Take the directions to reach the Haystack Rock, then head onto the moor following the southeast footpath for a few hundred yards, towards where the moor slopes uphill. 20-30 yards before the uphill slope, a yard to the right of the path. It accompanies the Young Idol Stone with its two small cups, just a few yards away. Keep your eyes peeled and y’ can’t really miss it! If you hit the large slightly-pyramidal-shaped boulder with its well-worn lines running from its top (the Idol Rock), you’ve gone past it.
Archaeology & History
An intriguing carving this, and one which has always had me edging towards a manifest linear or logical myth underscoring its form. It’s the almost binary or primal numeric system in the lay-out of the cups which seems to do it. Few other carvings in the region exhibit this tendency.* If you aint seen it ‘in the flesh,’ check it out.
First described by that old Victorian J. Romilly Allen (1882), he seemed equally impressed by it, calling it “the most beautiful specimen of prehistoric sculpture,” continuing:
“The stone is of grit, and measure 3ft 2ins, by 2ft 6ins. Its upper surface is nearly horizontal, and has carved upon it cups varying in diameter from 2ins to 3ins. A row of cups in the middle of the stone are entirely surrounded by a groove. There is also a channel running round the outside. Single cups are often found encircled by one or more concentric rings; but it is very exceptional indeed to find several cups surrounded by a single groove, or to find the cups so symmetrically arranged as in the present instance.”
Idol Stone – looking SW
Prehistoric walling runs very close to this and the adjacent rock carvings, with the well-known ‘enclosure’ just a short distance to the east on the same moorland plain. This carving is very much on the edge of, or within, Green Crag Plain’s ‘Land of the Dead.’
This carving was one of several that Alan Davis (1983) measured in his exploratory survey on the validity of Alexander Thom’s ‘megalithic inch’ unit. This issue absolutely fascinated me as a boy, as it brought the attention of these curious non-linear images into the domain of mathematics and the higher sciences, instead of the lowly social sciences within whose domain archaeology is embedded, with its many inaccuracies and falsehoods. A number of astronomers and other academics did a great number of papers exploring potential units-of-length, surveying the carvings (and megalithic rings) in much greater detail than any previous archaeologist. Much of it was excellent work. However, the mythos of our ancient ancestors possessing great technical knowledge and mathematical ability was unfounded. In Davis’ (1983) paper — edited and expanded a few years later (1988) — he found no evidence of mathematical units of measurement here; though left the option ‘open’ for further discussion and analysis on several others, where multiple units of megalithic inches were measured. These findings however, are more likely the result of mere chance.
Idol Stone with “21st century informal unauthorised” art added
In 2011 some unnamed people visited the Idol Stone carving and vandalized it (this sadly happens more and more up here); but this form of vandalism is now being termed “twenty-first century informal unauthorised carvings” and is actually sanctioned by Ilkley Parish Council members, local businessman Tom Lonsdale and his affiliates as artistic “tradition”! Indeed, the damage done here and vandalism done on some other ancient carved stones that have been redesignated by Tom Lonsdale and friends as “twenty-first century informal unauthorised carvings”, legitimizes and encourages others to follow in their shallow-minded ignorance, enabling others to add their own form of ‘art’ on these supposedly protected monuments, on a region with an alleged SSSI status. They even encourage supposedly ‘nice’ people — y’ know the sort — to etch poems and such things onto the stones on the moors, in violation of regulations that apply to the general public. As a result, expect more vandalism — sorry…arty “twenty-first century informal unauthorised carvings” both here and elsewhere. This same appalling debacle — sorry, “tradition” — has been encouraged on the Haystack Rock, Hanging Stones and other prehistoric carvings on the moor.
Folklore
The name ‘Idol Stone’ was an invention of one of the Victorian romanticists, who saw heathen idolatry and perversion all over these moors (you’ve gotta ask y’self, what the hell were these people up to!?). Our old friend Nicholas Size (1934) told there to have been ghostly figures and druidic activities occurring at this site.
References:
Allen, J. Romilly, ‘Notice of Sculptured Rocks near Ilkley, with some Remarks on Rocking Stones,’ in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 38, 1882.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Davis, Alan, ‘The Metrology of Cup and Ring Carvings near Ilkley in Yorkshire,’ in Science and Archaeology, 25, 1983.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Hotham, John Paul, Halos and Horizons, Hotham Publishing: Leeds 2021.
Jennings, Hargrave, Archaic Rock Inscriptions, A. Reader: London 1891.
Size, Nicholas, The Haunted Moor, William Walker: Otley 1934.
Speight, Harry, Upper Wharfedale, Elliott Stock: London 1900.
We were up here again the other week: wind, hail and snow blowing like hell, thankfully keeping the place to ourselves! To get here, head up Cow Pasture Road from the train station and up to the Cow & Calf Hotel near the famous rocks. Go past it a 100 yards or so and then look uphill onto the moors ahead of you. You’ll see a great over-hanging rock on the slope above you which looks as though its may fall down at any moment. That’s the Pancake Stone! Either walk up the steep path to get there quickly, or the longer route by taking the sloping diagonal path that runs eastwards until you’re on the same level.
Archaeology & History
Site shown on 1851 map
Highlighted on the first Ordnance Survey map of the region in 1851, this prehistoric carved stone had been known as the Pancake Stone by local people long before any antiquarians gave it their literary attention to the place. It would have had tales told of it, no doubt, but they were never written down. It’s an impressive, some would say precarious piece of rock: an elongated thin wedge of stone resting gently on the cliff edge, much like a rocking stone to be honest, seemingly hanging onto the edge of the geological ridge awaiting its fall down the slope; but that’s not gonna happen for many more centuries yet.
J. Thornton Dale’s 1879 drawingJ. Thornton Dale’s 1879 drawing
Much has been written about the petroglyph on the this wedge of stone, which covers much of its surface. Although a Mr J. Thornton Dale did a fine series of quite accurate drawings of this stone (and others on the moors) between 1878 and 1880, the first literary description of the Pancake rock carving appears to have been by the renowned J. Romilly Allen in 1882 (who evidently visited the stone on a cloudy or overcast day), saying that:
“On its upper surface are several cup-markings much obliterated by the actions of the weather, but some of them sufficiently distinct to prove their origin artificial, and to show that this rock was noticed in ancient times, and very possibly considered an object either of worship or superstition.”
Close-up of CnRsLooking across the stone
This latter assumption is highly probable. Strong animistic notions (moreso than usual) would be very evident here. Its position on the land with its outward focus from here towards other notable points in the landscape (Almscliffe Crags is one obvious focus); as well as looking at the rock itself from other viewpoints, give the stone considerable ritual importance. Sections of the moorland plain behind it—known as Green Crag—was the Land of the Dead in ancient times, and it is more than likely that death rites would have been enacted here — though we may never know what form they took.
Dale’s 1879 sketch
The stone has what seems to be at least 54 cup-markings on its upper face, with numerous grooves meandering and connecting other points. In J. Thornton Dale’s 1879 drawing of the upper surface, you will note that a couple of the rings he included have all-but faded away and are not included in the more recent surveys. Of the primary design, rock art students Boughey & Vickerman (2003) described there being “six complete and five partial rings” amidst the morass, but much of the design is very worn and, originally, there was probably a bit more to it all. The rock upon which the main Pancake Stone rests also has some worn cup-marks etched on its surface, a couple of which can be made out in the top photo.
Folklore
Good old Nicholas Size (1934) added this site to his list as a place where he had visions of the old christian cult, upon whose bare face were enacted blood rites and sacrifice. One Beltane Eve when he decided to amble up onto the moor edge, he could see a strange glow coming from behind the rock. He continues:
“Then suddenly I noticed there was a figure dancing upon it. The figure seemed to swirl round and round with floating draperies, grey or white, and I can only say that it looked very uncanny. Stupidly, I wondered that anybody could be such a fool as to dance in the darkness upon that precarious footing…”
But such activities on these moors, at certain times of the year, have been enacted for many centuries. It’s just kept quiet and, as more modern pagans (as they like to call ’emselves) keep coming up here and to other places, so the original folk move to their older and increasingly more secluded spots… In the latter half of the 20th century the site was used as a focus by chaos magickians, shortly after the inception of that Current.
References:
Allen, J. Romilly, ‘The Prehistoric Rock Sculptures of Ilkley,’ in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 35, 1879.
Allen, J. Romilly, ‘Notice of Sculptured Rocks near Ilkley, with some Remarks on Rocking Stones,’ in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 38, 1882.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Jennings, Hargrave, Archaic Rock Inscriptions, A. Reader: London 1891.
Size, Nicholas, The Haunted Moor, William Walker: Otley 1934.
Speight, Harry, Upper Wharfedale, Elliott Stock: London 1900.
Dead easy to find this one! Get to the Cow & Calf Hotel and walk up the slope onto the moor ahead of you. If you want a direction-pointer, head for the large, seemingly overhanging rocks which are the Pancake Stone, at the top of the ridge, but a few hundred yards to the right (west). Once you reach the level on the moor proper, you’ll see this large haystack-shaped boulder close by. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
This tends to be one of the spots I stop at when doing my tourist walks, to i) let folk get their breath back after ambling from the car park, via Hanging Stones and Map Stone; ii) to drink in the view, and, iii) to begin acquainting themselves with the landscape as it was when this stone was carved (over many decades, perhaps longer), and the animistic cosmology underlying people’s notions of their land. It can be quite an education…
Haystack Rock crushes local manFertility symbol, or Rorschach response?
The Haystack Rock was a very important boulder in the mythic landscape on this plain. It stands near the western end of the Green Crag Necropolis: a huge area of land on these moors where, quite simply, the people of these hills laid their dead. Effectively, the Haystack Rock stands on the edge of Ilkley Moor’s “Land of the Dead”.*
Highlighting this quite firmly, we find that prehistoric walling ‘separates’ this great boulder from the other part of the Plain close to its east and southern sides (walling on its western side is as yet unproven). It was a boulder that was specifically sectioned-off, away from any tombs. All along this Plain are numerous small cairns, many with rock-art nearby, and certain parts of the Plain are split into sections by ancient walling (though a precise map of the walling, tombs and rock-art on this moorland ridge has yet to be done).
J.Romilly Allen’s 1879 images
As far as the textbooks are concerned, we find the first mention of this great carved boulder came from J. Romilly Allen at the end of the 1870s. By 1900, a number of people had been here and written of its grandeur; but, as with cup-and-rings in general, its non-linear form and design elicited the usual notions of bewilderment, druids and puzzled ideas. Much like today really!
Drawing of the central design (Hedges, 1986)
But this is a big and decent carving, with about 60 single cup-markings, 10 cup-and-rings, and various twizzly grooves and lines linking cups to others, and others going to seemingly nowhere. Some of these lines, of course, may be weathering, or weathered channels emerging from once shorter lines. We might never really know for sure what the original carving actually looked like. On the north-facing side is what looks like a decidedly human figurine etched onto this great boulder, in good old cup-and-ring style. I’ve shown this to a few hundred people and they all seem to make the same remark: it’s a woman with her legs wide open — an early form of sheela-na-gig on Ilkley Moor no less! But whether this was intentional (many folk think so), or just us seeing something we want to see (men in particular!), we might never know.
Ancient cup-marks with vandal marksMore cup-and-rings with vandal marks
The black-and-white illustration above that shows what seems to be just about all elements of the carving in considerable detail, may well be accurate, but it’s nothing compared to seeing the carving first-hand. When it comes to ancient rock-art, detailed drawings are one thing, but the real thing is altogether much much better! Check it out and see for yourself…
Folklore
I’m not too sure what credibility we should give to Nicholas Size’s (1934) extravagant claims, but this was one of the sites he alleged to have seen visions of druidic rites and ghostly figures!
References:
Allen, J. Romilly, ‘The Prehistoric Rock Sculptures of Ilkley,’ in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 35, 1879.
Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Chieveley 2001.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Size, Nicholas, The Haunted Moor, William Walker: Otley 1934.
* It’s gotta be pointed out that Ilkley Moor’s ‘Land of the Dead’ extends much further than just the Green Crag. Much of the extended land above here to the south was an important area, where at some places rites of the dead were performed. The supposed ‘settlement’ nearby (as well as the lesser known one on the moor west of here, on the moor above Ilkley Crags, near Cranshaw Thorn Hill) was likely to be a place where the dead were rested for a period. But more about that in the section on the Green Crag Settlement…
Get to the Twelve Apostles stone circle, then walk just 100 yards down the main footpath south, towards Bingley, and watch out for a small footpath immediately to your left. Walk on here and head for the rocky outcrop a half-mile ahead of you. Once past the outcrop, take the first footpath right and walk down for another 100 yards. Stop! – and walk into the heather. The circle’s about 50 yards away! You can of course come from the Menston side of the moor, following the same directions for the Great Skirtful of Stones, but keep walking on for another 200 yards, towards the rocky outcrop again, turning left down the path for 100 yards, before stopping and walking 50 yards into the heath again!
