Cup & Ring Stones GPS Trail on Ilkley Moor

About trip

This walk is an import from the Friends of Ilkley Moor Website (www.ilkleymoor.org) and the England Rock Art Website 

There are over 400 known Cup & Ring Stones on Rombalds Moor which includes Ilkley Moor.  The stones were carved during the Neolithic-Bronze Age period around 4,000 years ago.  These designs of cups, rings and lines are intriguing and enigmatic.  The reason they were carved is unknown, but they are fascinating.

This is the first of a series of walks, navigated by the use of GPS references, which are also the National Grid references for those who want to use OS maps.  They will take you to some of the stones to see for yourself and test your GPS/map reading skills.

The walk takes about 2 hours, starting and ending at White Wells car park on Ilkley Moor. This diagram should help with stone recognition and the list, below, shows the coordinates for the Trail including 8 stones.

Car Park - Leave by main path SE11515-46995

WHITE WELLS – Leave by path at rear SE11812-46776

PEPPERPOT - Return to path to north SE11812-46549

WILLIE HALL – Stone in wood SE11584-46592

PITCHFORK - Take path from SW corner of wood to four-way junction. Turn left to crest of hill to stone with painted yellow line. Turn left on narrow path, turn south at narrow grass corridor through extensive bracken. SE11495-46039

STONE 103/257 – Classic cup and ring SE11499-46051

FOUR SIDED STONE SE11417-46043

BADGER STONE - large stone with many carvings. SE11073-46053

STONE 85/249 SE11006-46452

BARMISHAW STONE – outstanding carvings. SE11194-46419

Return to White Wells Car Park. Take track to wood – keep to extreme edge of wood on path – take care of steep slope slippery when wet. At bottom turn right along path then left at junction – car park is visible from this point. SE11515-46995