East Morton – Page 2

Black Knoll Cross, Morton Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cross: OS Grid Reference – SE 1034 4465

Also Known as:

Black Knowle Cross

Get up to the Twin Towers right at the top of Ilkley Moor (Whetstone Gate), then walk east along the footpath, past the towers for about another 100 yards, looking out on the other side of the wall until it meets with some other walling running downhill onto Morton Moor. Follow this walling into the heather for a few hundred yards. Where it starts dropping down the slope towards the small valley, stop! From here, follow the ridge of moorland along to your left (east) and keep going till you’re looking down into the little valley proper. Along the top of this ridge if you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll find the stone cross base sitting alone, quietly…

Archaeology & History

This old relic, way off any path in the middle of the moor, has little said of it. Whilst its base is still visible — standing on a geological prominence and fault line — and appears to taken the position of an older standing stone, christianised centuries ago, the site is but a shadow of its former self. When standing upright may centuries back, the “cross” was visible from many directions. We discovered this for ourselves about 20 years back, when Graeme Chappell and I sought for and located this all-but-forgotten monument. When we found the stone base, what seemed like the old stone cross lay by its side, so we repositioned it back into position on July 15, 1991. However, in the intervening years some vandal has been up there and knocked it out of position, seemingly pushing it downhill somewhere. When we visited the remains of the cross-base yesterday (i.e., Dave, Michala Potts and I) this could no longer be located. A few feet in front of the base however, was another piece of worked masonry which, it would seem, may have once been part of the same monument.

Black Knoll Cross01 — Cross-base, looking north

Black Knoll Cross02 — Close-up of cross-base

Years ago, after Graeme and I had resurrected the “cross” onto its base, I went to visit the Bradup stone circle a few weeks later and found, to my surprise, the upright stone in position right on the skyline a mile to the northeast, standing out like a sore thumb! This obviously explained its curious position, seemingly in the middle of nowhere upon a little hill. This old cross, it would seem, was stuck here to replace the siting of what seems like a chunky 3½-foot long standing stone, lying prostrate in the heather about 10 yards west of the cross base.

Stuart Feather (1960) seems to be the only fella I can find who described this lost relic, thinking it may have had some relationship with a lost road that passed in the valley below here, as evidenced by the old milestone which Gyrus and I resurrected more than 10 years back. Thankfully (amazingly!) it still stands in situ!

If you aint really into old stone crosses, I’d still recommended having a wander over to this spot, if only for the excellent views and quietude; and…if you’re the wandering type, there are some other, previously undiscovered monuments not too far away, awaiting description…

References:

Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Chieveley 2001.
Feather, Stewart, “A Cross Base on Rombald’s Moor,” in Bradford Antiquary, May 1960.
Feather, Stewart, “Crosses near Keighley,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin 5:6, 1960.

Tomb Stone (110), Stanbury Hill, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 11229 43143

Also Known as:

Carving no.93 (Hedges)
Carving no.110 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

The larger stone in this cairn is the carved rock

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 and keep walking till you hit a moorland ‘footpath’ signpost. Just before this walk due west (your left) into the heather for about 10 yards. Look around! (if the heather’s long and overgrown, you might have trouble finding it) If you find carved stone 109, you’re less than 10 yards off this one!

Archaeology & History

First reported by Stuart Feather and described in a short note of the Yorkshire Archaeological Register* of 1977. This was one of two small carved stones next to each other amidst the “denuded remains of a cairn 3m in diameter and 0.35m high.” The stone we can still see here is a small one, seemingly near the very centre of the cairn, with its carved face looking northwards. The carving is a simple double-ring surrounding a central cup: an almost archetypal cup-and-ring stone.

The other ancient carved stone that was once seen next to this (catalogued as carving 111) has in recent years been stolen by an archaeological thief no less! Any information that anyone might have telling us who’s stolen this heritage piece, or where it might presently reside, can be emailed to me in confidence. Or…the thief who’s taken it can return the carving to the site and put it back where it belongs before we find out where you live. Simple as!

(Soz about the poor photo of this carving. For decent ones of this stone you need to get here when the sun’s in a better position. I’ll hopefully get some better images next time we’re up there when the light’s better.)

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.
Moorhouse, S. (ed.), “Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1977,” in Yorkshire Archaeology Journal, volume 50, 1978.

* Does anyone have any idea who you report such new discoveries to so that they can be reported in Yorkshire Archaeology Society’s ‘Register’? I’ve asked ‘em several times about a number of previously unrecorded sites that we’ve located, so that they can make a record of them, but I never get a reply.

©Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Low Black Knoll, Morton Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 104 445

Getting Here

Low Black Knoll CR01 — Morton Moor carving

Takes a bitta finding this one. From the Twin Towers at the top of the moors (Whetstone Gate), walk east along the footpath, past the towers for about another 100 yards, looking out on the other side of the wall until you meet with some walling running downhill onto Morton Moor. Follow this walling for a few hundred yards till it drops down a small valley; then follow the valley down, keeping to its left-hand side, swerving a little round Black Knoll above you. Cross the dried-up stream and about 100 yards ahead of you (southeast), heading towards the Sweet Well, zigzag about (once the heather’s grown back here, this’ll take some finding!). Good luck!

Archaeology & History

Low Black Knoll CR02 — Cup-markings, looking north

There’s no previous history to this site and archaeological records indicate no prehistoric remains in this region. However, we (that is Dave, Mikki and me) found this and a number of other sites yesterday in a bimbling wander, to and fro, through boggy-heaths and deep heather. It’s a previously unrecorded cup-marked stone, with what seems like an attached burial cairn right by its side (yet again!). The cairn is 3 yards by 2 yards across. Two very distinct cup-marks can clearly be seen near the top of the small stone, with a possible third just below. A curious though natural yoni-like erosion can be seen on the lower side of the stone which may have some significance to people into that sorta thing! Whether it had owt to do with the cup-markings is another thing altogether!

Stanbury Hill (109), Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 11224 43139

Also Known as:

Carving no.91 (Hedges)

Getting Here

Archaeology & History

Thought to be one of several carvings that were first reported by Stuart Feather and described in the Yorkshire Archaeological Register* of 1977: near the “denuded remains of a cairn” (there are in fact two here) is “a further cup-marked rock adjacent.” This is thought to be the one registered in John Hedges’ (1986) survey as ‘stone 91’. It’s a cute little thing, about 10 yards south of carving 110 (itself sited near the centre of a much-denuded burial cairn).

Similar in design to some of the Baildon Moor cup-marked stones (see carving no.126), the primary design here is a simple one: five cup-markings run along the edge of the small stone, with a small carved “line” running between two of the cups, as if denoting separation; whilst on the lower middle part of the stone is another, single cup, a little more worn than the others. It seems likely that this carving, like its double-ringed companion a few yards away (and others on this part of the moors) was in some way associated with the nearby prehistoric cairns.

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.
Moorhouse, S. (ed.), “Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1977,” in Yorkshire Archaeology Journal, volume 50, 1978.

* Does anyone have any idea who you report such new discoveries to so that they can be reported in Yorkshire Archaeology Society’s ‘Register’? I’ve asked ’em several times about a number of previously unrecorded sites that we’ve located, so that they can make a record of them, but I never get a reply.

Todmoor Carving, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10992 42594

Also Known as:

Carving no.86 (Hedges)
Carving no.103 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

From Bingley, head up to Eldwick (either road, it doesn’t matter) until you hit the crossroads at the top where you go up Heights Lane onto the moors (ask someone if you’re struggling). Right at the top where the lane meets the moorland road, straight across is a dirt-track onto the moor. You’re going up there! Walk up for about 350 yards, then go into the heather on your left. About 20-30 yards in, keep your eyes peeled for the stone in the photo. It’s low down, a few feet across either way, but easily missed when it gets covered in heather.

Archaeology & History

Up here again today — Mikki Potts, Dave and me — this was first carving we came to. It was first discovered by the late great Stuart Feather (1961) on one of his many forays onto these moors. It’s a bittovan odd carving: deep wide grooves, seemingly carved out by humans, in which some other cups have then been carved; plus an odd scatter of other singular cup-markings, what looks like a double-cup, and a long winding line running from near the middle to the stone’s western edge. All the carved elements have been etched onto the southern half of the stone. The lovely little Todmor standing stone is about 50 yards northwest of here.

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Feather, Stuart, “Mid-Wharfedale Cup-and-Ring Markings. Nos. 5 & 6,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 6:7, 1961.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

Fenny Shaw Cup-Mark, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 11271 43565

Also Known as:

Carving no.112 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Close-up of 'cup-mark' — Close-up of ‘cup-mark’

Follow the same directions to reach the Big Rock carving. From here walk less than 100 yards up the slope, veering to your left and where you reach the rushes (Juncus grasses), walk up and keep your eyes peeled for the singular upright rock. Or as ‘Redkiteyorks’ said, go “up the slope 82.4 metres, 54.5 degrees(True) from IAG108 (Big Rock).” It aint hard to find really…

Archaeology & History

Another stone mainly for the purists amongst you. Little has been written on this possible carving. Boughey & Vickerman (2003) said simply:

“Large rough rock. Two possible cups on top and one further possible cup on W vertical face. Doubtful”.

