefs or search for identity, imposing unresolved journeys and conflicts on that which we encounter, as with the above case.)

As with prehistoric rock-art in general, they are a number of things: functional, ritual, history, spirit; different at each and every site.  As if to exemplify this at Badger Stone, note how the detailed carvings have been executed mainly on the southern face of the stone.  The northern face has little if anything to show on it.  It would suggest therefore, that this stone had some mythic relationship with events during daylight hours.  But we have to be careful here…

At sunrise on a good morning, we note how the eastern edges of this stone show up very clearly indeed.  If Nature’s conditions are damp and wet (as they tend to be each morning on the hills), the visible outline of these cup-and-rings show up very clearly indeed.  Oddly, as the sun then passes through the daytime sky each and every day on its cyclical movement, the petroglyphic content becomes a little less visible unless the stone is wet.  Indeed at sun-high (midday period) the carving doesn’t show up as well as it did in the morning light.  And we find the same characteristic as the sun goes to set in the west: where that part of the carved stone shows up very clearly again — much clearer than during full daytime hours.  If rain has fallen, the glyphs stand out very clearly indeed.

As all cultures imbued the natural world with animistic, living qualities, it seems probable that these periods of the day (sunrise and sunset) were significant at this particular carving.  It may be, very simply, that the Badger Stone “came to life” with the sunrise and its mythic nature was alive during this period; whereas with many other carvings (both on these moors and elsewhere in Britain) their strong mythic associations related to the northern Land of the Dead.  But then, I could be talking bullshit!

The Badger Stone is also a strong contender for it being a painted stone.  Many petroglyphs like this in other cultures were ceremonially coloured-in using lichens and other plants dyes at certain times of the day or year, relating specifically to important mythic relationships between the people and the spirit of the rock at such places.  This probably occurred here.

References:

  1. Allen, J. Romilly, “The Prehistoric Rock Sculptures of Ilkley,” in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 35, 1879.
  2. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  3. Billingsley, John & Sjoo, Monica, “Monica Sjoo in West Yorkshire,” in Northern Earth Mysteries, no.53, 1993.
  4. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  5. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
  6. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  7. Raistrick, Arthur, Green Tracks on the Pennines, Dalesman: Clapham 1962.
  8. Smith, Julia, Fairs, Feasts and Frolics: Customs and Traditions in Yorkshire, Smith Settle: Otley 1989.
  9. Speight, Harry, Romantic Richmondshire, Elliot Stock: London 1897.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


West Lane Rock, Askwith, North Yorkshire

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 15802 48393

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.509

Getting Here

Walk about a mile along West Lane from Askwith village, towards Ilkley, until you reach a notable rounded bend in the road where, in the field immediately above you (behind the thorns) on your left, is a small scatter of large rocks at the edge of the field.  One of these is what you’re after! (although this stone is just a couple of yards from the roadside, you can’t just pull up here and have a look — unless you’re an idiot! — without causing one hellova bad accident.  So don’t do it!)

Archaeology & History

Carving no.509, Askwith

First described in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey, this is a curious “design” — if indeed that’s the right word!  On the upper surface we can see, very clearly, one large cup and two deep curved lines set away from the cup-marking.  One of these lines appears to curve along and down the edge of the rock and, on the shaded side below (somewhat overgrown with nettles when we were looking at it), what may be another large cup-mark and a continuation of the same “carved” line, roughly as drawn in the 2003 survey.  It looks pretty good (if you’re a sad rock-art freak like me), but there could be another reason for the markings…

A mile upstream on the eastern edges of the wooded Scales Gill valley (known in previous centuries as both St. Helen’s Ghyll and the Fairy Dell), recent forestry and industrial work has scarred a number of rocks with engraved lines upon more faded cups or gunshot marks.  When we wandered up here a few days ago and found a couple of these recently scarred stones, I remarked on how, in years to come, unless we made note of these very modern curves and grooves on the rocks, that future archaeologists will be cataloguing them as cup-and-ring stones.  Several hours later on the way back home from our moorland wanderings, we ventured upon this, stone no.509.

I mention this for good reason: as a century back, only 100 yards away, are the remains of what was an old quarry that used industrial machinery similar to the ones that have made the recent curved markings on the stones a mile up the valley.  And as we can see quite clearly with this stone and its companions, they’ve been moved and dumped into their present position at the field-side.  We should keep this ingredient in mind when looking at this stone, just in case the archaeologists who’ve logged this as prehistoric have got their dates out by a few thousand years.  With any luck however, I’ve got it all wrong…

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Eclipse Stone (107), Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 11164 42652

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.107 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  2. Carving no.228 (Hedges)

Getting Here

From East Morton village, take the moorland road, east, and up the steep hill.  Where the road levels out there’s a right turn, plus (more importantly!) a trackway on your left which leads onto the moor.  Go up this track for a few hundred yards until you’re on the moor proper (by this I mean the track’s levelled out and you’re looking 360° all round you with all the moor in front of you).  Just before the track starts a slight downhill slope, go into the heather on your right, for about 80 yards.  You’re damn close!

Archaeology & History

I first came here many years back in my mid- to late-teens with an old school-friend Jon Tilleard, wandering about adventurously, occasionally stopping here and there when I found some stupid cup-mark or other seemingly innocuous scratch on the rocks, gerrin’ all excited and jumping about like a tit!  But when we visited the place again a few days back my response was somewhat different.  I was worse!  But for good reason…

Primary features of CR-107
Close-up of main features

The potential variations visible in this carving are peculiar, to say the least.  Ones first impression shows a carving similar in many ways to that shown in Hedges (1986) fine survey; but upon closer inspection a number of initial visual responses begin to look murky.  A seeming cup-with-double-ring aint what it seems!  To me at least (sad fella that I am!), it’s far more intriguing and far less certain, with a number of oddities still left.

The central feature of the carving is the lovely near-cup-and-double-ring!  As we can see in the photo here, there are some insecurities in the top-right of the outer ring.  To the upper right of this is another cup-with-partial-ring that was not included in the Hedges (1986) survey, nor Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) updated work.  There are some obvious pecked carved lines — whose specific definition yet remains unclear — in and around this area of the petroglyph; but in the “official” illustration these elements or ingredients were somehow missed.

Eclipse Stone, looking west

When we visited the stone the other day, the naturally eroded lines on the rock seemed pretty obvious; but the more we looked, the less secure we were about some of them.  Thankfully the light kept changing about, allowing us to get different perspectives — and with the low sunlight of evening casting itself across the rock, some additional features seemed obvious.  In particular, what seemed like two natural “scratches” on the stone turned out to have been pecked and carved and the straight lines ran into the double cup-and-ring on the left-side.  One of these — the lower and shorter of the two — seems to run into the central cup, but this aint certain.  The longer top line has an even more circuitous venture: entering the outer ring, it passes onto the top-inner ring and then bends along its edge, before exiting again on the right-hand side, through the outer ring and heading out towards the large natural eroded cutting a few feet away (see my crappy drawing to get an idea).  Other faint aspects on this stone may have the hand of man behind them…

My shit sketch!
Hedges 1986 sketch

There are certainly a few other cups on the stone: one with a near semi-circle on its lower and right-hand side.  The long nature-worn cut, right-of-middle, may have had the hand of man cutting into the cup at the bottom; and another couple of “is it? — isn’t it?” enhanced natural cups seem possible on the left side of the rock.  There is also what looks like a distinct single cup-marking on the west-facing vertical face of the stone (you walk towards it from the track).  It looks pretty decent, but I’ll let them there “professionals” assess the validity or otherwise of that one!  But the other unmistakable and very curious ingredient is the deep, worn arc beneath the primary double-ring feature.  This is, as the photo shows, separated by a long natural crack running halfway down and along the stone, above which possibly the double-ring feature touches.  This large ‘arc’ feature gives the distinct impression of being a big smile!  However…

Turn the image of the central feature upside down and you get a very different effect indeed.  A rainbow above the surface of the Earth, with (perhaps) a pool in which the sun has reflected?  Or an underworld venture?  Looking at it from a few angles gives the impression of a comet moving across the sky, aswell as an eclipse with the diamond-ring effect.  But as with cup-and-ring in general, there are plenty of other potentials!  Which also begs the question: was it to be looked from the top or bottom (or left or right for that matter)?

I could waffle about this particular carving for much longer, showing that it had quite an effect on me.  Check it out and sit with it for a while… It’s superb!

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Wray Stone (314), Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13173 46585

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.150 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.314 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Take the road up across from Ilkley train station uphill towards the moor until you reach great rocks on your right.  From here, the Cow & Calf Stones car park (packed with tourists and litter everywhere these days), go up the steep footpath onto the moor.  As you level out looking across the first moorland ridge, to your left is a rounded hillock.  Go into the heather there and near its small peak and you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Archaeology & History

This is a nice big stone, found amidst a clump of other stones, that gives the distinct impression of once being a large cairn or similar artificial prehistoric feature.  But that’s wishful thinking on my behalf…  This long fat 10-foot long rock has the distinct signature of someone who thought it a good idea to carve his little name on the carving in 1978, as the name of the rock tells: “Wray Nov 78” — vandalism which the local Ilkley Parish Council and local businessman Tom Lonsdale validate as little more than “twenty-first century informal unauthorised carving.”  Beneath the great artist’s signature we find two distinct cup-marks above a large rounded bowl, inside of which seems to be the impression of an old ring, but this seems due to the actions of water and lichen.  There are perhaps another two faded cup-markings alongside those distinctly visible.  In Hedges (1986) survey he described the “top flat surface has three cups and one basin” — so let’s play safe and go with that!

