Tag: Rombalds Moor

Stanbury Hill (109), Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

megalithix

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

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.91 (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 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)

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).

Carving 109, when wet!
and when dry!

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:

  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.
  3. 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


Wray Stone (314), Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

megalithix

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

megalithix

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

megalithix

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

megalithix

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


Cliffe Castle Carving, Keighley, West Yorkshire

megalithix

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


Long Stone, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13282 46222

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.161 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.326 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

CR326
Large single cup-marked rock

Follow the same directions to reach the Pancake Stone, but about 100 yards west, following the footpath that runs along the edge of the ridge (towards the large Haystack Rock a few hundred yards west), watch out for these large seemingly split rocks, with one elongated length of stone by the pathside.  You can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

Very little’s been said of this carving as it’s just one more of the many rocks with just a solitary cup-marking etched on top — as we can see in the photo.  The cup-mark is near the bottom, southeast-ish portion of the rock and is plain to see.

(Note: I’m not 100% sure that I’ve got Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) numbered carving correct here.  They describe a carved rock very close by here as an “upstanding rock, part of a large split rock,” as their ‘number 326’ carving — which is roughly similar; though I’m not totally sure!  No other single cup-marked stone is listed in their survey close by, so assume it’s the same one as in their work.)

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Teaspoon Rock, Bingley Moor, West Yorkshire

megalithix

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

Also Known as:

  1. 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

Teaspoon Rock, Stanbury Hill
Teaspoon Rock, Stanbury Hill

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:

  1. 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.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ant’s Stone, Rivock, Keighley, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0791 4422

Archaeology & History

Ant Stone, uncovered
Ant Stone, uncovered

Discovered today, amidst a cluster of other carvings not previously catalogued.  This was hidden beneath a mass of vegetation, but after cutting and digging into the peat on top of the stone, several cup-marks became evident.  By the side of the rock, measuring roughly 8 feet by 5 feet, was a small ant’s nest — hence the convenient name of the carving.

Central design of the carving
Central design of the carving

The main feature is the large, perhaps natural cup-mark, about 3 inches across.  But three distinct artificial cup-markings were etched around the edges of this larger ‘cup’.  When we found this stone, the daylight was nearing its end and we were unable to ascertain any further features carved onto the rock.  Several other carvings were close by, none of which were included in the survey by Boughey and Vickerman. (2003)  After we’d finished here, we covered the stone back over with its peaty quilt and hoped that the ants weren’t too pissed off about us disturbing them…

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Abacus Stone, Holden, Silsden, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – SE 060 440

Getting Here

This carving is somewhere between Rivock’s western woodland edge, into the meadowlands next to it, down towards Robin Hood’s Wood.  Good luck if you find it!

Archaeology & History

The lost Abacus Stone design
The lost Abacus Stone design

I found this carved ‘design’ when I was but a nipper, as they say!  I was up all day, bimbling abaat checking out the stones and stuff, with notepad and pencil and found a number of cup-marked stones that I hadn’t come across in Stuart Feather’s surveys (the Hedge’s [1986] survey hadn’t been published at the time).   I’ve been back up round the Holden and Robin Hood’s Wood district several times in recent months, hoping to re-locate this carving — but without success.  I recall that when I found it all those years ago, how the design itself seemed almost ‘numeric’ in quality to look at (hence its title) and was hoping to come across it again, but the little fella’s hiding away somewhere!

The faded design was etched onto a small, slightly raised natural  stone, no more than 3ft x 3ft and about 2 feet high.  I thought that it might have been Boughey & Vickerman’s carving number 53 (Hedges survey, no.17), but it wasn’t to be. If anyone finds it again, I’d love to know!

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, Ramblings of Archaeological Remnants in West Yorkshire, unpublished: Shipley 1984.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian