Haystack

  • SE133460
Nearest town:
Ilkley (3km WNW)
OS reference:
SE133460
OS sheet:
104
Latitude:
53° 54' 34.87 N
Longitude:
1° 47' 51.07 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Haystack by Rhiannon

From ‘The Cup-and-Ring Sculptures of Ilkley’ by J Romilly Allen, in the Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist, 1896.
The text says “A quarter of a mile south of the Cow and Calf, higher up the moor, on the comparatively level plateau above Pancake Ridge, is the sculptured boulder shown on fig. 1. It is 1,000 feet above the sea, and is 15 feet long by 12 feet broad by 6 feet high. A central ridge runs along the whole length of the stone, and on the sloping surfaces on each side are carved between forty and fifty cups, in at least nine cases surrounded by a single ring.”

(Does anyone know which tma page this should be on?!)

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Apr 29, 2011
Image of Haystack by stubob

08/03. There’s nothing really different in this pic to the others. But why did the susans have to scrape their names out here.

stubob
stubob Aug 5, 2003

Articles

Haystack

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Aug 12, 2003

This lovely rock is a bit of an oddity.
Most of the other carved rocks on the moor have the carvings on their southerly face and so you view the carvings whilst looking over the escarpment edge and into the valley and the landscape beyond. This rock contradicts that. Many of the carvings are on the north face and so look back into the moor, the carvings on the ridge can only be viewed by climbing onto the rock itself. This would indicate that this rock may have had a different function from many of the other carved rocks on the moor.

Haystack

Chris Collyer
Chris Collyer May 11, 2003

You can’t miss this large rock as it stands next to a main track and is 5.5 metres long, 3 metres wide and stands nearly 2 meters tall. It can also be seen from some distance from many points around the area and is useful as a navigation aid on the northeastern part of the moor. I had visited this rock before and noticed a few cups and a worn ring but other than that had not given it much consideration, this time I gave it a closer look as I had read that it had many more cups and it turned out to be a revelation. I counted at least 60 cups and there could well be more as the southern face is heavily eroded and it is difficult to tell what’s man made and what’s natural. Some of the cups form a line along the ridge that separates the north and south faces and there are 5 rings along the top and I counted a further 4 on the north face. There is also a cup with a gutter and penanular that has been carved along a natural crack almost giving it the appearance of a human form or an ankh as well as a line of deep cups that follow a fold in the rock and whose purpose must surely be just decorative?
Just to the west is a small rock with 3 cups on a vertical surface that faces the Haystack.

Haystack

H
haus Apr 20, 2002

20 April. Took the walk from the Cow and Calf up to Green Crag.The Haystack stands on its own on the skyline and begins the path past the Idol stone and Idol rock.
Once on the crag turning south to walk up to Lanshaw Delves, a good spot to view the Apostle stones, and also see the Great Skirtfull , and Little Skirtfull Cairns, arranged around you.
Back down via the flint knapping site on Woofa Bank, along the ridge to the Pancake stone, and back to car.
It’s like going round visiting old friends now..........a brilliant morning.
Resolve to discover proper names and locations .

Sites within 20km of Haystack

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