West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a county of contrasts. The landscape most people will think of when the area is mentioned is that of the huge sprawling conurbation which sprung up during the Industrial Revolution. It is easy to forget that some parts of the region are comparatively wild and desolate, whilst others reveal a taste of rural tranquillity - green islands in an ever-encroaching urban sea. The county has a surprisingly rich legacy of ancient remains with over 10,000 entries mentioned on the Sites and Monuments Records. Not all are prehistoric, but it illustrates the importance of the region throughout the centuries.
During the ice-ages the U-shaped valleys were ground from the gritstone. As the glaciers retreated they graced these valleys with more fertile alluvia and gravel, sweetening the soil for cultivation. The lower land was gradually drained and divided by dry-stone walls and hedgerows. The uplands eventually became the acidic windswept moors we know and love today. Evidence of man’s activities in these hills has been discovered from as far back as 7000bce, the settlement at Backstone Beck being a good example.
In the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age period the climate, although beginning to deteriorate, was more hospitable in comparison to modern times. The bleak moorland was more fertile, with a degree of shelter from the elements, and so we find traces of habitation in the hills. The common use of the words ‘shaw’ and ‘carr’ for place-names indicate that woodland was much more widespread at that time in upland areas.
The valley of the River Aire runs across the region from east to west. As it passes south of Skipton it allows the crossing of the Pennine hills at the lowest point in northern England; a fact that must have had a bearing on the movement of people and ideas in prehistory. Cowling (1946) also proposed that the adjacent Wharfe valley was part of a major route for trade across the country, from the West coast and the Lake District to the North Sea coastline and the North York Moors. The amount of traffic that flowed through the valleys and over the hills was incredible.
The area was also very important to the Celtic tribes. Dr Anne Ross reckoned that the West Riding (West Yorkshire) was the ‘nucleus of the Brigantian Kingdom’.
The West Yorkshire Archaeology Service have catalogued almost 700 Cup-and-ring marked rocks so far, and there are doubtless many others waiting to be discovered. Almost half are found on or nearby Rombald’s Moor between Ilkley and Leeds/Bradford, which is home to the highest concentration and most varied collection of all the carved stones in Yorkshire.
There are numerous stone circles scattered across the county, all of them relatively small and mainly constructed during the Bronze Age. The most well-known of these is probably the Twelve Apostles stone circle on Rombald’s Moor. Other megalithic remains occurring throughout the county include burial mounds, standing stones (like the huge menhir at Todmordon), stone rows, hut circles, settlements (e.g. Woofa Bank) and the enchanting rock-art (the Swastika Stone is a well-known example).
The Twelve Apostles stone circle, looking east to Otley Chevin.
Even the urban areas still turn up a few surprises with flint axes and arrowheads discovered in gardens and parks. Old maps show named standing stones in the cities (e.g. the Witches Stone in Meanwood, Leeds and the Pin Stone in Manningham, Bradford), and circles and prehistoric rock carvings are hidden away in pockets of suburban woodland.
Forgotten sites are frequently ‘re-discovered’ by the megalithic enthusiasts, and it is likely there are many more to be unearthed in the future…
Stone Circles
The Twelve Apostles
This dramatically situated circle is perhaps the most widely known of the areas treasures, after the natural rock formations of the Cow and Calf. It's use as a spot for summer solstice ritual and celebration is still going strong. It has become something of a 'honey pot' for local pagans to visit.
The meaning of the name seems to come from connections with a particularly active group of Freemasons in centuries past. (See also 'The Ashlar Chair').
I've trekked up here in all sorts of conditions during the last fifteen years and it never ceases to stir my soul. In the depths of midwinter with an icy Easterly screaming across the Vale of York it can make your skin hurt and your eyes feel about to freeze over! Despite it's sometimes windswept and inhospitable location it's still prone to mindless vandalism. Either from ignorant nob-heads or well-meaning fledgeling neo-pagans.
The shape of the circle is also apt to be altered slightly. Stones have been moved, re-erected and disappear from time to time. I suppose it doesn't help matters being situated on the main path across the moor, between the 'Cow and Calf' pub and 'Dick Hudson's' ale house!
Arthur Raistrick wrote that there were no less than twenty stones originally, with a single standing stone in the center. He said they were placed on a bank two feet high and four feet wide, making a circle fifty-two feet in diameter. Today the central stone is long gone and the bank indistinguishable to the naked (and my untrained) eye.
Now, the fascinating technical bits!
The site forms an isosceles triangle with two other circles nearby; the Backstone circle and the Grubstone circle. Neither of these are shown on the O.S. maps. Both lie exactly 1180 yards away.
The summer solstice sunrise occurs above the evocotive (but relativley recent) hill figure thirty five miles to the north-east; the Kilburn White Horse. (Follow the line and four miles later you reach Rievaulx Abbey!).
Also, it has been observed by several people (and photographed) at midsummer in 1989, that the stones show the times and movements of the lunar standstill.
Over the years many surreal lights have been seen around the stones. In 1976 a group of soldiers from the Royal Observer corps observed a white ball of light hovering over the circle. An identical sphere was recorded flying from, then back to, the site in 1990.
This was the first stone circle I ever visited. It's a fairly remote, invigorating and inspiring place. I hope it remains that way...
The Backstone circle
This charming, tumbledown, overgrown circle, camaflouged by newer dry-stone walls takes some finding, but it's certainly worth the effort! It's perched on the flanks of the Backstone Beck valley. I must've walked near it dozens of times over the years and never noticed it. Maybe it's because it's hidden amongst more recent constructions, or maybe it's only noticed if you're actually intent on finding it! The stones nestle into the moorland vegetation, partially obscured by great tussocks of sedge. To me, the attendant man-made remains don't seem to detract from the peaceful sanctity of the place.
The circle was 'forgotten' until quite recently. At first 'the jury was out' as to it's authenticity. Collyer and Turner (1885) mention a 'rude circle of stones' that you had to look twice at to see, situated somewhere beyond the White Wells. This fits the bill! Today though, it seems the archaeologists and megalith-hunters have vouched for it's worth and included it in some of the current guides to the moors.
If this is a tenuously verified site then the alignments which occur here are a miraculous coincidence! Folks more attuned to these things than I have observed lines of reddish light, which dowsing has corroborated.
Along with the Twelve Apostles and the Grubstone circles as mentioned, an exact isosceles triangle is created. Halfway between Backstone and Grubstone (the longest edge of the triangle) lies the 'Lanshaw Lass' anglo-saxon boundary stone. This also happens to be the point at which the sun rises at midsummer as seen from the Twelve Apostles! Amazing! Several dowsers have noted a line from the Idol stone in the west, through Backstone to the famous Swastika stone. Yet another runs from the immediate vicinity of the the massive Pancake Stone (a boulder swathed in cup-and-ring markings), which can be seen in the distance from here, through the Backstone circle to a prehistoric cairn 290 yards away to the south-west. Continuing along is yet another cairn, the remains of an old maze made of stone (!) and a fallen menhir over eight feet long!
As can be seen from the lush vegetation in the picture, parts of this site are very damp. This is due to an underground stream running close under the earth. Geological fault lines surround the circle on three sides. Compass and temperature readings exhibit wild fluctuations! Apparently, tests in the late eighties recorded a difference in temperature between stones inside and outside the circle at certain times of ten degrees Fahrenheit! Two of the stones show very powerful variations in electromagnetic energy...
Mysterious lights and spectral forms have been seen in the recent past, the appearance of which seems to correspond to changes in the moon's phases.
I wasn't aware of any of this information when I visited the Backstone Circle. I just felt it was a special place. It gave me goosebumps! The sort of place to sit in quiet peace for ages...which I'll probabley do soon (yeah, I know, bloody hippies!)...well, until the weirdness starts...
Grubstones circle
Who knows for sure what the Grubstones are?
They've been called a 'ring cairn', an 'enclosure', a 'cairn circle', a 'stone circle' and even the remains of a double-skinned wall that was once a circular hut.
From the Twelve Apostles circle head for the outcrop of rocks to the east. There you'll spot a large 'shed' used by grouse shooters (who must need some 'rest' from lifting heavy guns, sitting in/on butts and engaging in the age-old struggle to procur food to survive...)
Just south of this shed sits the circle...
The remaining stones are set on edge, placed on an almost perfectly circular bank of earth and stone. In 1929 there were said to be about twenty of them, though fewer can be seen today. Maybe some judicious heather removal will reveal more?
Three geological faults meet below this site and it sits astride two major alignments (see the Backstone circle and the Twelve Apostles circle). One possible alignment also travels from here through the Great Skirtful of Stones and hits the point where the sun rises on Halloween morn.
Records indicate that the Freemasons of The Grand Lodge of All England met at either the Grubstones or the Great Skirtful. Collyer and Turner (1885) wrote that the grubstones was a place of assembly or council meeting, according to local folk tales.
Rivock Edge
Rivock - Probabley Old English for 'Riven Oak'.
At first this area gave me little inspiration to explore. Over the years I'd made a few trips through the barren interior of the plantation there. It always seemed a dead and forbidding place, so it was with little enthusiasm that we undertook a trip to search for the many cup-and-ring marked rocks we'd heard were there...
Unfortunately the entire wood is private land with one bridleway running through and one footpath that ends at the boundary! The only way to find anything is to accidentally wander off the paths and be 'lost'!
Of course, I'd never advocate trespassing!
Parking at the top of Banks Lane we set off north following the public bridleway from Silsden Road. As we approached the woodland edge I noticed an odd symbol on the OS map. It seemed to show a 'mound' of some sort but wasn't named. It could be anything really, though the proximity of so many other ancient sites did make us think of a grassed over cairn or a barrow.
Past the telecom masts and into the wood via the locked gate that said 'Private'. Lost already!
Once in the forest the wind dropped and the flies swarmed infruriatingly round our heads. The access track is the simplest way in but we were heading for the tree-less edge itself. The easiest route seemed to be to follow the access road and keep our eyes peeled for a dry-stone wall that ran from the top, down through the forested slope. We found this and followed it up to the plateau.
As the woods cleared the rock edge was to our right. The views were grand! The Aire valley spread out before us, fields, farms and factories! Almost immediately we spotted a few cup marks on the upper surface of the edge.
A quick wander over the top-most rocks of the edge led to more, this time with concentric circles and wavy lines. Have to spend more time there on the next trip...!
We followed the edge northwards into the woods for some time, the trees becoming more dense until we came to a small, well-hidden rock face. Further investigation revealed the oddly named 'Rivock Oven'. A cave of sorts, complete with an opening in the roof for a chimney!
After exploring this incongruous cavern we made our way back to the trig point on the edge...
Until now, the place hadn't assumed any sense of 'weirdness'! However, as we climbed back up to the edge I got a feeling that we were being followed or watched. I wasn't the only member of our party to sense this. I put it down to my over-active imagination and the often-felt eeriness of dense forest...
Back at the trig point we decided to delve into the larger body of woodland to our backs...
Immediately upon entering the cool, sun-less interior we realised how hard it would be to find anything! For thirty years the stones have been largely forgotten, now covered in moss, soil and conifer needles.
It was hard going squeezing between the thickly-sown trees, much of it done crawling on all-fours. We came across the first rock surprisingly quickly. Carefully, we brushed aside the accumulated needles and earth.
We exited the woodland and followed the boundary until we were level with the trig point. To our left a 'ride' had been cut into the wood. This made entering the heart of the plantation much easier... Following the grassy track for about sixty yards we noticed another large boulder to our left. Just inside the edge of the trees and cleared around of saplings sat a huge rock, covered in cups and rings! This one had obviously been kept free of vegetation and visible by somebody.
The afternoon was drawing to a close - the pubs were calling!
We decided to make another visit, this time going straight into the woods and finding as many cup-and-ring stones as possible. Trowels a must!
Wearily we dropped back down to the valley bottom and the track of crushed limestone chippings that led us out of the woods...
We almost missed the 'Rivock Well', below the track.
A pool maybe twenty feet across at it's widest, contained by embankments and lush with vegetation...
As we neared the entrance to the forest we heard the rattling of chains - the gate was being unlocked! Not relishing having to explain our reason for being on private land we jumped into the darkness of the trees ('cos we're that hard!) until the big, black 4x4 had driven past!
Since our visit we've discovered that the place is up for sale! For a measely £275,000 you can own almost 200 hectares of conifer crop (due for harvesting within the decade), grouse shooting rights, the Rivock Well, the Rivock Oven and countless relics of ancient times!
I also came across this story from 1998;-
Council countryside worker David Key had been resurfacing the bridleway in the Rivock Edge plantation. Hard at work one Monday morning he looked up to see a 'figure', all 'grey' and 'hooded' floating across the path some 100 yards further up. Investigating the point, he found nothing.
After David had told of his sighting, a colleague, Malcom Leyland, came forward and revealed that he had seen it too, seven months earlier. He's kept quiet until then as he 'didn't want to look like an idiot'.
The site is believed to have been crossed by an old pack-horse route...
Hmmm! Good job I didn't know this tale before I ventured up there! I might have had second thoughts about staying after the disconcerting feeling of being watched.
A week or so after the trip, whilst searching for information on something unrelated, I came across a type of land spirit called 'Genii Cucullati'. These are 'hooded spirits', usually occuring in triplicate, defenders of the Mother Goddess. Maybe the 'ghostly' apparitions were actually manifestations of these?
The 'Genii Cucullati'. A Roman carving from the museum at Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall.
We've only just uncovered the proverbial 'tip-of-the-iceberg' concerning the carved stones. I reckon a few more trips are in order.
Unless, of course, landowners, or 'grey, hooded figures' have other ideas...
The Great Skirtful of Stones
A massive cairn near the Grubstones circle. It sits in a very exposed part of the moor, over 1150 feet above sea level, overlooking the Wharfe valley. A fallen stone lies in the centre of the 'crater', like a recumbent menhir - though it may be nothing of the sort. I recall noticing markings on it's surface... have to get back and check them out...
The Badger Stone
An amazing stone sporting over 100 examples of rock-art; cups and rings and a more intricate semi-swastika (see the Swastika Stone). Across this region are several 'badger' stones or features, usually named after the medieval term for a 'miller or dealer in corn'. Nearby places on the moor also carry references to grain and the whole area is believed to have been part of a major trade route in ancient times. Cowper's cross is close to the stone and was said by Speight to be the site of an old market.
Writers in the past have discussed 'ritual orgies' taking place here... I always get there just too late! Well, I did have a quick swig from my hip-flask whilst I marvelled at the way the light changed, and gave the stone a soft, yielding aura... shadows playing across the sensuous curves of the ravishing, voluptuous boulder... Ahem!
Doubler Stones
Two great rocks, weathered into curious forms. The upper surface of one has distinct cup-and-ring carvings. The name is said to be pronounced 'doobler' by the locals (but I've never asked any, so can't verify this). Possibly deriving from an old regional word for a 'large shallow dish or plate', according to Phillips in his book 'Brigantia'.
Even when the rest of the moor is teeming with visitors, this backwater is usually empty of folk.
The Bull Stone
You can’t beat Otley Chevin for a little easy wandering if you’ve a few hours to spare. I’m sure there’re more hidden stones round these parts, here’s one that’s fairly easy to find.
From the beer garden in the pub at the Chevin, look towards the airport at Yeadon and you can just see the tip, poking through the waist-high meadow grass. It’s not by a public right of way, so if you want to get close up, be prepared to navigate walls, horses and boggy ditches!
Leave the pub (if you can!) and take the footpath south to a stile. Cross the field to the left corner, dodge the livestock and you should find a boggy depression. Look over to the airport and it should be in your line of sight in the next field. More gentle trespassing I'm afraid...
Standing six feet tall and reported to be nine feet in girth at it's widest point, resplendent in it's pastoral home! A Roman road skirts it's flanks apparently, but it's pretty hard to discern. Paul Bennet wrote that the most likely meaning of it's name came from 'bull-steean'; a stone for sharpening tools, or a whetstone. Though Slater said it may have come from a delightful old custom of fastening bulls to it whilst they were baited by hounds... Such quaint past-times these Carlton farmers had!
According to Cowling, the stone is reputed to be lucky. It certainly was - the Pub there served a very good pint of 'Black Sheep' and Taylor's 'Landlord'!
The Bull Stone - sunrise at the Summer Solstice.