To the north, where the moor drops steeply 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 sitting close to it, like a
cow and . Legend has it that there was once also a "
bull", but that was quarried for stone during the
spa town boom that
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 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 said, was his angry wife. She dropped the stones held in her skirt to form the local rock formation The Skirtful of Stones. In July 2006 a major fire on the moor left between a quarter and half of it destroyed. The
BBC Television series
Gunpowder (2017) used Ilkley Moor as a location.
Swastika Stone and other antiquities On the Woodhouse Crag on the northern edge of Ilkley Moor is a
swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone, known as the
Swastika Stone, also referred to as a
fylfot. The image at the bottom-right of the picture is a 20th-century replica; the original carving can be seen at the bottom left. This stone is just one of many carved rocks on the moor; well-known others include the 'Badger Stone', '
Nebstone', and 'St Margaret's Stones'. These are earthfast boulders, large flat slabs, or prominent rocks that have cups, rings, and grooves cut into them and that are thought to date from either the late Neolithic or the Bronze Age. While some carvings consist of simple cups, others, such as the Badger Stone, Hanging Stones, and the Panorama Rocks, have a complex series of patterns (or motifs) combining many different elements. Rombald's Moor has the second-highest concentration of ancient carved stones in Europe, with carvings as far away as
Skipton Moor. There is also a small stone circle known as
The Twelve Apostles.
"The Ilkley Moor Alien" sighting On 1 December 1987, Phillip Spencer, a retired policeman,
saw and photographed what he believed was an alien being on the moor. He said he saw the strange creature rush up the hill and give a signal to him with one of its arms as if telling him not to approach. He later saw a dome-topped craft at the top of the hill after following the being which shot into the air at a blinding speed. The
Daily Telegraph included this event in a 2011 list of "Top 10 UFO incidents in the UK". == Conservation ==