Cock Crowing Stone

Nearest town:
Holmfirth (6km E)
OS reference:
SE080088
OS sheet:
110
Latitude:
53° 34' 31.46 N
Longitude:
1° 52' 45.01 W
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Cock Crowing Stone

markj99
markj99 Jul 7, 2025

Visited 03.06.15

When I drove past the Cock Crowing Stone my curiosity was raised by the bold graffito on the stone. Obviously, I took some pictures and resolved to investigate the unusual stone on Google. The search was not particularly productive as to the naming of the stone. Huddersfield Exposed suggested that “the stone might rotate at the sound of a cock crowing on a specific day of the year, or it might be standing on top of a treasure hoard”. An alternative explanation was that it was a frequent perch for a cock grouse crowing in the morning.

I checked out the photos on Geograph and found that the quoted OSGR for the stone is not accurate: It is located at SE 08202 09036 (or 53.57784, -1.87758 on Google Maps).

Cock Crowing Stone

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Apr 27, 2009

The Cock Crowing Stone (not ‘Growing’ as some people have misread it) stands near the roadside, below West Nab on Meltham Moor. It’s impossible to miss due to having it’s name painted on in large white letters!

I’ve got no real further information regarding it’s provenance, folklore or otherwise. I’d only heard of it before, as when I found it quite by accident, I thought, “ah, there it is!“.

It’s name would suggest some kind of sunrise significance. It wouldn’t relate to any alignment on West Nab, so something else must be afoot.

If anyone has any further info, I’d love to see it. Maybe Mr Bennett can help on this one?

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Cock Crowing Stone 4
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken
Apr 2009

Sites within 20km of Cock Crowing Stone