Arguably the best-known rock art site of Ilkley Moor, the Swastika Stone is located on the edge of Woodhouse Crag, inside a protective fence.
The carving was first described as a ‘swastika’ by a Mr J. Thornton Dale around 1880; the swastika symbol is thought to represent the Sun, and a very similar figure (the ‘Camunian Rose’) can be found in the rock art of Valcamonica in Northern Italy. Or if you are into less accepted theories, children’s author Terry Deary claims Swastika Stone can only be a throwing device and proves the boomerang was invented in the UK. (OS Grid Reference SE 09554 46968 / 53.91879, -1.85592).
The design features an array of nine cups between which runs a groove forming the arms of a Swastika. An unusual, curved motif which emerges from one of the arms of the Swastika also encloses a cup. The cups in the design align north-south and east-west, with the northern line pointing at Simon’s Seat on the northern skyline.
The Northern Antiquarian blog provides more detailed hypothesus on the design:
In this Swastika Stone, the curious single ‘outlying’ cup-and-ring at the edge of the four spiralling arms is very probably the point from which the four-arms originated and not the other way round. In traditional cultures and early cosmogenic patterns the world over, the cosmos itself emerged from the ’round’, the singular, the point, or uroboros — and this is what this Swastika Stone appears to represent here: the cosmos emerging from the singularity, giving birth to the world and the four cardinal points.
The carving that can be seen is a Victorian copy of the fainter original carving, which is located about a metre beyond it and almost impossible to photograph from outside the fenced enclosure.
There is little evidence that enables accurate dating of the original Swastika Stone, but it’s thought to be slightly more recent than the majority of cup and ring markings in the area with academic consensus suggesing it was carved sometime around the Neolithic or early Bronze Age.
Alternate names:
- ERA-2234
- Carving no. 217 (Boughey & Vickerman) / PRAWR 217
- SAM 25388
- PRN146
- Carving no.53 (Hedges)
- Fylfot Stone
Getting to the Swastika Stone
The Swastika Stone is fairly easy to reach, with the shortest route being from the end of Panorama Drive (from Ilkley follow Wells Road, which becomes Westwood Drive and eventually Panorama Drive). Near the end of Panorama Drive a gravelled path heads up the hill towards the site (you can spot the steel cage from some distance away). The Ilkley Moor loop hike passes this site and a number of others on the moor.
More information
- The Northern Antiquarian – Swastika Stone
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