Rock carvings in western Yorkshire |
ILKLEY -
ROMBALDS MOOR
Since the middle of the last century around 250 rock carvings
have been discovered on the moors south of Ilkley - this being by
far the largest concentration in Yorkshire. The majority are
located along a 6 km stretch of the moors northern edge where the
land begins to drop into the Wharfe valley. Among the carvings
are at least 2 "unique" designs, one of which is the
Swastika stone (shown on right) similar carvings occur in Italy
and Sweden and because of the similarity to later Celtic art it
is suggested the Swastika stone carving may date to the Iron age.
Around
half the carvings are concentrated in an area called Green Crag
Slack which contains a number of earthworks, cairn fields and
prehistoric walling, this area also over looks the Wharfe valley
in the direction of Almescliffe crags (a point noted at several
other sites) which features on the horizon to the north east.