Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 13781 40259
Also Known as:
- Baildon Stone 29 (Hedges)
Takes a bitta finding this one, mainly cos it’s only a small stone – but worth the walkabout. It’s on the Low Plain, north of Dobrudden, about 10 yards down the path from the caravan park.
Archaeology & History
As with other stones on this roughland plain, it was first recorded and drawn by the local historian W. Paley Baildon (1913), who counted at least 15 cups here, with one complete cup-and-ring. Some of the cups have very distinct half-rings upon them; whilst others are connected by faint lines (as his drawing clearly shows). The later surveys of Hedges (1986), and Boughey & Vickerman (2003) counted 17 cups on this stone. This was another of the carvings which local astronomer Gordon Holmes (1997) thought may have been based on the constellation of Cassiopeia (like the nearby Cassiopeia Stone, found on the same moorland plain).
References:
- Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons (parts 1-15), St. Catherines: Adelphi 1913-26.
- Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
- Glossop, William, ‘Ancient British Remains on Baildon Moor,’ in Bradford Antiquary, 1888.
- Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
- Holmes, Gordon T., 2000 BC – A Neolithic Solstice Odyssey, SASRG Press 1997.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
