There are several ways to get here, but I took the one from the road (B6265) walking up the track into Crookrise Woods. Unless you’ve got a decent OS-map with it marked on, this might take some finding to some folk as it’s tucked away on the northern edge of Crookrise Woods (which one Southerner bloke told us was private – though he was ‘allowed’ there!). It’s right on the rounded knoll at the top of the woods, beneath the prominent slopes which lead to the moor.
Archaeology & History
Our old mate and Yorkshire historian Arthur Raistrick seems to have been the first to describe this place in the Yorkshire Archaeological Register of 1964 – though the holy wells writer Edna Whelan told me she knew about the place many years back. Today hidden in woodland and mostly overgrown, Raistrick’s brief description of the place said:
“A small stone circle of six stones set symmetrically within a diameter of 26 feet. The stones vary in size from 21 to 58 inches. Surveyed 1963.”
The site has been badly affected by the erosion of time, forestry and god-knows what else. Scattered around are numerous small stones giving the impression that it may once have been a cairn-circle, more than a stone circle. Four of the six stones mentioned by Raistrick (1965) are visible, but none are impressive – and unless you’d read about the place first or found it in Mr Burl’s Stones Circles of Britain… (2000), you wouldn’t really give it the time of day.
Although sadly disappointing in its present status – completely surrounded by trees, with no view at all – it seems probable that it would have had some geomantic relationship with the hillfort-looking site of Rough Haw immediately west, and very probably the adjacent ritual site of Sharp Haw. It seems that the equinox sun would set between Rough Haw and the other small rounded hill above.
References:
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Various ways to get here. I s’ppose the easiest is from Dacre village. If you go just past Sunny House, take the footpath on your right & walk along it, roughly straight across a number of fields, until you hit the footpath known as the Nidderdale Way. The field you’re now in should be scattered with numerous rocks all over the place (if it aint, you’re in the wrong place), reaching down towards the trees. Walk straight towards the trees for another 100 yards and the carving is somewhere hereabouts under your nose! You’re very close! If, however, you decide to walk up the Nidderdale Way from Dacre Banks, the field you need is the one immediately to your right just before you reach the Monk Ing Road trackway. The Tadpole Stone (or Eastwoods Rough II carving) is in the same field, close to the Nidderdale Way path — check that out aswell!
Archaeology & History
This is a large carving I found in April, 2006, in the company of rock-art student Richard Stroud (who sent us the pictures). Twas in the midst of a fine day wandering about checking some of the ‘known’ sites in the area, when we happened across two or three previously unknown sites — and as the day wore on, just before we were gonna head for home, this little beauty poked the edge of its head out of the turf! It had the pair of us in near rapture, with numerous “Wow’s” and excitable expletives coming from our mouths! We’re easily pleased us rock-art doods — but then it is a beauty when you first see it.
We came here several times in the weeks following its initial discovery, and it seemed that on each visit, we found an additional aspect to the carving. It seemed to keep changing each time we came here — hence the name ‘Morphing Stone’!
The prime feature in the carving is the very large oval-shaped ‘ring’ with huge carved bowl in the middle and several outlying cups-markings around it. Although it’s not plain to see in the photos, there’s a large tongue-shaped protuberance jutting out from one side of the main ringed feature. You can also see a small cluster of cup-marks on the top-right of the rock: from here — though it isn’t easy to see in the photo — a long straight line links up with the edge of the major central ring. Other lines run off on the top of the main feature and there are several other cup-markings on different parts of the stone. It’s obviously best to see the carving “in the flesh”, so to speak, to get a good impression of what it actually looks like. And, to those of you who might wanna venture up here, there are several others nearby.
A year or two after rediscovering the carving, rock art student Keith Boughey (2007) described the stone, saying:
“Measuring 2.61m from N-S and 1.88m from W-E at its greatest extent, the carved surface carries quite a complex design… At its N end is a large cup/basin with an approximate diameter of 25-30cm, surrounded by a ring that may or may not be complete: 2 cups have been incorporated into the ring on its N and W side. W of this ring a groove leads off S to a further possible cup. On the E side of the large central cup are 3 further cups of varying size. These motifs are all enclosed within a wide groove, which forms almost a dome pattern. Out of the ring, a further groove runs NW out of the design, bisecting the enclosing groove, curving round to form a handle shape before running back in towards the large central cup. The groove shows signs of continuing E towards the edge of the stone. Just outside the W edge of the enclosing dome is one well-defined cup. S of this, in a slight depression, are 2 further cups of differing size. A straight groove appears to run SW out of the enclosing dome shape on its E side towards further motifs on the stone’s S side. The groove may run into an area of cup marks, but there appears to be a break before it continues. When exposed, the carvings looked quite fresh and sharp, suggesting that they had remained covered for some considerable time – possible since antiquity or at least from a time in the prehistoric past when cup-and-ring-markings had begun to lose their significance and were no longer required to be visible in the landscape.”
