Hello

Hello!

My name is James and I live in Otley. I walk Rombalds moor and surrounding areas an awful lot and am fascinated by the circles and old stones and want to know more!

Welcome James, it's a little quite on here at the moment   
here's a couple of links for you :-
http://megalithix.wordpress.com/?s=rombalds+moor
and one of my trips
https://northernantiquarian.forumotion.net/t363-rivock-edge
cheers Danny

Thanks very much Danny - I will have a good look when I get home - I am at work now :-(.

I am thoroughly enjoying exploring the moors and hope to be able to contribute something shortly

Take Care

James

  

You can't beat a Weegmanns Growler (or two)...

If y' fancy a wander onto the moors, I'm gonna be back into mi homelands in the first & second weeks in March - 5 weeks time. I've gotta go on the moors at least twice to get some decent photos of some new rock art I uncovered up there last year (one seems to have a spiral carved on it - which would be the very first Ilkley-way!), cos I'm doing a talk on 'Animism & the Nature of Rock Art' down there, so would like to get some of the new unrecorded stuff to show the audience. If folks fancy a meet-up and a wander up there, we could sort summat out.   

P.

I would love to, thanks very much for the offer. So far I have just been wandering around 'blind' with very little knowledge but bags of enthusiasm. It would be brilliant to go with you :-)

I'll sort out a date in the coming week or 2 and let y' know.  

Thank you, I look forward to it. I am hoping to get on the moors this Saturday morning for a few hours with my friend James (james26ct793 who has also just joined the forum and is as fascinated as I am ), we are hoping to locate Backstone Circle and the Grubstones (which both sound fascinating and very 'odd'), but there is so much to go for and we are both very new to this and full of enthusiasm. We have a map and the grid references, so weather permitting we may get lucky! Hopefully we'll get some good photos which we'll share if anyone may be interested.

Hi James -

Grubstones (should be called 'Roms Law' really) has such a rich and curious history to it. I did a booklet on it, but even that doesn't catch it's real story. I s'ppose actually going out there, into the setting itself and walking from place to place is always the best way to convey the ethnogeographical mythos of a place. Roms Law was very obviously used over many centuries, even into the early xtian era, with local people following somewhat archaic structures as they were embedded in their day-to-day social/tribal histories.

Danny - RU up for this too? How y' coping with yer ailments?   Everything OK now izzit?   

I read about it on the Megalithix.wordpress website - and in your excellent 'The Old Stones of Elmet' book. It sounds such a fascinating place - such a strange history. I haven't been to many places on the moors - Woofa Bank, Skirtful of Stones (both) and the Apostles (where I just sat listening to the quiet and isolation for half an hour or so on my own - I don't know if the 'Spirit' has left this place as you suggest, but I felt very peaceful and slightly 'awed' about the place if you know what I mean - or maybe it was my imagination, I don't know...). I tried to find the Roms Law circle but it started to rain very heavy and I retreated to another day. But if someone wants to show us the way then all the better. We are just trying to find our around the moors as we don't know them very well.

Hello James and welcome from me. Hope you enjoy your walks over Ilkley Moor in the coming weeks. Its a long time since I was up that way, probably the late 1960s. Can't remember much about it apart from those big rocks Cow and Calf and hut circles. Wasn't interested in ancient stuff at that time - I just thought they were rocks and what have you, but have now realised there is prehistoric stuff up there what with all that rock art. I'm sure Paul and others will show you around the many sites. Hope the weather will be kind to you.

Hi, thanks very much! It is really great being here and reading these posts. It is funny but I have lived next to the moors in Ilkley for years and never really walked them much - most of my walking was done in the 'Dales' and the Lake District. I just didn't realise what was on my doorstep! But now that I have 'seen the light' I am overwhelmed by what is there - I just thought there were a couple of 'cup and ring stones' (whatever they were) hidden in the heather! But there is just so much it is quite overwhelming. I have just come back from a walk this morning - I was up near Lanshaw reservoirs. Brilliant!

Laneshaw reservoirs - do you mean up by Laneshaw Bridge near Colne, or somewhere else further in Yorkshire?

The ones on Ilkley moor (I believe that is what they are called) - sort of between 'Little Skirtful of Stones' and 'Roms Law' stone circle (I think)...

Got it, Thanks! It is just past the stones you can see from the 'Apostles' - there is an old container on the road and it is past that on the right - towards Baildon?. Didn't have time to get there yesterday - ad to take the Mrs shopping :-( Went to the Swastika stone - reminds me of a map...

:-)

Hi James - I've just sorted my dates out for being in Yorkshire. I can go up onto the moors Between Monday 10th to Thurs 13th March. I'd prefer the Tuesday or Wednesday. Depending where you might wanna start, I was thinking maybe up to the Woofa Bank enclosure, then to the Skirtfuls, onto Roms Law, then .......? There are some good cup-and-rings along that route. If anyone else fancies joining us, feel free. Danny?   

Hi Paul

Sounds great...say Tuesday 11th March then? As you know far more than me about this area I will leave it to you where we go. Looking forward to it :-)

Would you mind if my friend, also called James comes too..we have been exploring these moors together for ages looking for finds and carved stones - we are both fascinated by the area - James is also a member of the forum.