Archaeology & History
Roms Law circle
This is one of my favourite sites on these moors. I’m not 100% sure why – but there’s always been something a bit odd about the place. And I don’t quite know what I mean, exactly, when I say “odd.” There’s just something about it… But it’s probably just me. Though I assume that me sleeping rough here numerous times in the past might have summat to do with it, playing with the lizards, and of course…the sheep… AHEM!!! Soz about that – let’s just get back to what’s known about the place!
Grubstones is an intriguing place and, I recommend, recovers its original name of Roms or Rums Law. It was described as such in the earliest records and only seems to have acquired the title ‘Grubstones’ following the Ordnance Survey assessment in the 1850s. The name derives from two compound words, rum, ‘room, space, an open space, a clearing’; and hlaw, a ‘tumulus, or hill’ – literally meaning here the ‘clearing or place of the dead,’ or variations thereof. But an additional variant on the word law also needs consideration here, as it can also be used to mean a ‘moot or meeting place’; and considering that local folklore, aswell as local boundary records tell of this site being one of the gathering places, here is the distinct possibility of it possessing another meaning: literally, ‘a meeting place of the dead’, or variations on this theme.
The present title of Grubstones was a mistranslation of local dialect by the Ordnance Survey recorders, misconstruing the guttural speaking of Rum stones as ‘grub stones.’ If you wanna try it yourself, talk in old Yorkshire tone, then imagine some Oxford or London dood coming along and asking us the name of the ring of stones! It works – believe me….
The site has little visual appeal, almost always overgrown with heather, but its history is considerable for such a small and insignificant-looking site. First described in land records of 1273 CE, Roms Law was one of the sites listed in the local boundary perambulations records which was enacted each year on Rogation Day (movable feast day in Spring). However in 1733 there was a local boundary dispute which, despite the evidence of written history, proclaimed the Roms Law circle to be beyond the manor of Hawksworth, in which it had always resided. But the boundary was changed – and local people thenceforth made their way to the Great Skirtful of Stones on their annual ritual walk: a giant cairn several hundred yards east to which, archaeologically, there is some considerable relationship. For at the northern edge of the Roms Law circle is the denuded remnants of a prehistoric trackway in parts marked out with fallen standing stones and which leads to the very edge of the great cairn. This trackway or avenue, like that at Avebury (though not as big), consists of “male” and “female” stones and begins – as far as modern observations can tell – several hundred yards to the west, close to a peculiar morass of rocks and a seeming man-made embankment (which I can’t make head or tail of it!). From here it goes past Roms Law and continues east towards the Great Skirtful, until it veers slightly round the southern side of the huge old tomb, then keeps going eastwards again into the remnants of a prehistoric graveyard close by.
In my opinion, it is very likely that this trackway was an avenue along which our ancestors carried their dead. Equally probable, the Roms Law Circle was where the body of the deceased was rested, or a ritual of some form occurred, before taken on its way to wherever. It seems very probable that this avenue had a ceremonial aspect of some form attached to it. However, due to the lack of decent archaeological attention, this assertion is difficult to prove.
A previously unrecognised small single tomb is in evidence to the immediate southeast (5 yards) of the circle. There is also another previously unrecognised prehistoric trackway that runs up along the eastern side of the circle, roughly north-south, making its way here from Hawksworth Moor to the south. The old legend that Roms Law was a meeting place may relate to it being a site where the dead were rested, along with it being an important point along the old boundary line. Records tell us that the chant, “This is Rumbles Law” occurred here at the end of the perambulation – which, after the boundary change, was uttered at the Great Skirtful. This continued till at least 1901.
Northern section of the Ring
Modern archaeological analysis of the site is undecided as regards the actual nature of Roms Law. Ordnance Survey maps show it as an “enclosure” (which is vague); Faull & Moorhouse’s survey (1981) erroneously tell us it had no funerary nature, contrary to Eric Cowling’s (1946) report of finding bones and ashes from the small hole in near the centre of the ring, aswell as the 1880 drawing of the site in Collyer & Turner’s survey (above). And we find the single cairn on the south-eastern edge of the ring indicating burial rites of sorts definitely occurred here. Described variously by previous archaeologists as a stone circle, a ring cairn, cairn circle, an enclosure, aswell as “a rubble-fill wall of a circular house” (by some anonymous member of the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service, who didn’t respond to my queries about this curious assumption), the real nature of Roms Law leans more to a cairn circle site. A fine example of a cup-and-ring stone — the Comet Stone — was found very close to the circle, somewhere along the Grubstones Ridge more than a hundred years ago, and it may have had some relevance to Roms Law.
This denuded ring of stones is a place that has to be seen quite blatantly in a much wider context, with other outlying sites having considerable relationship to it. Simple as! (If you wanna know more about this, check out my short work, Roms Law, due out shortly!)
Describing the status and dimensions here, our great Yorkshire historian Arthur Raistrick (1929) told that:
“The larger stones still standing number about twenty, but the spaces between them are filled with stones of many intermediate sizes, so that one could with only considerable detail of size, etc, number the original peristalith.”
…Meaning that we’re unsure exactly how many stones stood in the ring when it was first built! Although a little wider, the Roms Law is similar in form to the newly discovered ‘Hazell Circle‘ not far from here. The site has changed little since Raistrick’s survey, though some halfwits nicked some of the stones on the southwestern edge of the site in the 1960s to build a stupid effing grouse-butt, from which to shoot the birds up here! (would the local council or local archaeologist have been consulted about such destruction by building the grouse-butt here? – anyone know?) Thankfully, this has all but disappeared and the moorland has taken it back to Earth.
There is still a lot more to be told of Roms Law and its relationship with a number of uncatalogued sites scattered hereby. Although it’s only a small scruffy-looking thing (a bit like misself!), its archaeology and mythic history is very rich indeed. “Watch This Space” – as they say!
Folklore
Alleged to be haunted, this site has been used by authentic ritual magickians in bygone years. It was described by Collyer & Turner (1885) “to have been a Council or Moot Assembly place” — and we find this confirmed to a great extent via the township perambulation records. Considerable evidence points to an early masonic group convening here in medieval times and we are certain from historical records that members of the legendary Grand Lodge of All England (said to be ordained in the tenth century by King Athelstan) met here, or at the adjacent Great Skirtful of Stones giant cairn 400 yards east.
The boundary perambulations which occurred here on Rogation Day relate to events just before or around Beltane, Mayday. Elizabeth Wright (1913) said of this date:
“These days are marked in the popular mind by the ancient and well-known custom of beating the parish bounds, whence arose the now obsolete name of Gang-days, and the name Rammalation-day, i.e., perambulation-day, for Rogation-Monday. The practice is also called Processioning and Possessioning… The reason why this perambulation of the parish boundaries takes place at Rogationtide seems to be that originally it was a purely religious observance, a procession of priest and people through the fields to pray for a fruitful Spring-time and harvest. In the course of time the secular object of familiarizing the growing generation with their parish landmarks gained the upper hand, but the date remained as testimony to the primary devotional character of the custom.”
And the calling of, “This is Rumbles Law” maintained this ancient custom when it used to be uttered here.
Go to the Cliffe Castle Museum on the outskirts of Keighley town centre (dead easy to find with car park to rear) and explore the museum! You’ll find it eventually!
Archaeology & History
Comet Stone, Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley
This lovely-looking carving has been on a bit of walkabout over the last hundred years or so! We’re not quite sure exactly where it first lived, but old records tell that it was found upon the Grubstones Ridge, which is a small section of the moor around and/or between the Great Skirtful of Stones giant cairn and the curious Roms Law, or Grubstones Circle, both on the very tops of Burley Moor (most folk call think of it as just another section of Ilkley Moor). Here it lived (approx grid reference SE 138 446) for several thousand years until, many centuries later, in the mid-19th century, one of them there christian chaps came along – y’ know the sorts. He was the reverend J.A. Busfield and came to live upon the heathen edge of our Rombald’s Moor at a great house called Upwood. Like many of these weird people, he took a bit of a shine to our ancient relics and, amidst one of his sojourns to the Grubstones one day, came upon this multiple-ringed stone lying amidst the heather, close to the old circle of Roms Law. Liking it so much, he thought he’d have it as an ornament in the grounds of his hall at Upwood, on the southern edges of the moor overlooking Riddlesden and Keighley — and there it stayed, living quite comfortably, until 1925.
It then spent nearly fifty years living enclosed in the huge abode of Keighley Museum until, in 1971, it was presented by a certain Mr. R.W. Robinson of the same establishment, to Keighley Council, who thought in their weird ways to lean “it against a pile of rocks on the pavement of Bow Street, near Keighley Bus Station, with a small plaque,” telling of its tale and of other cup-and-rings nearby. And there it stayed until more recent years, when it was returned back to the Cliffe Castle Museum – safe, quiet and looked after each night!
Drawing of the carvingCowling’s early drawing
It’s a lovely, almost archetypal carving: a simple cup surrounded by four complete rings, with a ‘tail’ coming off the edge, similar to the image of a comet flying through the skies – which is, perhaps, what this carving represented. Of course, it could have been something completely different!
The region where this stone was located was an important area for the dead in ancient times – a motif that’s common to many cup-and-rings – and it seems probable that the stone itself was once part of a tomb, though we seem to have no record substantiating this. The carving was highlighted by William Cudworth as being in Upwood on a map dated 1847-51. The next description of it was by Arthur Raistrick in 1936. John Hedges (1986) listed it as stone-216 in his survey; then Boughey & Vickerman (2003) re-list it as stone 351.
NOTE – Don’t confuse this carving with another that is held in the same museum here, the Cliffe Castle or Baildon Moor 144 carving. Well worth having a look at!
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, Otley 1946.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Raistrick, Arthur, ‘Cup-and-Ring Marked Rocks of West Yorkshire,’ in YAJ, 1936.
Dead easy! Get to Ilkley train station and look across the road to your left, cross it and walk along. 100 yards on is Cowpasture Road. Walk up it! You’ll be at the rocks in 10-15 minutes.
Archaeology & History
Cow & Calf Rocks from above – thanks to Ian Hay’s superb ‘Yorkshire from the Air’
There’s nowt specifically archaeocentric directly relating to these great rocks — well, nowt that’s been found out about anyway! — though all around here over the last coupla centuries people have found numerous flints, and we have various examples of rock-art (cup-and-rings) carved on rocks close by. There have been attempts to verify what may be cup-marks on both the Cow and the Calf — with the old master, Harry Speight (1900) telling how there used to be remains of cups and lines on the rocks, but apart from some well-worn ‘cups’ on some of the edges, these seem hard to find. For worrits worth: if Speight said there were some carvings here, its more than likely true.
I think the main relationship ancient man would have had with this great rock outcrop would have been a ritual one: the rocks themselves had no need of human imprints: their size and nature would deem them of great spirit indeed, to anyone with an ounce of feeling. Not sure that’s the way most modern folk would see things – but that’s to be expected I s’ppose!
Folklore
These grand rocks once had the even greater Bull Rock as a close companion. It was on top of this, wrote Eric Lodge (1939:40), that,
“the only point in the immediate vicinity of Ilkley from which a view of York Minster was obtainable. ‘Tis some sixty years ago, however, that a local tradesman recognised its value in building stone, and despite strong protests, quarried it for the construction of the Crescent Hotel, situated at the corner of Brook Street and Leeds Road in Ilkley.”
The matter was described in the Leeds Mercury in 1899, thus:
“About the year 1850 an act of vandalism was perpetrated at Ilkley, which would have been impossible in these days, when the Ilkley Local Board watches with such a keen eye anything that may enhance the historical interest of this rapidly increasing watering-place.
“Below the two huge rocks known as ‘The Cow and Calf,’ which have attracted thousands of visitors and invalids on to the breezy heights whereon they stand, stood a rock larger than the Calf, which was known as the ‘Bull.’ It was much nearer the highway than the Calf…
“The ‘Bull’ rock had its name cut in large letters on the side that lay nearest the road, and it is much to be regretted that an unfortunate dispute between the owners of the free-hold and the lord of the manor, in which the former won the day, gave them the right to break up this noble rock and cart it away for building purposes. It is said that the Crescent Hotel was mainly built from this stone, so some idea may be formed of its vast size and proportions.”
Incredible – they’ve turned a gigantic sacred rock into a large hotel! (and I’ve never been in it) Let’s hope it’s haunted to buggery! Does anyone know any Fortean history about the place?
Another legend tells that one day the local giant, Rombald (who gave his name to these moors and lived up here, somewhere, with his even greater but unnamed wife), decided to meet a friend a few miles away to the east, at Almscliffe Crags. So in just one step he strode over the Wharfe valley right across to the legendary crags, but he slightly stumbled and in doing so, left he footprint embedded on the face of the Cow Rock, which can still be seen today.
In modern times, the Cow & Calf have been the centre for occasional UFO, or earthlight sightings. But this appears to go back a bit earlier than when such curious light-forms were thought of as visiting ETs; for good old Nicholas Size (1936) reported seeing burning lights and curious figures up here — but when he saw these lights they took the form of druids and pagan spirits. One wonders what they’ll morph into next!
The best and easist way to get here is to drive west past Dick Hudson’s pub along the moor road for about a mile till you reach the left turn of Heights Lane. Stop here! (if you’re now going downhill to East Morton, you’ve gone past it) On the opposite side of the road is a gate and a footpath onto the moor at the spot called Fenny Shaw Low Well (small copse of woods adjacent to your right). Walk a quarter-mile up the path, bearing left where the path diverges (ignoring the ‘Private’ sign) and head for the derelict building. Less than 100 yards before it, notice the large boulder to your right, on the slope – that’s it!
Archaeology & History
Old inaccurate drawing, c.1982
I first came across this on one of my countless ambles on these moors as a teenager. It was a cold, windy day as I recall – hence the reason for my sketch of the stone being a bit vague! The bit of paper on which I drew it, was included in one of my unpublished hand-written booklets. A few years later an image of the carving appeared in Mr Hedge’s (1986) fine collection, in much better detail than my scratty little pic!
Some cup-marks highlighted
It’s a ‘big rock’ and stands out on the slope here. There’s at least one complete cup-and-ring which is visible on the northern edge of the rock and there are between 17 and 30 other cups scattered across its surface, which has been greatly eroded by our timely forces of wind, rain, ice and snow.
Hedges’ 1986 sketch
In ambling around looking at the other stones in the vicinity, along with finding the small Littlestone cup-marked rock further up the slope, we also found, just below the faded old Big Stone, another quite large rock upon which, quite recently, someone has decided to etch four complete cup-and-ring symbols. These appear to have been done either to,
i) assess degrees and speed of erosion on rock carvings;
or,
ii) pure artistry.
Whichever it may be (and there’s been various cries of “vandalism” when such carvings have been etched by some folk on otherwise virgin rock over the years), let it be known that the Big Stone’s partner was etched c.2008-9. Does anyone out there know who did this ‘new’ carving?
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.
Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 0898 4393
Also known as:
Bradup Bridge
Brass Castle
Kirkstones Circle
Archaeology & History
Lay-out of the site, c.1929 (after Raistrick)
Not far from the little-known site of Beacon Hill, this once important megalithic ring was described by Arthur Raistrick in 1929 as “the finest stone circle” in West Yorkshire. Sadly however, the complete destruction of the place in recent years has now left us with nothing to go by (you would think such actions were illegal, but we’ll come to that shortly).
The site measured thirty feet across and, until only a few years back, had a distinct embankment surrounding it. In 1885 Robert Collyer described 18 stones here; but in Raistrick’s (1929) survey only 12 were visible. He told:
“The circle is situated on the west side of the Keighley to Ilkley road, in the rough pasture called ‘Brass Castle’…immediately south and west of Bradup Bridge. The circle is approximately 30 feet diameter, but has been very damaged at some period since 1885. At that date 18 stones were standing, but now only 12 remain, though there are large unfilled holes on the sites from which the other stones have been removed. There are slight traces of a bank, but the most notable feature is the large size of the stones (millstone grit from the neighbouring escarpment) of which the circle has been made. There are some traces of a double circle, but it is not possible to be sure of this now. It seems certain that the stones were removed from this circle to repair the neighbouring Bradup Bridge, an act of vandalism always to be deplored… There is no appearance of this circle having been used for interment, nor any record extant of exploration.”
When Eric Cowling (1946) visited the site in the 1930s, his notes indicate that it was much as Raistrick had described a few years prior, telling:
“This circle is situated at the west side of the Keighley-Ilkley road near Bradup Bridge on the Airedale side of Rombalds Moor, near the crest. Only twelve stones remain standing; these are large and apparently obtained from the nearby escarpment (Kirkstones, PB); holes mark the site of stones removed. The ring is thirty feet in diameter with some traces of a circular bank; the position of some stones suggests that the circle may have been continuous. I have heard this place referred to as ‘Kirkstones’ and ‘Brass Castle’, both suggestive names.”
A newspaper account of the site in 1960 reported that 12 stones were still in situ and that “there are large holes from which the other stones have been removed.” This fact was echoed by a local walker, Ken Pickles, who knew the site well and said:
“I first walked this moor in 1945,” he says. “In the late 1960s there were definitely 12 there. It was a perfect stone circle. It offends me that children should be denied things like this.”
As if to affirm the status and number of stones again, when archaeologist Ian Longworth (1965) wrote about it he told that,
“Twelve stones remain in this badly damaged circle, which measures about 30 feet across. The stones are of local millstone grit. Several seem to have been removed from the site to repair Bradup Bridge.”
Sid Jackson’s old drawing
By 1995 only one stone was in situ, but a very distinct, albeit low circular embankment was still in evidence. I sat here quite a few times when I was young, munching mi sarnies, having a rest, alone and with friends (once in the company of holy wells author Edna Whelan and fellow rock art researcher and author Graeme Chappell) before journeying back home. It looked that at least one other stone was buried just beneath the grassy surface on the northeastern side of the banking.
Bradup is included in the respective archaeological magnum opuses of both Burl (2000) and Barnatt (1989); where the latter visited the site in the 1980s and thought it may have been “the last vestiges of a cairn.”
