Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 1792 4099
Take the road from Shipley to Guiseley, the A6038, past the turn-off to Esholt, until you get to the top of what’s locally known as Hollins Hill. There’s a small farm-track to your leftand in the woodland here you’ll find the rocky outcrop.
Archaeology & History
Nothing has been written about this spot, but in this large wind-and-water worn rock outcrop, with its small cave, on the top part of the rock are several faint cup-markings.
Folklore
Legend tells that a man on horseback jumped from the top of here and landed safely at Low Hall, Yeadon, 2500 yards away to the east. (probably some sort of solar lore)
References:
- Gray, Johnnie, Through Airedale, from Goole to Malham, 1891.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
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I played all over this area as a child (over 45 years ago) and for the past 20+ years have been curious about the main and subsidiary bowl and v notch cut into the face of the rock. I clearly remembered as an 8 year-old lying in the larger bowl and suddenly feeling distinctly uneasy, and that the function of the bowls was for sacrificial purposes, blood let in the first bowl collecting in the subsidiary before running from the V over the rock face.
I have recently returned to check my childhood memories, photograph the site and check the direction of the face over which I believed blood was ‘offered’. The layout is much as I remembered, the face over which the V notch discharges is due North, and I have posted the pictures on my Facebook page in evidence.
I believe that this site warrants further investigation….