Close-up of cups, bowl & modern etching

It’s a good stone, sat upon a fine ridge with distinctive views for miles both east and west along the valley of the Wharfe, and north to the ancient settlements and burial grounds of Middleton Moor on the other side of the River Wharfe.  From here, behind and up onto Ilkley Moor, unfolds its greater mythic history, scattered and hidden over differing ages.  In years past, this site was a fine one for reflection and insight.  Today, one must venture further and to other sites for such quiet realities. Close by you can find the double-ringed carving of stone 318 and other faded cup-mark stones nearby.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of Mid-Wharfedale, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  3. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Counter Hill Carving, Silsden, West Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0463 4995

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.31 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Cowling’s 1946 drawing

From Silsden go up the long hill (A6034) towards Addingham until the hill levels out, then turn left on Cringles Lane (keep your eyes peeled!) for a half-mile where you need to veer right along Banks Lane and go 100 yards past Moorcock Farm Hall where the footpath takes you into the fields on your right.  Walk down the line of the wallings, thru the gate, and keep following down until you reach a cluster of large rocks.  Stop here and look over the wall where you’ll see one of the boulders poking its head out on the other side.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

First discovered by Eric Cowling in the late 1930s during one of his explorations of the immense Counter Hill earthworks (thought to be Iron Age), whose remains can still be seen encircling the peaked hill close by.  The stone is found in the edge of the walling halfway down the field towards the Marchup enclosure and is just inside the outer edge of the Counter Hill ditched enclosure surrounding the hill above you. (on the other side of the wall from the carving, you can make out the remains of the faint line of the ditch running pretty straight up towards the next wall)

Cluster of cups by walling
Counter Hill carving from above

At the top eastern edge of the stone is a clear cluster of 3 cup-markings, just as the rock meets the walling.  A much more faint group is visible to the left.  Cowling (1946) suggesting that the three-cup-cluster “shows the final form of the fylfot symbol,” i.e., the three-armed swastika.  Boughey & Vickerman (2003) meanwhile suggest that one of the two clusters are “doubtful (possibly recent?).”

When we came to this site yesterday, the day was overcast and cloudy.  But it seemed there may be more to this carving than has previously been recorded.  What may be a faint ring seemed possible near the middle of the stone, with a natural crack running through it (you can just about make it out in the photo on the right).  There also seemed to be other faint lines on the rock, but until we’ve been here again with better lighting conditions, the two groups of 3-cups is the symbolic state of play for this stone!

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of Mid-Wharfedale, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  3. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Glovershaw Quarry Stone, Baildon Moor, West Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13044 40093

Also Known as:

  1. Carving BM5 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.122 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Follow the same directions as those to reach the small Central Design Stone up past the top-end of Shipley Glen.  You’ll notice the small disused quarry just a few yards away, and this partly-covered flat stone lies right at the very edge of the quarry itself.

Archaeology & History

Faint cups on CR-122
Plan of CR-122 (after Hedges)

Unless you catch this stone in good light, many of the cups on this design are difficult to make out; but defocus for a bit and they’ll come to you.  Around 13 cups have been counted on this stone, with a couple of grooves: one of which descends just by the small arc (a common local feature on Baildon’s carvings), near the eastern side of the stone.  A larger basin below this, covered by earth, may or may not be natural.  Two of the cups here may have been carved sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, probably around the time the quarrying was being done.

As is common in some parts of Britain, this carving (and others nearby) was found in association with a small cairn-field, much of which has long since gone.

It’s very probable that there were other petroglyphs close to this one, but which have subsequently been destroyed as a result of the quarrying operations here.

References:

  1. Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
  2. Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, private manuscript: Shipley 1982.
  3. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  4. Jackson, Sidney, “Cup-Marked Boulder near the Glovershaw Footpath,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 2:17, 1957.
  5. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Baildon Moor (126), West Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13066 40095

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.9 (Hedges)
  2. Central Design Stone

Getting Here

Arc of deep cups

From the old Glen House pub, walk up the road onto ‘Shipley Glen’ as all locals call the place.  Go up the Glen Road for about half a mile, watching out for the small dirt-track turning going the slope on your left-hand side just near where the road starting swerving uphill to the right.  At this point where the track heads down and into the trees, there’s a footpath going into the bracken along to the right, heading onto level ground.  Walk up and along here.  After 100 yards or so you’ll notice the disused quarry on your left.  Keep walking along the footpath (two end up running parallel to each other) and you’ll see this carving right beneath your feet!