To those of you who like the new computer images of cup-and-rings, the three below are samples from a number of such images done after the stone had been discovered. Intriguingly, the long line running between the cluster of cups to the large cup-and-ring doesn’t show up too well; but the barely perceptible line running out, zigzag-fashion, from the large central cup-and-ring, shows up much clearer than when looking with the naked eye.
About 10 yards north of the old boundary stone on the Middle Ridge heading to the western end of Dryas Dike and about 10-15 yards east of the Middleton 453 carving, is this small rounded rock with between 12 and 15 cup-markings on its north and north-eastern sides. Several curious deep ridges run down across the rock which some ascribe as being man-made – but to me they’re Nature’s fine handiwork, although I may be wrong…
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Named boringly after the catalogue number given it in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey, this is another of the many small cup-marked stones clustered at the western end of the ridge between Delves Beck and Dryas Dike, below the moorland slope up to the Old Pike and Beamsley Beacon. It’s one of the more impressive of the carvings in this locale, albeit when it’s highlighted, as in the photos shown here (apparently done by one of the photographers in the Ilkley rock art group, I was told). It’s perhaps better seen when the sun is low and the stone’s been wet, which shows the shallow undulations of the cup-marks and wavy line that seems to split the main group of twelve cup-marks at the top northern side of the stone, from the two on its south side. There seems to be another wavy line carved above the main cluster, but this is difficult to make out.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
From the old T-junction in the hamlet of Langbar (where some doods have stuck up one of those ‘Private Road’ signs, typical of those Southern-types who bring their weird private land notions up here), go along the ‘private road’, keeping to the left until the road runs out. Then follow the small footpath above the house onto the moor, following the lines of walling along, crossing boggy streams, up the small hill and, once over the top and dropping down, keep your eyes peeled for the large boulder to the left of footpath, and a small scattered cairn on your right. It just a few yards past the cairn material!
Archaeology & History
Just 20-30 yards up the slope on the north side of Dryas Dike stream, to the left of the footpath, is a small, rounded flat stone with perhaps as many as eight cup-markings on it. Six seems more believable — though some of ’em on here (if not all) don’t look to have the air of authenticity that some of the other carvings hereabouts possess. One of the cups has a small ‘tail’ protruding from it. It’s a rather cute little thing! A small, unexcavated cairn lies in ruin about 10 yards east of the crude carving.
…and from another angle
On the other side of the footpath from here is that “large boulder” I mentioned above, which is reported by Boughey & Vickerman (2003) to have “one clear cup” marking etched upon it. They also report that archaeologists from “English Heritage report two cups and a possible short groove” on this rock. However none of the carvings reported here by either authority are man-made. All marks on the rock are completely natural and it needs omitting from any future archaeological survey.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
In the middle of the moors, with no footpaths close by. Unless you’re a rock-art freak I guess there aint gonna be too many people searching for it! From the Ilkley-to-Langbar road, take the track (Parks Lane) onto the moor where the road bends right. Follow it up for about a mile (though it doesn’t seem that far) and where the cup-marked stone at the edge of the wall where the spring appears (Middleton Moor carving 483), walk west (left) into the heather for a coupla hundred yards below Foldshaw Ridge. Look around!
This is one of a small cluster of carvings Richard Stroud found on a few average-sized stones prettty close to each other in April 2005 — and one which the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service told him couldn’t be there cos the region had already been surveyed. Hmmm…
Crap drawing!
Well, my first impression of this when I saw it was a absolute thumbs-up! Simple to look at, I know – but a bloody good little carving. It’s primary characteristic is that most of the ten or eleven cups occur on the vertical and near-vertical face, which aint too common. In traditional societies (though not all) where carvings occur on vertical faces, they’re deemed to be ‘male’ in nature (those on rounded smooth surfaces, female). The carving is well worth checking out — especially as there’s probably more to be found up here, hiding beneath ages of peat and heather.
To find this, follow exactly the same directions as that of the Middleton Moor Carving 001, which is just a few yards away. Both of these stones may take some finding when the heather’s deep — but when we first discovered them, the heather had recently been burnt back.
Archaeology & History
This small rounded stone had a covering of vegetation on it when Richard Stroud and I first discovered it in April 2005, with just a couple of cups visible, but once the heather’d been carefully rolled back, another fine carving greeted our keen-eyed petroglyphic senses!
Drawing of the carving…and again!
At least eight cups seem apparent here, though once Richard had the photos processed there appeared to be a couple of things on the stone which we hadn’t noticed when in the field (a common cup&ring dilemma). One of the most curious parts of the stone seems to be the winding line near the bottom of the stone. Make of it what you will!
Just a couple of yards east of this carving we find the rounded remains of a single burial cairn, probably for just one person, just like as with Middleton Moor 001. This site could do with excavating, as we may have a small neolithic or Bronze-Age cemetery hiding under the heath.
