The Swastika Stone

Also known as:
Monument No. 47995
Nearest town:
Ilkley (2km NE)
OS reference:
SE095469
OS sheet:
104
Latitude:
53° 55' 4.29 N
Longitude:
1° 51' 19.23 W

Images

Image of The Swastika Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Dunstan

OK, this isn't a picture of the Swastika Stone. It's a picture of a 13th Century gravestone from a church on Anglesey. The swastika (fylfot) design is visible in the centre of the image. The similarity of the design to that of the Swastika Stone makes me think that the latter is also mediaeval in date. (Sorry – the image is a little difficult to make out – it was a bit of a challenge to photograph!).

Image credit: Dunstan
Dunstan
Dunstan Mar 16, 2008
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Image of The Swastika Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Kozmik_Ken

Located in a forest near Brisbane, Australia. The carving is hard to see in these photos, but closely resembles the Camunian Rose design of Valcomonica, Northern Italy and the Ilkley Moor Swastika Stone.

Image credit: David Bird
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Jun 1, 2004
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Image of The Swastika Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Kozmik_Ken

Located in a forest near Brisbane, Australia. The carving is hard to see in these photos, but closely resembles the Camunian Rose design of Valcomonica, Northern Italy and the Ilkley Moor Swastika Stone.

Image credit: David Bird
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Jun 1, 2004
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Image of The Swastika Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Kozmik_Ken

Located in a forest near Brisbane, Australia. The carving is hard to see in these photos, but closely resembles the Camunian Rose design of Valcomonica, Northern Italy and the Ilkley Moor Swastika Stone.

Image credit: David Bird
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Jun 1, 2004
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Image of The Swastika Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by gyrus

The original Swastika Stone carving (at the site, the one in front of it, slightly more defined, is a Victorian copy).

Image credit: gyrus
gyrus
gyrus Sep 29, 2001
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Articles

The Swastika Stone

Swastika Stone is Actually a Carving of a Boomerang

juamei
juamei May 10, 2004
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/3699593.stm

A top children's writer is suggesting that the boomerang was invented in West Yorkshire rather than Australia.

Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories series, got the idea while out jogging on Ilkley Moor and spotted the famous Swastika Stone. The four-armed Bronze Age image is thought by most experts to have been used in the worship of sun or fire. But Mr Deary said: "It's the earliest representation of a boomerang. There's nothing else it could be."

The writer says the first boomerangs would have had four arms as it was easier to get them to return. But over time, the two-armed boomerang was developed. Mr Deary also sees his claim as something of an act of revenge.

"Australians have sent us Rolf Harris and Kylie Minogue. It's payback time," he said.

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The Swastika Stone

Chris Collyer
Chris Collyer Apr 12, 2003
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Probably the most famous carved rock on the moor, the Swastika Stone is generally considered to be later than the other carvings here and to date from the Iron Age. If you plan to visit the site it is well worth parking at the bottom of Heber’s Ghyll and walking up through the woods – this is a picturesque route that snakes up the steep hillside and criss-crosses Black Beck via several wooden footbridges. Once you get to the top a gate leads through a wall and onto the moor. Turn right and you should soon see the iron railings that surround the rock a few hundred metres ahead. Once you get there don’t overlook the actual carving – the one nearest to you is a Victorian copy, the original is just beyond it and is now very faint. Like several other sites on the moor there are some fantastic views across Wharfdale, especially to the northwest along the river valley.

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Miscellaneous

The Swastika Stone
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
Chance
Chance May 9, 2016
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Details of stone on Pastscape

[SE 0944 4699] SWASTIKA STONE. (1)

The Swastika Stone, a sculptured rock, is considered by Cowling to belong to the E.B.A., but Elgee described the design as

'essentially characteristic of Late Iron Age craftsmanship'. [See Illus. card] (2-3)

SE 0955 4696 The Swastika Stone is a large natural boulder with a well defined carving in swastika form on its upper surface. It is now scheduled (a) and is protected by iron railings. See G.P. AO/65/155/4 (replica in foreground). (4)

Surveyed at 1:10,000. Condition unchanged from report of 15.9.65. (5)

SE 0955 4696. Swastika stone, Ilkley Moor. Additional reference. (5a)

SE 0955 4696. Carved rock known as the Swastika Stone. Scheduled RSM No 25388. The carving consists of a curvilinear carved figure of Swastika shape wuth ten cups fitted into the five curved arms, and eight other cups on the east side. The additional carving on a smaller piece of rock is a copy made this century. Scheduled text classifies rock as Bronze Age. (6)

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Miscellaneous

The Swastika Stone
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
Dunstan
Dunstan Mar 16, 2008
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Is the Swastika Stone really prehistoric?

The Swastika Stone is always held up to be the classic example of Bronze Age rock art in Britain, but is it really that old?

Whilst there is strong evidence for the use of the swastika symbol in general going back to the Neolithic, I'd make a case that the fylfot design of the Ilkley Moor Swastika Stone is mediaeval in date.

In a small church on Anglesey I recently came across a 13th Century gravestone with a carved image that is virtually identical to the Swastika Stone. I've attached a picture here.

Rock art is notoriously difficult to date, unless it is overlain with other datable material to give it context. Most dating is done on stylistic grounds. Since the fylfot design appears in a firmly dated mediaeval context on Anglesey, I'd argue that it is a mediaeval design. This means that a mediaeval date for the Swastika Stone is entirely possible, even probable. The chance of the design persisting almost unchanged across 2,500 years and from one side of the country to the other can be discounted.

I'm happy to be challenged on this, but in the absence of any positive evidence I would not regard the Swastika Stone as ancient.

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Miscellaneous

The Swastika Stone
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Jun 9, 2004
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The fylfot motif is very similar to the Iron Age 'Camunian Rose' design of Valcamonica, in Northern Italy. This is a design based around a cross of nine cups, with an interweaving groove. Not always in a 'swastika' pattern.

The Roman Fort at Ilkley (which may or may not have been named Olicana), was at one point the station of the Second Cohort of Lingones, who were originally recruited from among the Lingones tribe inhabiting the Adriatic coast of Northern Italy, the old province of Cisalpine Gaul. They were stationed at Ilkley during the 2nd century AD.

It seems very likely, that the swastika was carved by one of the Lingones Celts during the Romano-British period.

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Link

The Swastika Stone
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
gyrus
gyrus Oct 2, 2008
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Verbeia knol

I've tried to consolidate information about Verbeia, the Romano-Celtic goddess from Ilkley, here. It includes recent research that seems to provide a historical link between the Lingones troops who created the Verbeia altar, the Swastika Stone, and the Camunian Roses in northern Italy. (As Ken suggests above – I'm 4 years late on this one!) Please suggest any other good info on the knol...

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