When the Saxons attempted to build a church on the slopes of Ilkley Moor, beneath the Hanging Stones, they returned each morning to find their previous day's work undone. Eventually they gave up and built the church in the valley where Ilkley now stands.

There is much Fairy folklore attached to the nothern slopes of Ilkley Moor and the Hanging Stones themselves are sometimes known as the 'Fairies Kirk'.