From Gelligaer, take the northernern road up Heol Adam for 2-300 yards, where you’ll see a footpath on your left taking you into the fields. Walk up the path and as it crosses the wall and bends due east, you’ll see the boulder in the middle of the field. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
Across the road from Tir-y-Rhen is this singular flat boulder, measuring about 10ft x 6ft, with at least 33 full cup-markings etched on it. Described briefly in Chris Houlder’s (1974) Welsh Archaeological guide, then more recently in John Sharkey’s (2004) Welsh rock-art book where he told there to be perhaps another seventeen cups on its surface, the Royal Commission (1976) lads gave us the surity of definition in their survey of neolithic sites in the region. A kilometre north of Gelligaer, some 260m above sea level, we find this well-preserved carved rock:
“An approximately rectangular block…much weathered at at the corners…2.6m long NE-SW, by 1.7m wide, and about 0.6m thick. The upper surface is covered with a haphazard series of 33 cup-marks varying from 40 to 115mm in diameter, and from 5 to 60mm deep… There are also 17 more cup-marks which are too weathered for precise measurement, but whose presence is certain. Other may have been completely worn away. Two more slabs of stone are just visible under the west corner of the main stone, suggesting the possibility that the cup-marks were made on the capstone of a cromlech, now collapsed.”
An earlier account by Wheeler (1925) described a number of lines or channels linking some cup-marks to each other, but these are now very difficult to see. I’ll hopefully get some decent images of this carving sometime soon!
References:
Houlder, Chris, Wales: An Archaeological Guide, Faber: London 1974.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Wales, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan – Volume 1: Pre-Norman, Part 1: The Stone and Bronze Ages, HMSO: Cardiff 1976.
Sharkey, John, The Meeting of the Tracks, Gwas carreg gwalch: Llanwrst 2004.
Wheeler, R.E.M., Prehistoric and Roman Wales, Oxford University Press 1925.
Various ways here. Best is probably taking the footpath onto Farnhill Moor a few hundred yards east of Kildwick Hall. Head for the cross-bearing Jubilee Tower (supposedly built upon an ancient cairn), NW, keep going past it uphill until you reach the walling 350 yards north, where a seat let’s you have a rest. Climb over the wall! Alternatively, walk eastwards and up through the steep but gorgeous birch-wooded slopes of Farnhill Wood; and as the moortop opens up before you, the great pile of rocks surmounts the skyline ahead. You can’t miss it! (NB: the spot cited on the OS-map as the cairn is in fact another site, 100 yards NW)
Archaeology & History
Its an awesome place in an awesome setting. You can see 360-degrees all round from this giant mass of rocks — something which was of obvious importance to the people who built it. If it had been placed 20-30 yards either side of here, that characteristic would not occur. Indeed, this is the only place anywhere on these moors where such a great view was possible. Important geomancy, as they say (or whatever modern term they give it these days).
Bradley Moor Cairn – looking down to the Long CairnSmall section of the old cairn
Although the tomb is still of considerable size (at least 100 feet across) and made up of thousands of stones, it has been severely robbed of stone in years passed, for walling and other building materials. A number of other small cairns scatter the heathlands a few hundred yards roundabout this central giant (though are hard to find in the deep heather); and there is a distinct cairn circle about 100 yards to the northwest, which has yet to be excavated. This cairn circle can be made out quite easily if you stand on the ridge about 30 yards west of here, looking down the slope. An then of course we have the equally huge Black Hill Long Cairn, less than 100 away, aligned northwest-southeast, which obviously had an important archaeological relationship with this giant round cairn. Also around this and the adjacent long cairn, numerous flints and scrapers have been found, showing humans have been here since at least the early neolithic period. And recently, what seems to be a fallen standing stone has been found laying in the heather, 168 yards to the north.
This site in particular gives me the distinct impression that it was the most important of the various sites upon these moors. It’s got a distinctly female flavour to it – and it’s old name of the Queen’s Cairn seems just right. Maybe it’s the fact that when I first visited the place, a great thunderstorm broke through the previously perfect skies, scattering lightning bolts all round for perhaps thirty minutes — so I stripped myself naked and reached my arms out-stretched, cruciform, screaming to the skies in the pouring rain! Thereafter, no clouds appeared in the skies for the rest of the day. It was a brilliant welcome to the place!
References:
Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Keighley, J.J., ‘The Prehistoric Period,’ in Faull & Moorhouse’s West Yorkshire: An Archaeological Survey, I, WYMCC: Wakefield 1981.
Raistrick, Arthur, ‘Prehistoric Burials at Waddington and Bradley,’ in YAJ 119, 1936.
In Pennick & Devereux’s (1989) early assessment of our enigmatic cursus monuments, he wrote the following brief notes of this particular site:
“The crop marks of another fragmentary cursus were found in Gloucestershire immediately north of Lechlade, to the west of the River Leach. The crop marks aligned northwest-southeast for 174 yards (160 metres) and were 160 feet (50 metres) wide. Only the square northwest end is known. Excavations were carried out in 1965 in advance of gravel workings. No finds were reported, but two out of three cuttings revealed a post-hole on the inside of the ditch.”
References:
Pennick, Nigel & Devereux, Paul, Lines on the Landscape, Hale: London 1989.