References:

Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks of Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

Enclosure Stone, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10983 43368

Also Known as:

Carving no.99 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

CR99b — Enclosure Carving, Stanbury Hill

From East Morton village, take the moorland road, east, and up the steep hill. Where the road levels out there’s a left turn where a trackway leads onto the moor. Go up here & keep walking till you hit a moorland ‘footpath’ signpost. Stop here and walk due west (your left) onto the gently sloping rise and into the mass of the Stanbury Hill enclosure system. Keep walking for 200 yards or so, where the land begins to slope down to the end of the spur; and just 50 yards before it drops down to the stream below you’ll find a cluster of carved rocks like the Lunar Stone, the Teaspoon Rock, Spotted Stone, etc, all scattered about. Near these, you’ll find this one!

Archaeology & History

Not to be confused with the carving of the same name on the northern side of these moors (near the Green Crag Slack enclosure), this carved rock gets its name specifically from looking like a lay-out plan of some settlement or enclosure. It’s unlikely that this title or description has anything to do with the carving, but its the impression it gave me when I first saw it! But then once you look at the carving from another angle it takes on a different impression.

First thought to have been found by Stuart Feather in 1978, it is one of many carvings that occur in what seems to be an extensive prehistoric enclosure or settlement. There’s a complete cup-and-ring near the western end of the rock, with another distinct cup-marking by its side, and what looks to be a natural cup at the top-end of the stone. But it was the other section of the carving on the central and eastern side which intrigued me: a curious ‘enclosure’ of lines, with a cup-marking in each section. Cutting between the cup-and-ring and the enclosure lines is a natural long crack or fissure running roughly north-south through the rock. It seemed to me (though I could be wrong) that a line had been pecked running along this natural crack — although in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) drawing they don’t highlight this. It also seemed that the carved lines from ‘enclosure’ linked up to the pecked line that was carved along the natural fissure in the rock (as illustrated in my crap drawing!).

As with the Lunar Stone nearby: it appears that either this stone was carved at different periods; or else for a long period of time much of the stone was exposed to the elements, whilst a section of it remained covered. For the distinct cup-and-ring on the western-end is more worn, with more eroded evidence of pecking, than the extended lines on the eastern end of the rock. I need to go back here and get some better images — and certainly do a much better drawing!

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.

Littlestone, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 11209 43488

Getting Here

Follow the directions to reach the nice Big Rock carving. Once here, walk up the gentle slope less than 100 yards eastwards. Get here before the heather grows back, otherwise it’s unlikely you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Not previously catalogued, this is just a small trivial little stone with just a single cup-marking on it. There’s a somewhat debatable line which looks more likely on the photo than when you actually see it in situ. As we had the Big Rock just down the slope from here, I thought this could be a little rock, or Little Stone (makes sense!). It was found by your very own Paul and those of you with the wills to seek it out, don’t be disappointed as most are with such a Littlestone. It’s certainly not as rosy as those close by, but hey – it’s another carved rock!

Teaspoon Rock, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10997 43357

Also Known as:

Carving no.104 (Boughey & Vickerman)*

Getting Here

Follow the same directions to reach the Lunar Stone carving. Once here, amble about a few yards to your immediate south and you’ll find it — assuming the heather aint grown back over and covered it!

Archaeology & History

This’d probably be another of those carvings first found by Stuart Feather in his amblings here in the 1970s, but we can’t say for sure. In Boughey & Vickerman’s survey (2003), apart from attributing it as being in two separate positions (mistaking some reference from the English Heritage doods as some other carving – though that shouldn’t surprise anyone!),* they then correctly describe it as having “one cup with groove” running outwards — which we can see quite plainly (lending Michala Potts to say, “it reminds me of a teaspoon!” – hence the title!). There may be as many as four other cups on this rock, though it’s hard to say for sure. Two of them, perhaps, may have a very worn line linking them together (as you can slightly work out on the top-half of the carving) — but again, this is hard to say for sure. Certainly this poor little carving aint quite as decorative as its nearby partners!

References:

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

* In their survey this stone was also listed as carving no.98 by mistake, which should now be deleted from subsequent survey listings.

Ringtail Stone, Stanbury Hill, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10970 43348

Also Known as:

Carving no.96

Getting Here

Follow the same directions to find the Lunar Stone. Once here, walk just 20 yards southwest and keep your eyes peeled! This is a long flat stone which can easily get overgrown in the heather, so you might need to search around till you find it.

Archaeology & History

Ringtail Stone - facing south — Ringtail Stone, Stanbury Hill

Thought to be another carving first located by Stuart Feather in 1978, though we can’t bne totally sure on that. Curiously omitted from Hedge’s (1986) survey, this old glyph comprises of a single cup-mark near the western end of the stone and a complete cup-and-ring at the eastern-end. It was first illustrated in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) fine survey, but they missed seeing a quite distinct line or ‘tail’ coming out the northern side of the cup-and-ring. Nowt special in archaeological terms, but of obvious relevance to the dood who carved it! They thought there may have been two faint cups in the ring, but it isn’t clear by any means.

As with the other carvings nearby, we find it amidst a scattering of prehistoric walling and the remnants of old cairns.

References:

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