prehistoric rock art

Raven Stones (559), Thruscross, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 11835 58006

Heavily cup-marked Raven Stone (after QDanT)

Take the A59 road from Harrogate and Skipton and at the very top of the moors near the Gill Head Enclosures, take the small Kex Ghyll road up past the disused quarry works north for a mile or so. At the junction go left, past the Outdoor Centre, thru West End up Whit Moor Road, then go left down to Brays Cross Farm and over the ford. Note the clump of trees on the moors to the west and take the path there. Once here, a large outcrop of rocks will be seen about 150 yards on the moor to the west. That’s the spot! Otherwise, follow the directions of the legendary wandering Teddy!

Archaeology & History

This dramatic looking outcrop of rocks rising out of the ground a half-mile due west of Bray farmhouse has long been known as the rocks of the ravens: oracular birds of ill-omen in all peasant traditions, yet carrier birds of shamans in their Underworld ventures, from accounts in Russia and Scandinavia, through the Scottish highlands and into Yorkshire’s northern hills, as folklore records show. Whether such mythical figures used the Raven Stones here for such magick, we have no firm accounts; but the existence of the many cup-markings on this particular rock (and others in the outcrop) show that animistic traditions of some form or another occurred here in prehistoric times at the very least.

Records of this place as an archaeological spot are scant indeed. It is passed with barely a mention by those Victorian antiquarian giants, Bogg, Grainge and Speight. The rock art students Boughey & Vickerman (2003) give the wrong grid reference here, but added the site to their inventory, saying only that it is “long, low, exposed bedrock. 22-25 cups; some very weathered and smooth.” A series of channels runs down the slope of the stone, but there are probably natural. However, a cup-and-line does occur on the eastern side of the carving.

References:

Armstrong, Edward A., The Folklore of Birds, Collins: London 1958.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.

Links:

Teddy Tour Teas

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for QDanT & Teddy for the fine photos of the Raven Stone carving!

High Green (407), Skyreholme, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 07508 62599

Getting Here

Take the B6265 east out of Grassington, thru Hebden, for another 2 miles till you pass the tiny road down to Skyreholme on the right. Another few hundred yards on, past Nussey Farm and Dry Gill house, park up and look for the track going south into the moors. Go down the track called Black Hill Road for a few hundred yards till y’ reach the gate on the right. A track bends downhill to the psilocybin-rich pastures of Nussey Green. Several hundred yards on, to the right-hand side of the track, we find this and its companions. Look around!

Archaeology & History

This medium-sized, recumbent standing-stone-shaped boulder has perhaps fifteen cup-markings on it. It’s a plain carving with others of a similar ilk in the area. First described by Stuart Feather in 1970 as one of “two cup-marked rocks” he found when ambling around; in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey they give it the wrong grid reference, though describe it correctly as a “long flat rock of irregular outline (with) fourteen to sixteen cups.” A cluster of other carvings are nearby, though some have been destroyed through mining operations.

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Feather, Stuart, “Appletreewick, W.R.,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 1969, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 168, 1970.

Panorama Woods (230), Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10377 47027

Also Known as:

Carving no.63 (Hedges)

Getting Here

From Ilkley, take the directions up to the Panorama Woods 232 carving. From here you can step from this rock over the stride onto the cup-marked carving 231b, and then go onto the next adjoining rock surface a little lower down. From here, you’ll see another mossy rock surface in front of you by a yard or two. That’s the one!

Archaeology & History

Here’s another simple cup-marked stone, probably only for the purists amongst you—although in visiting here please take into account the primary carving’s association with other more prominent designs that once existed only a few yards to the west where the houses now stand. There is also the cluster of other carvings right next to this stone. A prehistoric settlement was also in evidence adjacent to this carving which was destroyed in the latter half of the 19th century.

Described simply in John Hedge’s (1986) fine survey as a small “piece of rock with three clear cups and one depression.” Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey added nothing more and merely copied the same words. For some reason or other (mebbe cos I’m simple!) I really like this otherwise innocuous design and its close simplistic relatives. It’s probably due to the trees amidst which the stones are found and the bright mosses on the rocks, giving the site a slightly extra sense of more living genius loci than others on the top of these moors, where the winds move the subtle spirits with greater ease.

If you step down and look at the vertical side of this stone, you’ll notice a more modern stylistic carving etched onto the surface. Not as deep as the prehistoric cups on the top, it seems probable that a local artist by the name of Ambrose Collins carved this on here (and other similar designs on other rocks nearby) in the late 19th century.

References:

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

West Woods 02, Calverley, Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference –SE 1956 3734

Getting Here

Although now seemingly lost, it’s location is damn close to this: Along the A657 between Greengates and Bradford, where the New Line meets Carr Road, the dirt-track takes you into Calverley Woods, down Eleanor Drive. About 250 yards along (just before you get to the field on the left), take the footpath down the embankment towards the stream where it bends to the left and where the land levels out (don’t cross the stream). It’s somewhere round there!

