Ilkley Moor
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| Ilkley Moor | |
|---|---|
 Cow and Calf rocks |
|
| Elevation | 402 m (1,319 ft) |
| Location | West Yorkshire,  England |
| Prominence | c. 244 m |
| Parent peak | Thorpe Fell Top |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 104 |
| OS grid reference | SE114452 |
| Listing | Marilyn |
Ilkley Moor is the highest part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. The peat bogs rise to 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level. It is famous as the inspiration for the Yorkshire "county anthem" On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.
[edit] Etymology
See Ilkley.
[edit] History and information
To the north, where the moor drops steeply down towards the village of Ben Rhydding, a satellite of the town of Ilkley, are two millstone grit rock climbing areas: Rocky Valley and Ilkley Quarry.
Ilkley Quarry is the site of the famous "Cow and Calf", a large rock formation consisting of an outcrop and boulder, also known as Hangingstone Rocks. The rocks are made of millstone grit, a variety of sandstone, and are so named because one is large, with the smaller one siting close to it, like a cow and calf. Legend has it that there was once also a "bull", but that was quarried for stone during the spa town boom Ilkley was part of in the 19th century. However, none of the local historians have provided any evidence of the Bull's existence.
According to local legend, the Calf was split from the Cow when the giant Rombald was fleeing an enemy, and stamped on the rock as he leapt across the valley. The enemy, it is rumoured, was his angry wife. She dropped the stones held in her skirt to form the local rock formation The Skirtful of Stones.
The name of the giant Rombald is likely to be a retrovention, due to the name of the entire 'Rombalds Moor', which is most likely to derive its title from the de Rommilles, who held the honour of Skipton in the thirteenth century.
The Moor was the scene of an alleged alien abduction in December, 1987; there is a famous photograph purporting to show an alien on the moor.
July 2006 saw a major fire on the moor which left between a quarter and half of it destroyed.
Located on the Woodhouse Crag, on the Northern edge of Ilkley Moor there is a swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone, known as the Swastika Stone [1]. In the figure in the foreground of the picture is a 20th century replica; the original carving can be seen a little further away, at the centre-left of the picture. [2]
![[1]](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mjpowell/Photo_Archive/England/swastika-stone.jpg){kind=link}