From Steeton go to the top of Mill Lane, turning left up High Street. After about 200 yards, turn right (opposite Falcon Cliff street) and go down past the end of the row of terrace houses, to the end of the dirt-track past the allotments. Then cut up the fields to the rocky crags a coupla hundred yards above you on the left. Over the wall at the top, look out for the single tree in the field by the walling where there’s a small cluster of stones. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
The little Crater Stone and its more ornate companion, below
Hiding away on private land, this lovely simple carving was first located on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 (in the fine company of the Great Guru). Our initial assessment found it to be just a simple cup-marked stone with 4 normal cup-marks, plus two large ‘bowls’ just where the rock goes into the ground. When we found it the other day, Steve pulled a little bit of the earth back to get a better look at the stone, but we need to return here to unearth the rest of the stone (we didn’t have utensils with us this day, as we were just playing out).
The position of the stone in the land is excellent for views, looking down on the greater-looking Dragon Stone carving just a few yards away, but also looks across the Aire Valley and onto the moorland heights above Rivock, and the south-side of Ilkley Moor. I’ll update and add further notes and clearer images when we go back to the site (hopefully) in the next week (aswell as hopefully conjure up a more respectable title!).
This carving was discovered very recently following an exploration of recognised sites on Middleton Moor by rock art student Mike Short on March 28, 2010. Found amidst a cluster of other carved rocks, it was located after he noticed a small piece of stone poking out of the peat and — as happens to those folk obsessed by these ‘ere carvings — he decided to dig round the stone and cut the turf back to see if there was anything carved on the rock, as there are other cup-and-rings are close by. Thankfully, after a bit of effort digging round the stone, Mike found the carving we see in the images here! (courtesy of Mike and Richard Stroud). With a distinctly ‘facial’ appearance (hence the name), the following notes were written describing the new find:
“Small roughly oval dome-shaped medium grit rock approx. 49cm X 36cm, at and below soil level. Two cups, one of which is conical and deep (55mm deep and 65-75mm diameter) and of similar profile to one of the cups on No. 458; small shallow bowl-like depression with possible peck marks; curving groove on northern edge.”
When Mike finished with their drawings and measurements, the stone was covered back over and left in situ. Although I aint seen the carving ‘in the flesh’ misself yet (we’re gonna have a look next week) it gives me the impression it had some association with burials.
References:
Short, Mike & Stroud, Richard, “Report of New Carved Rock (‘Caspar’) on Middleton Moor,” April 2010.
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:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of Mid-Wharfedale, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
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 wallingCounter 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:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of Mid-Wharfedale, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Follow the same directions to reach the Harden Moor circle. From here, walk down the footpath at its side down the slope for 100 yards and take the first little footpath on your left for 25 yards, then left again for 25 yards, watching for a small footpath on your right. Walk on here for another 100 yards or so, keeping your eyes peeled for the image in the photo just off-path on your left, almost overgrown with heather.
Archaeology & History
This is just one of several cairns in and around this area (I’ll probably add more and give ’em their own titles and profiles as time goes by), but it’s in a pretty good state of preservation. Nothing specific has previously been written about it, though it seems to have been recorded and given the National Monument number of 31489, with the comment “Cairn 330m north of Woodhead, Harden Moor.” (anyone able to confirm or correct this for me?)
It’s a good, seemingly undisturbed tomb, very overgrown on its north and eastern sides. Three pretty large upright stones, a couple of feet high, remain in position with an infill of smaller stones and overgrowth (apart from removing a little vegetation from the edges to see it clearer, we didn’t try disturbing it when we found it). It gives the impression of being a tomb for just one, perhaps two people and is more structured than the simple pile-of-stone cairns on the moors north of here above Ilkley and Bingley. Indeed, the upright stones initially gave the impression of it once being a small cromlech of sorts! Other cairns exist close by, but until we get heather-burning done up here, they’re difficult to find – or at least get any decent images of them!
Not too far from the High Laithe cup-and-ring stone. Along the A6131 out of Skipton, park up at the Rendezvous hotel and go up the road on your left, over the canal. As you approach the second house up, note the rock on the right-hand side of the tiny road, perched on the edge above the stream, with ivy creeping up one side of it. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
This stone was moved to its present position a few decades back, sometime before Hedges (1986) first recorded it in his Carved Rocks work. It’s a reasonably large boulder, resting on the slope above the drop to the stream below, and will probably drop into the waters in the not-too-distant future. Whether the stream had any initial relationship with the cup-markings etched on its surface, we’ll probably never know (a number of rock art students love the water-stone relationship — and this one is no doubt in their listings!). Its first literary appearance by Hedges described it thus:
“Large fairly smooth grit rock sloping down to stream at E and into ground and grass at W. Eleven cups, circle of nine very small cups at one end, groove from depression, one other groove and possible cup.”