Archaeology & History

This was one of two previously unrecognised carvings we came across sometime in 1985 (see West Woods 1 stone), when we were seeking out another missing carving in the same woods. It was clear and well-defined as the faded photo here shows; but having been back to try find it twice in the last two years in the hope of getting better photos, I’ve been unable to locate it. The carving was described in an article I did in an old earth mysteries magazine. It comprises simply of a large ring surrounding and enclosing two deep cups, which were linked to each other by a connecting carved line. Parts of the stone had been chipped in parts—including a section of the large ring— due to some industrial workings that had happened here in the past. Thankfully I managed to find the old photo and hopefully, perhaps, some local explorer could try and seek out where it’s hiding beneath the trees and other vegetation.

References:

Bennett, Paul, “The Undiscovered Old Stones of Calverley Woods,” in Earth no.2, 1986.

Wester Auchleskine, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 54584 20876

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24154

Getting Here

From Balquhidder village, walk eastwards along the road for a few hundred yards until you reach Auchleskine Farm on your left. A short distance past here there’s a gate taking you into the rough field on the left. Go through here and note a large clump of rocks diagonally up the slope about 100 yards away. That’s your spot!

Archaeology & History

Very little has been said of this large cup-marked stone, just up from the road near Balquhidder. It was first found and described in J.M. Gow’s (1887) fine essay on the local antiquities of the area, where he told:

“About 400 yards directly east from the farm-house there is a group of three large water-worn boulders of coarse mica-schist, with veins of quartz, the largest of which is about 15 feet long, 7 feet broad, and nearly 5 feet above ground. On the top of this stone there are seven cup-marks of various sizes. The largest are 5 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep; the smaller ones are shallower and from 1½ to 2½ inches in diameter. There may have been more marks on this stone, as a portion of the top near the marks has been broken off, and there are several other faint hollows, but, in my opinion, not sufficiently pronounced to indicate that they ever were cups.”

Although his caution on the number of cups on the stone is to be commended, it was obvious during our visit to the site a few days ago that there are at least 18 cup-marks on the surface of this large rock. There may be more (the grey cloudy day and misty light wasn’t good in allowing us to see the carving clearly). The most pronounced of the cups are on the very top of the stone, whilst others were carved mainly on the eastern slope of the rock.

At least two other cup-marked stones occur at the farmhouse itself, whilst on the road immediately below was once the cup-marked healing stone known as Clach nan Sul. It’s likely that other carvings are hiding away in the hills hereby…

References:

Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.

Panorama Woods (231b), Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10378 47027

Getting Here

Follow the directions to reach Panorama Woods carving 232. Barely a yard or two southwest across the small gap where the kids have their little den or hideout, this long curvaceous rock is the fella in question.

Archaeology & History

Curiously not included in the ‘official’ records, this large piece of rock, living right in between the Panorama Woods carvings 231 and 232, has at least two, possibly three faint cup-marks etched in the top northeastern portion of the rock. Of the same style and probably period as the basic designs on stones 230 and 231, this is one in a cluster of petroglyphs that used to live at the edge of a prehistoric enclosure, destroyed at the end of the 19th century.

References:

Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
Bennett, Paul, The Panorama Stones, Ilkley, TNA: Yorkshire 2012.

Panorama Woods (232), Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10380 47027

Also Known as:

Carving no.62 (Hedges)
Enclosure Carving

Getting Here

Take the Wells Road from Ilkley centre up towards White Wells, bending to the right as you hit the edge of the moor. Keep along the road, past the old college building with its lake and turn right up Westwood Drive. Keep going all the way up till you hit the small woodland on your right. Where the woodland ends – stop! Walk into the trees about 10-15 yards and you’ll see the large rocks ahead of you. Amongst other petroglyphs hereby, you’ll find this carving is on one of them.

Archaeology & History

Although only given the usual dry description by our academic catalogue chaps, there’s something about this design that I’ve always liked. We first came across it ourselves in the late 1970s, in search of the legendary Panorama Stones, and found instead this large enclosure design with at least three cups inside it, still clearly visible. It is one of a cluster of carvings hereby, all of which were once adjacent to a prehistoric enclosure, described in the 1880s and destroyed soon after. This and the associated carvings very probably had some archaeocentric relevance to the lost enclosure.

Large carved 'enclosure', recently chalked — Large carved ‘enclosure’, recently chalked

Drawing of the carving (after Hedges 1986)

The carving is sandwiched in between its petroglyphic companions, stone 231 and stone 233. As can be seen on some of the photos here, more recent vandalism has been inflicted on this carving and the recent chalk colouring is what local archaeologists Gavin Edwards and Alex Gibson have termed “social history”, implying fallaciously that cup-and-ring art could be seen as little more than neolithic and Bronze Age scribblings on rock, without any meaning other than it being comparable to “Leeds United Rules OK.” They may be right (highly unlikely) – but in reading copiously about prehistoric petroglyphs in cultures beyond the UK, we find that traditional societies tell such carvings relate to their creation myths, or river spirits, or rock spirits, and are intrinsically related to wider animistic cosmologies and social customs. This indicates, to me at least, that modern archaeologists who think of rock art as little more than childish scribblings still have a great deal to learn and we should beware their uneducated musings about our ancient carvings.

Although the complete carved ‘enclosure’ and its internal cups were mistakenly drawn in John Hedges (1986) survey, he described as being a,

“Roughly incised ‘enclosure’ with five cups in it, twenty eight shallow cups or depressions, one large oval marking, three irregular basins.”

In the later work of rock art students Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003), they simply said of the site:

“Large flat-topped, upstanding rectangular rock. Twenty-eight shallow cups, a few enclosed in two groups by grooves; irregular small basins.”

References:

Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
Bennett, Paul, The Panorama Stones, Ilkley, TNA: Yorkshire 2012.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

Lady Well, Hartshead, West Yorkshire

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Holy Well: OS Grid Reference – SE 17884 23487

Also Known as:

Ladies Well

Getting Here

This can take a little bitta finding if you don’t know the area. So it’s best starting from Hartshead church, right on top of the hill here. From whichever direction you’re taking to reach Hartshead, ask a local when you get close and they’ll direct you there. From here, walk out of the churchyard and turn left. Walk barely 50 yards and turn left again along Lady Well Lane. Past the old houses and bear right where it becomes a dirt-track. This then turns left, then again right and – with the fields on either side of you – note the single hawthorn tree ahead of you by the walling. Go into the field at the back of the hawthorn and look under its shady bough. Tis there, I assure you!

Archaeology & History

The holy well is beneath this hawthorn tree

Emerging at the edge of the field beneath an old hawthorn tree at the side of the track running to the adjacent church, the waters from here are clean and fresh—though the stone trough into which it flows is constantly clogged up and the ground around it very boggy. The well has given its name to Lady Well Lane, which leads to the 12^th century St. Peter’s Church, with its own ancient and legendary history. The well is thought to derive its name from ‘Our Lady’, the Virgin Mary, indicating it would have had considerable importance in the religious traditions of the christians who named it, but moreso the original animistic traditions of normal local people who would have used it for much longer…

Close by this old stone trough appears to be another one, covered by moss and the encroaching field. Whatever medicinal properties the waters may once have had, have long since been forgotten. Around Lady Well is a healthy abundance of flora: elder, chickweed, nettle, clover, bramble, dandelion, sow thistle, dock and shamanic species.

Folklore

Marion Pobjoy (1972), like her predecessors, suggested that this was one of many sites in Calderdale used by St. Paulinus to perform baptisms. Local folklore tells that Robin Hood stopped here to drink the waters—but then we find an abundance of the pagan outlaw’s activities all round here. The nearby church of St.Peter is aligned to the equinoxes and may well be an indication of when pre-christian celebrations occurred here. The yew tree in churchyard was where Robin Hood was supposed to have taken wood to fashion one of his bows. Modern folklore also ascribes the well to be along a ley line.

References:

Heginbottom, J.A., ‘Early Christian Sites in Calderdale,’ in Proc. Halifax Ant. Soc., 1988.
Pobjoy, Harold N. & Marion, The Story of the Ancient Parish of Hartshead-cum-Clifton, Riding 1972.

Duncroisk (2), Glen Lochay, Killin, Perthshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 53134 35850

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24169
Duncroisk 3 (Canmore)

Getting Here

Troublesome to get to unless you’re reasonably fit. Probably the easiest route is to get to the Duncroisk 3 cup-and-ring stone. Keep walking along the riverside, climb over the first tall wooden fence and onwards till you reach the rocky crag reaching into the river Lochay. By whichever means possible, get yourself up and round this crag, but keep by the riverside till you get to the easier walkable rocky outcrop protruding into the river on the other side of the drop. Hereby, on one of the stones, look and you’ll find these faint cup-and-ring symbols.

Archaeology & History

Although this carving was first described in Edward Cormack’s (1952) essay on the prehistoric carvings of the district, they have subsequently proved difficult to locate by the Royal Commission lads and other archaeologists. I’ve been here a few times looking for it and never managed to find it — until last week. When Mr Cormack first told of the design, he said:

“On a smooth rock surface just above the mouth of the small burn running into the Lochay, immediately west of the cup-marked ridge, are two cup-and-ring markings a yard apart. The rings are curiously rough edged, and do not give the same impression of weathering as those on the ridge; possibly they have been silted over shortly after being cut, and exposed again relatively recently.”

Flambeau the Cat uses the carving as his bed!

A few decades later, Ron Morris (1981) came across the carving, 10 yards “southeast of an elbow of River Lochay”, as he put it. Described as “hard to find”, he went on to give a basic outline of the design as he saw them, telling there to be “2 cups-and-one-ring, both probably complete, up to 16cm (6in) diameters, with radial grooves from cup to ring—up to 1cm deep.” Or more simply, two cup-and-rings, each with a line running from the centre to the surrounding ring.

After trying to find this carving on several occasions, without success (somehow!), it was brought to my attention under the brilliant guidance of a local cat called Flambeau only last week (no lies!). In a venture down to the riverside, the great cat (in tandem with Pip the dog, who also ventures out with me to find ancient sites in this region) got to the riverside on the rock in question and began rolling about in the dust on the stone, mewing and purring away merrily! It was really brilliant to watch. Sincerely heart-warming (soz…but I can’t help it!).

Primary cup-and-ring at Duncroisk-2 — Primary cup-and-ring at Duncroisk (2)

I stepped over and complimented him as he looked superb (hence the photo, above) and he just kept purring. Then, curiously, he stood up and began scratching at the dried earth on the rock, mewing away whilst doing this. Twas very odd indeed. But there, exactly where Flambeau has been scratching and rolling about, it seemed a faint cup-mark was apparent. And such it was! So I got on my knees and began cleaning away the dirt from the rock — and there, right where he’d been purring and playing, was the lost cup-and-ring carving!

Its location would suggest that the carving had some relationship with water: be that the spirit of the place, or a good site where fish can be had, or a place where someone had drowned, etc. We’ll probably never know… But it’s a beautiful spot, with the impressive Stag Cottage carvings in the adjoining field, and the newly discovered Corrycharmaig East carvings on the other side of the river — plus many others in the area.

Folklore

The River Lochay where this carving is found is named after a dedication to the Black Goddess, according to Prof. W.J. Watson. (1926) The stream by the side of the carving which runs into the River Lochay has been the place where faerie music has been heard by local people in times past.

References:

Cormack, E.A., “Cross-Markings and Cup-Markings at Duncroisk, Glen Lochay,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 84, 1952.
Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
Watson, W.J., The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland, Edinburgh 1926.

Rivock Enclosure, Riddlesden, Keighley, West Yorkshire

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Enclosure: OS Grid Reference – SE 0768 4414

Getting Here

Follow the directions to reach the small Rivock East Carving just on the level of the small moorland. From here, walk less than 100 yards east, staying just on the edge of the moor, keeping your eyes peeled for the irregular shaped rocks running in lines roughly parallel with the footpath above the edge of the crags.

Archaeology & History

Recent explorations in and around the Rivock Edge area found, not only a number of undiscovered cup-and-ring stones, but the overgrown remains of an undoubted prehistoric enclosure on the ridge of moorland above the rock escarpment which has not previously been reported in archaeological surveys. Much of the time the area is covered in deep heather, but thanks to this small section of moor being burnt back a short while ago, the lines of walling that mark the enclosure are there for all to see. It’s obvious that some sections of the old walls have been removed in the not-too-distant past for use in more modern walling and, nearby, old quarries and farming have probably been responsible for other destructive elements.

Easternmost line of Rivock enclosure walling

This enclosure is of a rough, rounded, scalene triangular formation, with the main piece of extant walling running roughly northeast-southwest. The walling is typical of other settlements and enclosures in the region, probably Bronze Age in nature, Iron Age at the latest, with some natural earthfast boulders marking parts of the outline and many smaller pieces of rock and packing stones being added to build up the structure. The same layout is found at other nearby prehistoric enclosures at Crow Well, Dumpit Hill, Snowden Moor, Woofa Bank and many others.

Of the larger upright stones in the Rivock Enclosure, several of them stand about three feet high, with some of them having been knocked down. The longest line of walling, running roughly east-west, is less than 50 yards long; whilst the enclosure wall running roughly north-south on its eastern side is 30 yards long. Much of the walling along its northern side appears overgrown and sections of it are missing.

For a long time I puzzled as to whether there had been any settlements on this part of Rombald’s Moor, rich in cup-and-rings stones — and at last we find that there was at least one such site. Forays back and forth across the level ground all around here failed to locate any other similar enclosure remains; but it may be that some have been covered (or were destroyed) in the adjacent forestry plantation to the west. Further explorations by fellow antiquarians may prove worthwhile when the forest is cut down in the next few years.