Tag: Wharfedale

Counter Hill Carving, Silsden, West Yorkshire

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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


Middleton Moor Carving (006), North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 12292 52144

Getting Here

Middleton Moor CR-006
Middleton Moor CR-006

Another off-the-beaten track site!  Follow the directions to reach the Middleton Moor 001 carving, then walk due east for about 500 yards until you reach the distinct footpath that’s the Roman Road.  Once here, zigzag along its edge on the western side, up and down hereabouts.  Keep looking around till you see the stone shown in Richard’s photo here!

Archaeology & History

First found in April 2005, this medium-sized flattish stone is just 10 yards west of the prehistoric trackway which cuts across the moors  — later used as a Roman road — on Middle Gill Bents.  A somewhat simplistic design, it was found by Richard Stroud when we were exploring some of the many other carvings up here, and looking for previously unrecorded ones hiding in the heather.  Carved onto this stone are eight, perhaps nine cup-markings, with grooved lines connecting at least two of them.  That’s it!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Middleton Moor Carving (441), North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10887 51381

 

Getting Here

From the back of Moor End Farm on the south-side of Langbar village, follow the Long Ridge footpath up onto the moor. Walk along the path until its starts dipping down again, onto the moor proper and where another footpath crosses and goes down into the small valley of the Dryas Dike stream, follow it – though only for about 75 yards, heading diagonally into the heather slowly towards the stream.  You’re getting close!

Archaeology & History

Crude drawing of CR441

Yet another small carving found amidst a decent cluster of cup-and-rings and other archaeological remains near the top of Dryas Dike, this stone was first described in the Boughey & Vickerman (2003) survey.  It’s located about 10 yards below Middleton Moor CR-440, above the stream of Dryas Dike.  It’s a simple design, comprising of a central groove with a cup at either end and several other cups either side of this central line.  (cheers to Richard Stroud for use of his photo).

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Middleton Moor Carving (482), North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 11600 51455

Also Known as:

  1. Owl Carving

Getting Here

Multiple-ringed carving (© Richard Stroud)
Multiple-ringed carving (© Richard Stroud)

Best approached from the south, up Hardings Lane, then where its bends and the track of Parks Lane goes onto the moor, follow it.  Onto the moor, keep on the track as it follows the walling until you reach the gate on your right.  From here you’re close: head into the grasses and heather (left) not far off the western edge of the footpath at the eastern end of Dryas Dike.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

This lovely looking carving “quite near to the footpath and enclosed fields above March Ghyll reservoir,” was first described by Stuart Feather. (1965)  It can be found on a small flat stone and is easily obscured if the grasses are long – but it’s worth searching for.  It’s an archetypal cup-and-ring stone, consisting of a cup-and-five rings, a cup-and-ring, and a cup-and-three rings — though they are rather faint and can be missed in bad light.  As with other carvings, it’s best to splash water over it (as me & Richard did in the photo above) so you can see it a bit clearer.  Feather (1965) told us:

“The symbols are very fine, consisting of three cup-and-rings.  One of them, a quadruple, concentrically-circled cup with part of a fifth, unfinished ring.  The cup is very shallow, 1 inch across, and the circles…½ inch wide and shallow, with an overall diameter of 8 inch for the four circles; 9 inch with the other unfinished section.  The single cup-and-ring has a cup ¾-inch in diameter, ½-inch deep and a 4-inch diameter ring somewhat broader than the other rings on the rock and abutting on the north side against a slightly raised part of the rock surface.”

Sidney Jackson’s drawing
Boughey & Vickerman’s drawing

The triple-ringed cup is of similar dimensions to the larger example, with the cup being 1½ inch across and deep, with the circles being 7 to 7½-inch across.

About a half-mile northeast of here is the old Langbar Stone where I got the distinct impression that the same person was responsible for both of these carvings.  God knows why!

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Feather, Stuart, ‘Mid-Wharfedale Cup-and-Ring Markings: No.32-3, Middleton Moor,’ in the Cartwright Hall Archaeology group Bulletin, February 1965.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Smiley Stone Carving, Middleton Moor, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10923 51269

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.446 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Near the western end of the Middle Ridge, south of Dryas Dike, it’s probably best reached following the same directions to find carving no.435, walking past it but then following the footpath down onto the moor 100 yards further down the slope. Walk along here for about 200 yards till you get to the boundary stone.  You’re close!

Archaeology & History

Sketch of carving 446
Smiley Stone carving

First described by Stuart Feather and described by him in 1966, this small rounded stone comprises of nine or ten cup-markings with a long, enclosing line that circuitously goes around four or five of them.  It’s a curious-looking design which, from one angle, gives the impression of a smiley face — hence the name (this is Boughey & Vickerman’s name for it — not mine!).

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Feather, Stuart, ‘Mid-Wharfedale Cup-and-Ring Markings – no.43 and 44: Middleton Moor, Ilkley,’ in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 11:4, 1966.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Black Hill Enclosure, Middleton Moor, North Yorkshire

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Enclosure:  OS Grid Reference – SE 11757 51949

Getting Here

Just below Black Hill in the Middleton Moor Enclosure, little more than 10 yards east of the footpath on the east side of Loftshaw Gill, the slope drops down and into a slight ‘bowl’ in the landscape.  Here it is!

Archaeology & History

This is a previously undiscovered prehistoric settlement, enclosure, or something along those lines!  We came across it in April 2005 and is found amidst the mixed heather and bracken and has a scattering of small stones, as if in the wake of a dried stream from bygone times.  But whatever stream might once have been here, it’s long since fallen back to Earth — but at a point where a few rushes (Juncus conglomeratus) can be seen we find the aged remains of a large oval enclosure.

Similar in form to the other remains located up here by Eric Cowling (1946) in the 1930s and ’40s, when Richard Stroud and I first found this, structural remains of distinct lengths of walling were visible – but once the vegetation started growing back here again, it was almost impossible to discern.

Faint remains of enclosure walling

The main archaeological remains comprises of an oval-shaped structure, with what seemed liked a distinct Bronze Age note stamped on the walling — though it could be earlier, but without excavation it’s impossible to say. Most of the walling was just above ground-level, making it difficult to appreciate in the photo. It measures approximately 40 feet north-south and 33 feet east-west. The walling itself averages between 18-24 inches wide and was no more than one-foot tall at the highest.  Near the middle of the enclosure there were further sections of walling indicating different ‘rooms’ in the overall structure of things here.

Like I say, we unfortunately couldn’t get a decent image of this site cos the vegetation was already covering it up. So if you wanna see it, gerrup there soon after the heather burning’s been done here — otherwise it’s gonna be at least another year before you getta chance to see anything.  In Richard Stroud’s photo here, you’re looking at the bottom curve of the enclosure. You can just make out the line of walling near the centre of the picture, and two-thirds the way to the right you can see the enclosure wall curve closer to the bottom of the photo. (the site obviously requires a much better assessment from someone far more competent than me!)

References:

  1. Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Middleton Moor Carving 435, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10771 51488

Getting Here

Follow the same directions to reach the Middleton Moor carvings, numbers 436 and 437, up along the footpath.  This is the easiest to find as it’s right beside the footpath – as Richard Stroud’s photograph clearly shows.

Archaeology & History

Drawing of CR-435
Middleton Moor CR-435

Near a cluster of other cup-and-ring marked rocks, this decent example can be found besides what may be a prehistoric trackway running roughly east-west over the Long Ridge to Foldshaw Ridge.  Amazingly, this stone was never previously catalogued until Boughey & Vickerman’s survey in 2003.  Just goes to show what y’ can find if y’ gerrof yer arses and look for yerselves! Comprising at least thirty cups and several lines, one faint cup-and-ring is discernible on the western edge of the stone.

If you walk westwards, back up to the hilltop from here (only a couple of hundred yards), a single upright stone which some might consider megalithic, stands right before your eyes! An excellent spot!

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Middleton Moor Carving 436, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10779 51487

Getting Here

Follow the same directions to get to the Middleton Moor Carving 437, along the Ridge Way footpath, and this stone is just a few yards away.

 

Archaeology & History

This all-but insignificant carving was first described in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey, as a “small rough grit rock sloping into turf” with what may be two faint cup-markings etched on its surface.  Unless you’re a bittova rock-art fanatic, this might not be of much interest to you! (thanks to Richard Stroud for use of his photo!)

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Middleton Moor Carving 437, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10780 51486

Getting Here

Head for the gorgeous little hamlet of Langbar, a few miles northwest of Ilkley. Less than ½-mile before the village, keep your eyes out for the footpath bearing east onto the moors at Moor End Farm (right-hand side of road if you’ve travelled from Ilkley).  Walk along the Long Ridge footpath to where the fields on your left finish and the moorland proper opens up. Hereabouts, check the stones in the heather to your right!  If you amble about looking, you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Crap drawing of CR-437

This is another one of those carvings for the purists amongst you.  Less than ten yards off the footpath on Long Ridge is this medium-sized rock with several cup-marks, and lines, on both its top and vertical faces. Boughey & Vickerman (2003) think there to be at least five cups on the top, with perhaps nine on the vertical east face, though some of these are debatable. (the drawing I’ve done is from their book)

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Weston Churchyard, Askwith, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1774 4663

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.568

Getting Here

Dead easy this. From Otley, take the north road over the River Wharfe and turn left following the signs to Askwith, where you’ll hit Weston village first. Once here, take the small left turn down to Weston Hall and the accompanying church. Go into the churchyard and check the graves!

Archaeology & History

This is a real curiosity.  It’s found in the graveyard of All Saints church, Weston, where one of the graves has several small stones on it, with this small stone with the following cup-and-ring designs upon it.  A plaque has been attached to it as a memorial to one ‘Susan Mary Dawson’.  Strange…

Sid Jackson’s 1958 sketch
Cup-marked stone deliberately placed on a christian grave

It was first written about by Sidney Jackson (1957), but where it first came from and why it has been placed here in a christian setting is something of a mystery.  It’s also odd inasmuch as although we know that there was some form of  ritual or geomantic use of cup-and-rings in relation to neolithic and Bronze Age burials — that such a tradition has been performed by this particular family on this grave.  It is obviously highly unlikely that this family had any knowledge whatsoever of burial traditions in relation to cup-and-ring art (please, shoot me down in flames if you know otherwise), so this re-use of this prehistoric stone is likely to be little other than fortuitous. But then, the occult history of some of the influential families in and around this region in relation to witchcraft, ancient kingship and esoteric practices, might indicate otherwise…

Does anyone know anything about the Dawson family history which might throw light on this modern use of a prehistoric tomb marker?  It has all the hallmarks of once coming from a prehistoric cairn, but we know little of its history prior to 1957.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Jackson, Sidney, ‘Cup-and-Ring Boulder, Weston Churchyard,’ in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 2:16, 1957.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian