Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 0845 4529
Archaeology & History
Discovered by Stuart Feather in the late 1950s, this was one of two carvings found very close to each other (see Bucking Hill 2) whose exact location are unknown (the grid-reference cited here is a reasonably accurate approximation). In his short article where he mentions the Bucking Hill 2 carving, he then told of,
Sid Jackson’s vague drawing of the carving
“the discovery a few yards away of a small stone bearing a cup-and-ring mark providing evidence for at least one other symbol from this small hill. This stone, only 14in long, 8in wide, and 6½in thick, has a cup 1¾in in diameter, ⅞in deep with a shallow channel 1½ long running from it.
“Round the cup, which is very symmetrical and has the pecking clearly defined, is part of a concentric channel which, if it were a complete circle, would have a diameter of 4in. The channel, which starts near to the small channel that runs from the cup, goes only halfway round the cup and is obviously unfinished. It is irregular in width and depth and in marked contrast to the workmanship of the cup.”
He then queries as to whether this small carved stone could have come off the larger cup-marked Bucking Hill (02) boulder close by. We may never know, but when we consider the lack of general erosion on this cup-and-ring (the pecking was still visible), it would obviously have remained upside-down in the peat for a few thousand years! There was an old cairn a short distance away on the top of Bucking Hill and it may have come from there. Anyhow, Mr Feather subsequenly took this portable carving home with him and it’s subsequently been donated to the Ilkley Manor House Museum where it should be visible. (can someone send us a photo so we can add it to the site profile?)
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Feather, Stuart, “Mid-Wharfedale Cup-and-Ring Markings – Nos 21 and 22: Bucking Hill, High Moor, Rombald’s Moor,” in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 9:5, 1964.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