Arthur Raistrick’s (1929) plan shows that at least two stones stood near the centre of the circle, which may have related to a solstice sunrise alignment with the old standing stone at nearby Black Knoll hill on Morton Moor (replaced at an unknown date in the past by a stone cross). And when Mr Raistrick told this to be the best stone circle in the region, he knew what he talking about! He had surveyed many other prehistoric remains and was the leading archaeological authority in the region at the time. Today, we have no such professional authority in the region who is worthy of such an accolade. The sorry series of events that led to the destruction of Bradup’s stone circle took a little time to emerge, but after a series of emails to various departments several years ago, the culpability seemed to spread across several people, each of whom made simple mistakes; but these were mistakes that have led directly to Bradup’s demise. I hope some of you will forgive me telling its story…
Bradup stones removed & dumped near wallBradup stone remains dumped in a pile
I first received an email from a colleague in 2002 asking whether or not I was aware of what seemed to be the final destruction of the Bradup stone circle, as the land-owner from Upwood Farm had been over the field and uprooted some buried stones — plus the last visible upright in the ring — and moved them into a pile at the top southern-end of the field in which the circle previously stood. So a small bunch of us went over to have a look and, much to our horror, found the report to be true. The field itself had been completely levelled and the circular embankment flattened, with the upright stone and any buried ones dragged and dropped into the pile of stones that obviously constituted the megalithic structure we’d sat within and visited so many times down the years up against the wall at the top of the field. Someone — the land-owner it seemed — quite recently in early 2002, had destroyed the Bradup stone circle.
How the hell had this happened…!? So, I contacted those who were supposed to look after the welfare of such monuments.
In 2006, Pippa Pemberton was the person working for English Heritage who had the stately title of ‘Field Monument Warden for West Yorkshire’ and elsewhere — and it was Pippa who told the sorry tale, albeit through the well-disguised erudition of avoiding blame to anyone. Amongst several allegedly ‘professional’ archaeologists who I emailed, it was one to Neil Redfern that was responded to, eventually. As you’ll read below, my email asks how this stone circle had been destroyed, with the lengthy ‘explanation’ giving the official reasoning:
Bradup Stone Circle Destroyed
From: Paul Bennett Sent: 10 March 2006 14:05 To: REDFERN, Neil Subject: Stone circle destroyed nr Ilkley
Hello there!
I sent you an email quite a long time ago (below) concerning the complete destruction of Bradup stone circle on Ilkley Moor, for which I have heard nothing since. I wonder, out of respect, if you could either let me know the circumstances surrounding my query, or perhaps pass me on to the relevant person:
“Out of interest (and on the same moorland region) I wonder if you could let me know who it was from English Heritage who de-scheduled a site once known as the Bradup stone circle (also known as Kirk Stones) after a visit to the place a few years ago? (SE 0897 4393) The incorrect site/location was examined and the real stone circle, close by, was subsequently destroyed by the adjacent land-owner. Evidence of the destruction is still there at the top of the field in the form of a few oddly-piled small boulders.
“I think it important that whoever de-scheduled this site should be taken to task for their error. (I don’t mean sack the poor soul, although it’s evident that some re-training is probably in order.) or perhaps the land-owner taken to task for the destruction of the site.
“I would be interested to hear what you, or one of your fellow workers, think about what’s happened here.
Best wishes – Paul Bennett”
Sometime later, I received the following response:
“Dear Paul
Your email was passed on to me by Neil Redfern, as I am currently the person dealing with scheduled monuments in West Yorkshire. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you – we have been working with Heritage Action on this issue, and it was accidentally assumed that you were associated with that organisation too.
In response to your query I have copied an extract from a recent letter I sent to Heritage Action about Bradup, outlining the history of the case and the justification for its descheduling. I hope that this text answers your concerns. For your information, should you require any further assistance with this case, I recommend that you return to me quickly as I am due to start maternity leave at Easter and we do not yet know who will be dealing with this casework in my absence.
With best wishes
Pippa Pemberton,
English Heritage Yorkshire Region, Field Monument Warden – West Yorkshire & Districts of Scarborough & Ryedale.
Scheduling and location of the Bradup site
Scheduled Monuments are currently provided statutory protection under the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, which replaced earlier legislation and is itself currently under review by the government (DCMS) in their Heritage Protection Review. Scheduled Monuments are a land-based designation, which means that they are fixed in space, with defined boundaries within which specific protection applies. The legally protected location of a Scheduled Monument is recorded on maps and described in associated documentation. Together these documents provide the legal record of the site and are the basis on which protection is applied.
Our records show that a site at Bradup was scheduled as a stone circle in 1933 at grid reference SE 0895 4391, based on information provided by a partial survey of the site made by Dr A Raistrick in 1920 and on reports recorded in 1885. This site was known by the name of Bradup Stone Circle. The location of this site is shown on the map attached to this email.
Subsequently the Ordnance Survey visited the site in 1961, when R Emsley undertook a measured survey of the locations of the stones and hollows included within the scheduled site. However he noted that the stones appeared, by that stage, to be haphazard in their distribution and he appears to have been unconvinced by the description of the site as a stone circle. On the basis of this visit by Emsley, the Bradup stone circle was marked on the 6” Ordnance Survey map, with the location given by Emsley as SE 0895 4392. In addition, Emsley noted that the unscheduled site known as ‘Kirkstones’ was located nearby at SE 0907 4479, but did not describe this site. We have no information on file about this site.
Visits were then made to the scheduled Bradup site by two Royal Commission / English Heritage Field Monument Wardens in 1981 and 1985, with the purpose of monitoring the management of the site. Both of these officers found the site difficult to distinguish, noting stones in a rough pasture field.
Subsequently, it appears that several other locations have been claimed for the Bradup Stone Circle across several fields in the locality, including SE 0897 4393 (Paul Bennett). This latter would place the circle within the adjacent improved pasture field and outside the previously scheduled area.
Descheduling the site
During 1994, a visit made to the site at SE 0895 4391 under the English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme (MPP) noted that the site described by Raistrick does not correspond with the remains then visible. According to this MPP officer, the spatial relationships between the stones and stone holes differed from those Raistrick recorded whilst he also appeared to have omitted others. In their opinion, the scheduled site was not a stone circle, but “a haphazard group of rocks … situated on a hillside which has been quarried and has naturally occurring gritstone boulders. The site itself consists of a random collection of boulders and small holes left by stone quarrying on a slight rise and has a roughly rectangular hollow in the centre which may be an excavation.” “The site is lacking in any of the other features normally associated with stone circles … Whether the extra stones represented by the stone holes are taken into account or not there are no grounds for considering this site to be a stone circle or any other type of prehistoric monument. It is therefore recommended for descheduling”.
Subsequently the recommendation for descheduling would have passed by the officer to the Monuments Protection team, who would have passed it to the relevant Inspector of Ancient Monuments for their consideration and approval. It would then have been passed to a committee of archaeological advisors for their consideration and approval before finally being submitted to the Department of Environment (now DCMS) for their approval and action.
Review visit to the descheduled Bradup site
In response to Heritage Action’s concerns, a site visit was undertaken to the descheduled site by several members of English Heritage’s Heritage Protection team in November 2005. At SE 0895 4391 they observed a number of exposed stones in a rough pasture field, some earthfast, and also hollows that may represent removed stones. The team could not relate the remains at this location to either Raistrick’s description or the Ordnance Survey drawing and concluded that the remains at this location had been mis-attributed (comprising natural boulders and quarrying) and that descheduling was the appropriate action. If a stone circle had been located in the nearby improved pasture field, which was never protected by scheduling, then any remains have been removed. “Either way [they conclude], de-scheduling was the correct action, and unless evidence is produced that demonstrates surviving prehistoric remains no further action should be undertaken”.
Conclusion
In conclusion then, the site afforded legal protection between 1933 and 1995 as a Scheduled Monument was located in the rough pasture field at SE 0895 4391. Since the 1970s several successive archaeologists have been unable to locate the remains of a stone circle in this location, leading to an interpretation of mis-attribution and the descheduling of this site; an interpretation that has recently been upheld by the Heritage Protection team. There has been no landscape change in this area subsequent to descheduling, with the land-use remaining as rough pasture and the previously protected stones and hollows remaining in place.
Other accounts place a potential stone circle in a nearby field. This potential site was never subject to any legal protection as a designated Scheduled Monument, and any potential surface remains have been removed by the farmer, within his legal rights, during its conversion to improved pasture.”
In this reply, notice the remark describing the position of the circle: “Our records show that a site at Bradup was scheduled as a stone circle in 1933 at grid reference SE 0895 4391, based on information provided by a partial survey of the site made by Dr A Raistrick in 1920 and on reports recorded in 1885.” This is either deliberate misinformation, or bad record-keeping, as neither Robert Collyer’s 1885 reference, nor Arthur Raistrick’s 1929 account cites such a grid-reference. It is possible that when the Ordnance Survey lad, R. Emsley, visited here in 1961, that he looked at the wrong dubious ‘ring’ of low stones over the fence into the heather. Somehow he, or his subsequent record-keepers, mistook what Raistrick said were the “most notable feature (are) the large size of the stones”, for the small earthfast rocks over the fence. This is very poor when you consider that the 1970s 1:10,000 OS-map of this area clearly shows the circle to be in the field, indicating that the Ordnance Survey fella had been, seen and recorded it correctly.
One final element on this “grid-reference” error: I have in front of me the List of Scheduled Monuments in the Bradford District (“The Schedule is currently not available on” their website cos the people who get paid to do such a thing can’t be arsed), dated from the 1990s. The “Bradup stone circle near Bradup Bridge, Morton” is cited as being at “SE 0900 4400” and not the OS grid reference described in the explanation about the site’s destruction. Funny that innit…?
There’s much more that I could say in response to this excuse for de-scheduling and allowing the destruction of Bradup stone circle, but I’m hoping that people can see for themselves that ‘excuses’ are the order of the day in this report. Simply put: the Bradup stone circle was destroyed due to the ineptitude of ‘authorities’ mistaking several natural earthfast rocks at the grid-reference they give (if indeed even that’s the right one for it!) for the real prehistoric circle in the adjacent field. In short, they fucked up – and the email above is their attempt at an excuse to cover up their mistakes. We all know how they cover each others backs when they screw up. If you or I did this, we’d be in court.
Folklore
Also known as the Brass Castle and the Kirkstones (indicating it as a place of worship), Cowling (1946) told how “local lore suggests that the place is haunted.” The name Kirkstones derives from the rock outcrop 800 yards north of here, where the stones which made this site may have come from. A dowsing survey found there to be water beneath the circle, but this wasn’t mapped.
Best visited in winter and spring – thereafter the vegetation can hide it a little – but even then, it’s not too hard to find. Start from the Cow & Calf Hotel and walk across the road onto the moor, and head over as if you’re gonna walk above the Cow & Calf Rocks, onto the moorland proper. When you’ve gone a few hundred yards, walk up the slope (there are several footpaths – you can take your choice). Once on the ridge on top of the moor proper, you’ll see the Haystack Rock: it’s on the same ridge, right near where the moor drops down the slope about 250 yards west of here, just about next to the footpath that runs along the edge. Look around!
Archaeology & History
Unlike some folk who’ve seen this old stone, I find this carving superb. Its one of my favourites up here! Its alternative name – the Planet Stone – perhaps lends you to expect something more, but this is down to the astronomer who thought this was some type of heavenly image (which is most unlikely). I prefer to call it the ‘Map Stone’ because the correlates this carving has with indigenous aboriginal cup-and-rings is impressive and — to Aborigines anyway — would have all the hallmarks of a map. But not a ‘map’ in the traditional sense of modern humans. The incidence of cups and rings linked by curvaceous lines, typifies routes between water-holes or settlement spots made by ancestral beings — which is just what we find at this carving here. These ancestral beings need to be seen in a quite mythic sense: they may be creation deities (giants, gods, etc), animal spirits, the routes of shaman spirits, or other expressions of homo-religiosus.
Map Stone (note the carved line along the very edge of the rock)…and again from another angle
In the Map Stone here, we see that the very edge of the rock (fig.2 & 3) is ‘encircled’, perhaps (and I say perhaps) symbolic of the edge of the world. The lines and rings upon the top of the rock may symbolize journeys to and from important places. Another impression I get of this carving, with the “map” idea, is that the large pecked diamond-shaped ‘cup’ near the middle of the carving is a large body of water around which the archaic routeways passed. The next time anyone visits this stone, have a look at it with this idea in mind. Its simple, straightforward and makes sense (mind you – that doesn’t mean to say it’s right!).
The first account I’ve found of this comes from the pen of J. Romilly Allen (1882), where this stone “measuring 5ft 3in by 5ft, and 1ft 9in high” was described thus:
“On its upper surface, which is nearly horizontal, are carved thirteen cups, varying in diameter from 2 to 2½ in, eleven of which are surrounded by rings. There is also an elaborate arrangement of connecting grooves.”
Although we can only work our nine cup-and-rings here today, Mr Allen seemed suitably impressed with this old carving. Stan Beckensall (1999) seemed to have a good feel of this design too, describing it thus:
“Two thirds of the surface of this earthfast sandstone have been used in a design that partly encloses the marked part of the rock with long curvilinear grooves along its edge, and the inner grooves link single rings around cups. The effect is one of inter-connection and fluidity.”
Hedges 1986 sketch
The Map Stone was also looked at to examine the potential for Alexander Thom’s proposal of a megalithic inch: a unit of measure speculated to have been used in neolithic and Bronze Age times for the carving of cup-and-ring stones. Using nine other carvings on these moor as samples, Alan Davies (1983, 1988) explored this hypothesis and gave the idea his approval. However the selectivity of his data, not only in the carvings chosen, throws considerable doubt on the idea. Unfortunately the idea doesn’t hold water. The ‘geometry’ in the size of cup-and-rings relates more to the biometrics of the human hand and not early scientific geometry, sadly….
References:
Allen, J.R., ‘Prehistoric Rock Sculptures of Ilkley,’ in Journal British Arch. Assoc., 35, 1879.
Allen, J.R., ‘Notice of Sculptured Rocks near Ilkley, with some Remarks on Rocking Stones,’ in Journal British Arch. Assoc., 38, 1882.
Allen, J.R., ‘Cup and Ring Sculptures on Ilkley Moor,’ in Reliquary Illus. Archaeology, 2, 1896.
Beckensall, Stan, British Prehistoric Rock Art, Tempus: Stroud 1999.
Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
Collyer, Robert & Turner, J.H., Ilkley: Ancient and Modern, William Walker: Otley 1885.
Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Davis, Alan, ‘The Metrology of Cup & Ring Carvings near Ilkley in Yorkshire,’ Science Journal 25, 1983.
Davies, Alan, ‘The Metrology of Cup and Ring Carvings,’ in Ruggles, C., Records in Stone, Cambridge 1988.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Alan Davies’ image of the carving – with carved ‘lake’ near centre
Get to the famous Dick Hudson’s pub on the south-side of Ilkley Moor and go east for about 700 yards till you get to Weecher reservoir (posh doods go yachting there). From here cross the road and walk on for 150 yards till you reach the stile which takes you onto the moors. Walk! Follow the footpath and you’ll go over another wall before eventually hitting the beautiful fresh waters of Horncliffe Well (this has never dried up – even in the summers of ’76 and ’95). Sit here for a while before heading for the circle which is on the east-side of the moorland fence just a coupla hundred yards up onto the moor (you’ll cross a coupla streams before reaching the site). You’ll know you’re close when, to your left by the fence, you’ll see a boundary stone with the name ‘Thos. Pulleyn’ engraved on it.
Archaeology & History
Early drawing of Horncliffe Circle (Speight 1898)
Horncliffe is a bittova strange site, inasmuch as we don’t honestly know precisely what it is, nor its age. It used to be categorized as a ‘stone circle’, but this was abandoned many moons ago. The inner circle of this ellipse-shaped monument was thought to have perhaps contained a burial, but Victorian excavations here found no such evidence; no burials have ever been found, though fires were evidently burned in the small central ring.
Nowadays I’m of the opinion that this was more for living-in, than any ritual site. It ‘smells’ like that anyway (modern OS-maps now term it as an ‘enclosure’); and this may be borne out by the ancient name of the trackway travelling north from here called ‘Castle Gate’, meaning ‘entrance or path by the fortification.’ Faint ‘cup-markings’ reported by Harry Speight (1898) on the outer edge of the ring are very likely Nature’s handiwork.
Horncliffe is a double-ringed ellipse structure, surrounded on its northern side by a natural embankment of earth. It was first mentioned in J.N.M. Colls’ (1846) survey, but more was said of it by James Wardell in 1869, who told that,
“there is a circle of stones of various sizes, from three-feet to five-feet in height; they are chiefly set upon their edges and are of sandstone grit. This circle is forty-three feet in diameter and within it there is a smaller circle, composed of stones of the same composition…and set in the same manner.”
A few years later, the Yorkshire literary giant Harry Speight (1898) penned his first words about this curious circle, saying:
“The best example of a stone circle in the vicinity of Bingley lies on the moor close to the parish boundary, on land belonging to Mr Fawkes, of Farnley Hall. It is a complete circle, consisting of about twenty stones, placed close together (a very unusual arrangement), from two to four feet high, the circumference being about 35 yards. An excavation was made in the middle of it some years ago, when bits of flint were found, but no trace of burial. It is built on a slight slope of the moor, facing the south, and is now much concealed by heather. It is, doubtless, the oldest known evidence of man’s handiwork remaining in the neighbourhood of Bingley, and there is small doubt that it was originally intended to fence a burial, such “Druids’ Circles” being primarily meant to enclose places of sepulchre in the same way that walled enclosures came to be adopted round our churchyards. A large flat stone on the top side, about three yards distant, is marked with cups and channels, and probably was in the centre of the circle originally.”
When Arthur Raistrick (1929) visited the circle, his measurements differed somewhat from those of Mr Wardell, telling the site to have diameters of 25 feet (east-west) and 32 feet (north-south), with 46 stones in the outer ring and 17 in the inner circle.
This is one of many sites on these moors that I slept at over the years when I was a kid. It used to be a really peaceful spot that was rarely troubled by other visitors (not sure if it’s still the same though).
Folklore
Although we have nothing specific to the circle, around the nearby Horncliffe Well a coupla hundred yards away we had accounts told us by the old warden whose job it was to look after this moorland, that will-o-the-wisps had been seen here. There is a seeming alignment to the equinoxes from here to Reva Hill – though this is more fortuitous than deliberate. A dowsing survey found aquastats in and around the circle, but no plan of these were ever made.
References:
Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
Colls, J.N.M., ‘Letter upon some Early Remains Discovered in Yorkshire,’ in Archaeologia 31, 1846.
Raistrick, Arthur, ‘The Bronze Age in West Yorkshire,’ in YAJ 1929.
Speight, Harry, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley, Elliot Stock: London 1898.
