 The Haystack looking east |
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The Haystack is a prominent rock
that stands next to a main track that runs southeast to northwest across the northeaster
side of Ilkley Moor. It measures
5.5 metres long, 3 metres wide, stands nearly 2 meters tall and can be seen from
some distance from many points around the area and is useful as a navigation aid
on this part of the moor. The rock itself has many carvings with at least sixty cups and possibly more as the southern face is heavily eroded and it is difficult to tell which cups are man-made and which are natural. Some of the cups form a line along the ridge that separates the north and south faces and there are five rings along the top with a further four on the north face. There is also a cup with a gutter and incomplete ring that has been carved along a natural crack almost giving it the appearance of a human form as well as a line of deep cups that follow a fold in the rock and whose purpose must surely be just decorative. Just to the west is a small rock with three dubious looking cups on a vertical surface that faces towards the Haystack. PRAWR = Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding (Boughey and Vickerman 2003) See also Ilkley Moor & Rombalds Moor Introduction Date: Bronze Age |
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 Some of the features of the rock, marked with water for clarity. |
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 Detail of the top of The Haystack. |
 The north face of the rock. |
