On Novemeber the 13th we were walking up there and noticed this. But even then it looked pretty faint. Not like paint, from what I can remember, more a vague 'lightness', and an absence of lichen (?) compared to the rest of the rock. And I seem to recall mentioning it to some folks last March, when Tim Prevett's MegMeet group ventured up there. I wonder how long ago the marks appeared?

Two years ago I was working with a 'Born-Again' Evangelical Christian who lives in Burley-in-Wharfedale. He told me that his priest (who was then based at a tiny Evangelical church in Ilkley, but now in Guiseley) had been up to the Swastika Stone in an attempt to sort of 'purify' the town, as he thought it was a 'dark' place.

He said his priest had had visions of 'blackness' coming from holes in the ground all around Ilkley.
The priest thought (and still thinks, probabley) that the Swastika Stone is a symbol of Satan.
So he went up there and poured Holy Water around it and did whatever he felt he needed to.

I've still got my old workmate's contact details. I'll get in touch with him over the Hols and see if he knows anything...