Tag: Timble

Ellers Wood (614), Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Carving:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1895 5099

Ellers Wood carving 614 (after Boughey & Vickerman)
Ellers Wood carving 614 (after Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Ellers Wood is at the very northern edge of the beautiful parish of Askwith and has a very particular ambience of its own. The small cluster of at least 5 cup-and-ring stones in this lovely little woodland gives you the impression that they stood out on their own, living here representing the genius loci of this luscious watery vale, all-but-hidden from all but the lucky few.  It’s very likely that there are still more carvings hidden away nearby.

The best way to check them out is simply to walk down past the haunted Dobpark Lodge, where it turns into a footpath and where it crosses the lovely old packhorse bridge at the valley bottom, walk a few hundred yards up the river-side (at the bottom of the fields) until you reach Ellers Wood. Once there, look around.  This one’s on the west side of the main stream, close by where it meets up with another small burn coming down from the western wooded slopes.

 

Archaeology & History

First sketch of the carving, c.1994
First sketch of the carving, c.1994

In the same region as the Ellers Wood 618 and other carvings and very close to the river, somehow this heavily cup-marked stone evaded the prying eyes of such notaries as Cowling, Stuart Feather and Sidney Jackson – all of whom ventured to look at the other petroglyphs in Ellers Wood.  But with good fortune, Graeme Chappell and I re-discovered this fine-looking carving in our explorations in 1993-94 and gave it back the attention it truly deserves.

The main feature here is the clustering of cups into sections, as the drawing indicates.  It is listed as “stone 614” in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey.

References:

  1. Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 1940.
  3. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Cowling, E.T. & Hartley, C.A., ‘Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 33, 1937.
  5. Grainge, William, The History and Topography of the Forest of Knareborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
  6. Grainge, William, History and Topography of the Townships of Little Timble, Great Timble and the Hamlet of Snowden, William Walker: Otley 1895.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Ellers Wood (619), Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Carving:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1902 5102

Also Known as:

  1. Airship Carving

Getting Here

Old photo of CR-619

Follow the same directions for the Ellers Wood 614 and 618 carvings, as it’s nearby. The best way to check them out is simply to walk down past the haunted Dobpark Lodge, where it turns into a footpath and then when you reach the lovely old packhorse bridge at the valley bottom, walk upstream for 3-400 yards until you reach the next small wooded region.  Once there, look around…..

Archaeology & History

Ellers Wood is at the very northern edge of the beautiful parish of Askwith and has a very particular ambience of its own. The small cluster of at least 5 cup-and-ring stones in this lovely little woodland gives you the impression that they stood out on their own, living here respresenting the genius loci of this luscious watery vale, all-but-hidden from all but the lucky few.

Cowling’s 1937 sketch
1991 sketch of CR-619

Beautifully preserved, this carving was first described in an article by Cowling & Hartley (1937), then included in Cowling’s Rombald’s Way (1946).  As with the other cup-and-rings close by, the characteristic grouping of certain cups is here focused into three sections by enclosing rings.  This was something I used to call ‘central design’ features, which occur in different locales with their own individual geographical patterns/structures.  These central designs are non-numeric in nature, though have a tendency to cluster in patterns of 2, 3 and 4.  (I need to write a decent essay on this to outline what I’m on about with greater clarity!)

References:

  1. Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 1940.
  3. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Cowling, E.T. & Hartley, C.A., ‘Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 33, 1937.
  5. Grainge, William, The History and Topography of the Forest of Knareborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
  6. Grainge, William, History and Topography of the Townships of Little Timble, Great Timble and the Hamlet of Snowden, William Walker: Otley 1895.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ellers Wood (618), Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Carving:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1901 5101

Getting Here

Sketch of CR-618, c.1990

Follow the same directions to reach the other Ellers Woods carvings, staying on the western-side of the river close to where it meets with Snowden Beck, just north of the footpath. Check it out in winter and early Spring — any later in the year and it might be a little overgrown.

Archaeology & History

A truly lovely, lichen enriched carved rock in a lovely little part of the Fewston valley.  The place has a distinct genius loci that’s very different from its carved rock companions on the moorland hills a short distance away.  As I’ve said elsewhere: the surroundings of trees and richer fertile growth is something we must remember to ascribe to these carvings when we encounter them, as the landscape in places such as Ellers Wood is much closer to the scattered forested landscape that profused when first these stones were inscribed.

Section of CR-618

First described by Cowling & Hartley in 1937, it was later included in Cowling’s (1946) more extensive prehistoric survey of mid-Wharfedale.  There may be as many as 38 cup-markings cut onto the rock here, along with several lines and grooves.  A meditative dreaming site indeed…

References:

  1. Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 1940.
  3. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Cowling, E.T. & Hartley, C.A., ‘Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 33, 1937.
  5. Grainge, William, The History and Topography of the Forest of Knareborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
  6. Grainge, William, History and Topography of the Townships of Little Timble, Great Timble and the Hamlet of Snowden, William Walker: Otley 1895

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Askwith Moor (515), North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1668 5056

Also Known as:

  1. Shooting House West carving 

Getting Here

From Askwith village, at the T-junction, go up Moor Lane, taking the left turn up Moorside Lane about half-a-mile up and on the track to Moorside Farm and then onto Top Moorside Farm.  Take the path past the farm up onto the moor, then bear right up the small track that heads up onto the small Hollin Tree Hill.  As you go up the track, watch out for the small grassy depression to the right; and hereby head into the grasses on your right.  You’re close!

Archaeology & History

Image © Graeme Chappell
Image © Richard Stroud

Graeme Chappell was the first to rediscover this carving in the early 1990s when we were up pottering about on these and the adjacent moors, looking for any previously undiscovered prehistoric relics.   We found quite a lot!  The carving here is nowt special to look at really, but the cups can be seen quite clearly.  It’s a rather large stone on the western edge of the hill with at least seven or eight cup-marks carved across its upper surface.  Boughey & Vickerman (2003) later described it as “large, fine quartz sandstone rock with surface sloping slightly down into (the) hillside.  Seven or eight cups, two particularly sharp.”  There’s a possible line running between two of the cups, visible when lighting conditions are right — though we aint sure whether it’s artificial or not.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Askwith Moor (521), North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 17162 50530

Also Known as:

  1. Round Rock

Getting Here

To find this, head for the line of old grouse-butts which run north-south, a few hundred yards west of the Askwith Moor Road. Just before y’ get to the one nearest the bottom of the line, frobble about a bit.  If by any chance you end up at the Woman Stone carving, walk back up the slope until you’re on the level.  Not far ahead of you are the upright stone remains of a grouse-butt.  This carving is just a few yards away.  You’ll find it.

Archaeology & History

Image © Richard Stroud

This was another carving found on one of the many forays of Mr Chappell and I when we were young, sometime in 1993.   A short while after, Graeme wrote to Edward Vickerman to inform him of the find, which ended up in their rock art survey a decade later.

It’s another one of those simple designs: what seems like at least 5 cup-markings on a small rounded rock, with two of them linked together by a groove — possibly natural, possibly man-made — though there may in fact be seven or more cups etched onto its upper surface.  It’s difficult to tell.  It gives you the impression that its present position isn’t its original one and is suggested by Boughey & Vickerman (2003) to have been “moved from pipeline?” close by.  It may even have been dug out and cast here, possibly once being a part of a cairn.  In the Boughey & Vickerman survey they give its OS-coordinate as SE 17163 50527 – and describe it as a “medium-sized, free-standing rock of fine grit. Five cups, some perhaps natural.”  When Richard Stroud and I visited the site, he found the GPS coordinate was SE 17162 50530; and we have to say that instead of describing it as a free-standing rock, it’s a movable stone (though it’d take a bit of effort), that may once have been part of a larger monument.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul & Chappell, Graeme, Personal Communication, 1993.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian