Since the middle of the 20th century over 250 rock engravings which date back to the Stone Age have been recorded on Ilkley Moor (which is part of Rombald’s Moor) to the south of Ilkley. It’s the largest concentration in Yorkshire, with Rombald’s Moor having the second-highest concentration of ancient carved stones in Europe. Many of the carved rocks occur in association with burial sites, and may have played a role in funerary rites, or served as grave markers.
The Haystack
A significant boulder in the mythic landscape of the Ilkley Moor, which has at least 60 single cup-markings and 10 cup-and-ring motifs (many of them connected by lines).
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 13027 46310 / 53.912820, -1.803130).
Idol Stone
A flat-topped boulder with twenty-five cup marks laid out in what appears to be deliberate pattern. It was described by Victorian J. Romilly Allen in 1882 as “the most beautiful specimen of prehistoric sculpture”.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 13265 45943 / 53.90947, -1.79956
Backstone Beck Stones
A lesser-known and infrequently visited Stone Age rock art site on Ilkley Moor, the Backstone Beck Stones consist of three carved stones that collectively have 81 cups as well as a couple of unfinished rings or arcs and several lines.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 12719 46272 / 53.911700, -1.806320
Swastika Stone
One of the the best-known rock art sites of Ilkley Moor, the Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor features a unique rock carving resembling a swastika; within the arms of the Swastika is an array of nine cups, and an unusual, curved motif emerges from one of the arms of the Swastika (which also encloses a cup). The figure is thought to date back to the Neolithic or early Bronze Age.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 09554 46968 / 53.91879, -1.85592
Neb Stone (or Nebstone)
The prominent Neb Stone (or Nebstone) boulder with its distinctive shape (it looks like the lid of a grand piano) has two cup marks, which are hard to make out.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 1038 4639 / 53.913558, -1.843312
Weary Stone
Also known as the Weary Hill Stone, the Weary Stone has a complicated and unusual design with a large double ring that turns into double parallel grooves, and five or six cup marks.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 10572 46336 / 53.913069, -1.840543
Graining’s Head stone
Located on Weary Hill below the Weary Stone, Graining’s Head has ten Cup and Ring motifs, including two cups with incomplete rings, one cup with an almost complete ring and six single cups.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 10767 46492 / 53.914467, -1.837569
Badger Stone
Arguably the most impressive carved rock on Ilkley Moor, the prominent Badger Stone has an estimated 95 Cup motifs as well as ten rings, interlinking grooves and gutters (over 110 figures in total): This is one of the few instances of cup and ring marks occurring on a vertical face of rock (J. Romilly Allen, 1879)
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 11074 46049 / 53.910512, -1.83291
Pitchfork Stone (Green Gates 05)
To the direct east of the Badger Stone is the Pitchfork Stone (also called Green Gates 05), which is named after the design of the rock art: “The carving on one rock consists of grooves in the shape of a pitchfork with a cup between the prongs, and a faint horse-shoe groove” (Historic England register).
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 11498 46045 / 53.91043, -1.82645
Green Gates 06
Next to Pitchforck Rock (Green Gates 05) is Green Gates 06, a small stone which contains a very prominent double Cup and Ring motif.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 11499 46049 / 53.91047, -1.82644
Ilkley Moor – Barmishaw Stone
The Barmishaw Stone has about 24 cups, at least nine with rings or incomplete rings, and six “ladders”, These ladders are an unusal motif which consist of a pair of parallel grooves linked by perpendicular “rungs” (they are also found on three other rock art sites on Ilkley Moor).
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 11192 46419 / 53.91380, -1.83115
Willy Hall’s Wood Stone
Located in a forested area of Ilkley Moor, Willy Hall’s Wood Stone has least twenty Cup motifs (some with single or double rings) on a large boulder. Most of them are quite weathered.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 11584 46592 / 53.915340, -1.825120
Pepperpot Stone
The relatively small Pepperpot Stone on Ilkley Moor is covered by almost 50 cup marks, which cover the top of the rock and its lower surface.
Location: OS Grid Reference SE 11807 46546 / 53.914930, -1.821730
These rock art sites are just a fraction of the hundreds of carved stones on Ilkley Moor, but include the most significant ones. The 18.5km (11.5 mile) Ilkley Moor loop hike passes all of these sites, as well as some other points of interest.
There are other shorter routes you can follow, or you can plot your own route, with all of the sites being close to one of the many walking trails across Ilkley Moor.
- Friends of Ilkley Moor – Heritage Walks- Cup & Ring Stones GPS Trail has 8 sites with grid refs, but no GPS trace is provided
- Dave Witt – The Ilkley Moor Petroglyph Walk also has 8 sites, with detailed directions.
For a comprehensive map showing all the recorded rock art sites on Ilkley Moor, check out the Megalithic Portal Ancient Sites map.
Publications on Ilkley Moor’s rock art
There have been many books and journals covering the rock art of Ilkley Moor since the 1880s, many of which devised their own site numbering system.
- J. Romilly Allen, Notice of Sculptured Rocks near Ilkley, with some Remarks on Rocking Stones in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, VBolume 38 (1882)
- Robert Collyer & J. Horsfall Turner, Ilkley, Ancient and Modern (1885)
- Harry Speight, Upper Wharfedale (1900)
- Evan Hadingham, Ancient Carvings in Britain (1974)
- Alan Davis, The Metrology of Cup and Ring Carvings near Ilkley in Yorkshire in Science and Archaeology, 25 (1983)
- John Hedges, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor (1986)
- Keith Boughey and E.A. Vickerman, Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding (2003) – also referred to by its abbreviation PRAWR.
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