The Haystack is a large haystack-shaped gritstone boulder with late Neolithic or Bronze Age rock art. It lies almost directly above the Cow and Calf pub in Ilkley Moor, close to a hiking trail (OS Grid Reference SE 13027 46310 / 53.912820, -1.803130).
The Haystack was a significant boulder in the mythic landscape of the Ilkley Moor. A glacial erratic boulder deposited here many thousands of years ago, it’s thought that motifs on the rock (some of which have channels linking and running away from them) were carved during the Bronze Age.
The Haystack has at least 60 single cup-markings and 10 cup-and-ring motifs, with many of them connected by lines.
The Historic England entry on The Haystack states:
The (whole) monument includes a small cairnfield of at least five cairns, three carved rocks and a long, curved, rubble bank at the north west edge of Green Crag Slack, due north of Green Crag Enclosure. The rubble bank is c.2m wide and up to 0.6m high, and contains orthostats. One of the cairns is incorporated into the rubble bank. The bank is c.140m long and is discontinuous where crossed by paths. At the eastern end it runs to the edge of a disused stone quarry. The rubble bank in conjunction with the edge of the scarp may once have formed an enclosure, although this is not certain. The cairns and carved rocks are contained within an area bounded by the rubble bank to the south, and the top of a steep slope to the north. The cairns are small, in the range 3m-5m diameter. They appear to be undisturbed. The carved rocks include a large, prominent rock known as Haystack Rock with complex carvings in the cup and ring tradition. The remaining rocks bear simple designs consisting of cups.
Historic England
The Haystack is also known as:
- Carving no.141 (Hedges 1986)
- Carving no.302 (Boughey & Vickerman 2003)
- Cottage Rock
Getting to The Haystack
Haystack Rock is one of the easier Ilkley Moor rock art sites to find; head up the moor along the trail opposite the Cow & Calf pub. After about 600m the isolated boulder will be next to the trail. The Ilkley Moor loop hike passes this site and a number of others on the moor.
More information
- The Northern Antiquarian – Haystack Rock
- The Megalithic Portal – Haystack Rock
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