Lower half of CR-016
Which just about does it justice. When we visited the place yesterday, the cluster of small cups at the top of the rock were difficult to see clearly in the grey daylight; but what seems to be another 2 cups (not in Hedges, nor Boughey & Vickerman’s [1986] survey) may be on the lower-half of the stone, and can be seen in the photo here. We need to go back again on a bright day and catch the stone in a different mood to suss out whether we were just seeing things.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Worth the short trek if you like your cup&rings! On the Aire Valley Keighley-to-Skipton road (A629), as you approach the southern outskirts of Skipton, take the turning at the roundabout as if you’re going into the town up the A6131. Go over the next roundabout a coupla hundred yards on, then 200 yards further on note the right-turn up over the canal (big hotel just here, where you could park up). Walk over the canal up the tiny country lane. Ignore the first left turn and walk up, bearing next left uphill and onto the footpath. Walk up the hillocky quarried bit until you reach the stile in the wall. Once on the other side, look in the walling 20 yards uphill. You can’t miss it!
Archaeology & History
First described by Messrs Hartley and Radley in the Yorkshire Archaeological Register of 1968, this small “standing stone”, less than three-feet tall, has a distinct cup-and-double- ring carved onto its upright north-facing edge. The outline of the carving is visible even in bad light, though you might wanna rest and gaze for a minute or two for yourself and the lighting to adjust if it’s a grey day. There’s another cup-marking below the bottom right of the double-ring, with another ‘possible’ just above ground-level.
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
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-122Plan 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:
Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, private manuscript: Shipley 1982.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Jackson, Sidney, “Cup-Marked Boulder near the Glovershaw Footpath,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 2:17, 1957.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Various ways here. From Keighley, go up the A629 Halifax Road, first left after the Ingrow West train station, uphill; then turn right, and up the long, cobbled, zizaggy road past the little hamlet of Hainworth and uphill till you reach the solitary farmhouse of Goff Well Farm (where its friendly owners can sell you organic fresh eggs!). It’s the field just before here on your left (if you reach the Guide Inn pub further uphill by the crossroads, you’ve gone too far). Alternatively start at the Guide Inn pub and walk across the road and downhill till you reach the farm. It’s in the first field on the right just past it.
Archaeology & History
Little is known about the history of this water source. The first description of it seems to be in 1852. Harry Speight (1898) mentions it briefly when he talks about the holy wells of the locale, saying simply:
“Goff Well, close to the road on Harden Moor leading to Hainworth, has given name to a neighbouring farm, but the purpose or virtues of this water are not now known.”
Goff Well on 1852 OS-map
Today the well is much overgrown and in need of attention. It’s near the bottom corner of the field where the larger of the elder tree grows (the witch’s tree par excellence) and could do with being cleaned out. When the owner of Goff Well Farm, Barry, took us to see the site, the waters couldn’t be seen but we could hear the water running clearly just beneath the surface, so it just needs a few hours work to bring it back into life. Twouldst do the land and the genius loci the world of good!
The very name of the well is something of an anomaly. There are several possibilities and we (as yet) cannot say which is the more likely derivation. We know in northern dialect that Goff is a simpleton or fool, and although we can apply that definition in some cases, it’s unlikely to apply here. If we could ascertain there was ever an apple tree growing here, the mystery would be solved, as a goff was an old word used for the common apple. In West Yorkshire dialect the word was also used to denote “a hammer worked by water-power”; aswell as it being a corrupted form of the word ‘God.’ Take your pick!
Folklore
The early Victorian historian William Keighley (1858) thought Goff Well was named after a long-forgotten hermit called Goff who, at some time in the past, gave his name to the old hamlet of Hermit Hole, a half-mile downhill from this water source. Mr Keighley wrote:
“On the skirts of Harden Moor is a farmhouse known by the name of Goff Well; and as goff is said to be the Danish word for red, it would probably be no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that the hermit was so named on account of his red hair, and the spring or well designated after him from the frequency and sanctimonious nature of his visits.”
But this is pure supposition on Keighley’s part — nice idea though it is! The only tangible piece of folklore we have is that the well “was a famous resort of gypsies before the moor was enclosed in 1861.” (Speight 1898)
References:
Keighley, William, Keighley, Past and Present, Arthur Hall: London 1858.
Speight, Harry, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley, Elliott Stock: London 1898.
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:
Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, unpublished: Shipley 1982.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