Archaeology & History

Baildon Moor carving 126

This was one of the very first examples of “cup and ring stones” that I ever saw, when I was a mere 10 or 11 years old!  I’m not quite sure what I expected to find, but something about this stone with its deeply set cup-markings obviously had an effect on me – as I’m still foraging about looking at them more than 35 years later!  About 20 yards away from the Glovershaw quarry carving (Baildon Moor 122), this central design stone — as I used to call it — was first recorded in W. Paley Baildon’s (1913) magnum opus and was then all-but-forgotten until the Bradford Archaeology Group mentioned it again more than forty years later.  Although you can only see three distinct cups on this small rock, another 2 or 3 seem in evidence under better lighting conditions, and a small line runs below the cups in the photo here, which you can just make out above the central cup.

This carving and others close by give the distinct impression that they were once part of some seemingly lost cairn-field, awaiting rediscovery…

References:

  1. Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
  2. Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
  3. Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, unpublished: Shipley 1982.
  4. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  5. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  6. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Winter Hill Stone, Cowling, North Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 98288 41976

Getting Here

Winter Hill Stone, looking NW

The easiest way to get here if you’re coming for the first time is via the A6068 Glusburn to Cowling road. On the south side of Cowling, take the small road Old Lane, uphill on the east side of the road (very easily missed – keep your eyes peeled!) and keep going up until the road just about levels out, where there’s a muddy parking spot on your left (the giant Wainman’s pinnacle is down the path from here).  Cross over the road and head up towards the giant Hitching Stone. When you reach the first fence, cross over it and follow it into the boggy heathlands to your right (west-ish).  Head into the tribbly grass and keep walking for 3-400 yards till you see the large rock growing out of the Earth.

Archaeology & History

Cup-markings near ground-level
Looking from above

Not far from the legendary Hitching Stone is this curiously-shaped boulder sitting peacefully and alone in its landscape.  It is in fact a large cup-marked boulder, previously unrecorded until being described in The Old Stones of Elmet.  On top of the stone it seems that there are no definite man-made cup-markings, but there are a number of seemingly natural ones (although some could have been etched thousands of years ago and have just eroded well); instead the real cup-markings are found curiously etched at the base of this large rock, just above ground-level.

Hitching Stone on horizon

As can be seen in the photos, on its lower south-facing edge there are around 20 well-defined cups that clearly stand out.  No other cup-marked stones appear to be nearby (surely there’s a few more kicking about in the area…?).

An earlier assertion I made (2001) about the nearby Hitching Stone aligning with the winter solstice sunrise from here was recently put to bed following the morning observations of myself and Dave Hazell on December 21st, 2010, when — as can be seen in the photo here — the midwinter sun emerges from the land a few degrees of arc further southeast than expected.  However, I aint checked what the alignment here would have been when the cup-markings were first etched here, around 5000 years ago perhaps…  Would any of you archaeo-astronomers out there know about this?

References:

  1. Bennett, P., The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cliffe Castle Carving, Keighley, West Yorkshire

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0577 4210

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.144 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Dead easy!  Avoiding Keighley (as common sense dictates), but going to its outskirts, get to the huge Cliffe Castle (tis free) on the northern outskirts of the town. Go inside and look around!

Archaeology & History

Carving in Cliffe Castle Museum
Close-up of cups & rings

Initially located in the ground a few yards south of Dobrudden caravan park amidst a large gathering of other carved rocks, this grand-looking cup-and-ring stone is no longer in situ.  As with a several other carvings, this has been on a bittova wander in the last century!  It was first uprooted from the Earth and archaeologically transferred to Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Museum sometime after World War 2, where it lived peacefully for a number of years, before being moved to Cliff Castle Museum, where it still lives, quietly (along with another prehistoric carved rock, the Comet Stone, that was nabbed from the uplands near the Roms Law circle).

Baildon’s 1913 drawing

As we can see from the photos (taken in poor lighting in the museum – sorry…) there are five cup-and-rings with one cup-and-2-rings standing out (plus about another 10-12 cups scattered here and there); though when W. Paley Baildon drew a picture of the stone around 1913, he could clearly see another cup-and-ring etched onto the stone, but this has faded somewhat in the last century. Messrs Boughey & Vickerman (2003) were unable to see it.

References:

  1. Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  3. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
  4. Jackson, Sidney, ‘Cup and Ring Boulders of Baildon Moor,’ in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1, 1955.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian