Ilkley Moor – Weary Stone

England, UK, Yorkshire and the Humber

Summary: The Weary Stone (or Weary Hill Stone) is located on Weary Hill in Ilkley Moor, It features intricate rock art with a complex cup and groove design.

Site type: Rock engraving
Number of motifs: 10
Motif/s: Cupmarks, Cup-and-Ring, Lines
Quality: 3/5
Condition of site: Good
K.S.J. Boughey and E.A. Vickerman, Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding (2003)

Located on Weary Hill (from which the stone derives its name), the Weary Stone (or Weary Hill Stone) is a small boulder with rock art which is surrounded by heath. It’s often confused with the nearby Weary Hill Road stone. (OS Grid Reference SE 10572 46336 / 53.913069, -1.840543).

This Weary Stone has a complicated and unusual design with three main groups:

…cup joined by groove to inner component of large double ring, which is not complete, but has the double rings turning into double parallel grooves and running off the rock; 5 or 6 more cups, 1 with at least half a ring and others with more complex ring and groove arrangements.
Ilkley Archaeology Group

The Weary Stone is also known as:

ERA-2319
Boughey & Vickerman (242) / PRAWR 242
SAM 25397
PRN7236

Getting to the Weary Stone

The Weary Stone (and nearby Weary Stone 02 at SE 10614 46251 / 53.912304, -1.839907) is most easily accessed by taking Keighley Road in Ilkley. Continue up the 4WD road on foot from the carpark, and look for a faint trail into the heath that leads to the rock. The Ilkley Moor loop hike passes this site and a number of others on the moor.