New Way of the Rings Days 5 Ilkley to Sowerby Bridge
New Way of the Rings Days 5 Ilkley to Sowerby BridgeOpen this route in the Bikemap appOpen this route in Bikemap

New Way of the Rings Days 5 Ilkley to Sowerby Bridge

A cycling route starting in Ilkley, England, United Kingdom.

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Overview

About this route

0
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Duration
43.1 km
Distance
916 m
Ascent
984 m
Descent
---
Avg. speed
357 m
Avg. speed
Kathie Knell
Kathie Knell

created this 3 years ago

Route quality

Waytypes & surfaces along the route

Waytypes

  • Road

    25.3 km

    (59 %)

  • Quiet road

    7.4 km

    (17 %)

  • Busy road

    3.5 km

    (8 %)

Surfaces

Paved

17.1 km

(40 %)

Unpaved

0 km

(<1 %)

  • Asphalt

    16.5 km

    (38 %)

  • Paved (undefined)

    0.5 km

    (1 %)

  • Unpaved (undefined)

    0 km

    (<1 %)

Route highlights

Points of interest along the route

  1. Point of interest after 0.3 km

    Cup and Ring Rock Art. A way mark leads you to the 'swastika stone' known locally for the shape of the roack art. It's held behind railings on the edge of a rocky outcrop, commanding views across to White Stones circle on the side of Embsay Moor.

  2. Point of interest after 1.8 km

    Twelve Apostles Stones and Thimble Stones. Many other archaeological sites have been found all across Ilkley Moor with a particularly high concentration to be found on Green Crag Slack. At its most westerly extent lies Backstone Beck Enclosure, the remains of a settlement site that dates back possibly to Late Neolithic times (5000 to 4200 years ago). This was partially excavated in the 1980’s when a lot of flint artefacts were found, some of which had been worked into arrowheads and other tools.

  3. Point of interest after 2.6 km

    Rock art

  4. Point of interest after 3.7 km

    This site is located 100 yards to the east, down a slight moorland slope from The Skirtfull of Stones. The Great Skirtful Ring, Burley Moor, West Yorkshire, directions for finding this the location of this 'enclosure'. One of two Bronze Age ring cairns "situated east-south-east and south-east of the Great Skirtful of Stones. A ring cairn consisting of a low circular rubble bank 27m in diameter, c.2m wide and c.0.30m high. It has been partially robbed on the N and E sides and a hollow slightly off-centre possibly indicates past excavation."

  5. Point of interest after 12.4 km

    Eldwick Stone Circle The feature consists of seven irregular shaped millstone grit boulders of varying size. "The feature consists of seven irregular shaped millstone grit boulders of varying size, the largest being 0.6 m. wide, 0.9 m. long and 0.3 m. in depth. Six of these stones are protruding from the ground whilst the seventh is recumbent on the surface. The group appear to form a rough oval measuring 2.6 m. by 3.0 m. This appearance is accentuated by the interior of the oval having been cleared and the spoil heaped on its northern arc. The area has numerous small outcrops of natural rock and isolated boulders, t is considered that this alleged circle maybe natural. The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) also features a page for this site - see their entry for Toad Stones, Baildon Moor, West Yorkshire, which gives directions for finding this site, together with photographs and a description. TNA add it's best looked for in the winter when the bracken has died back

  6. Point of interest after 15.4 km

    Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Yorkshire (West) This healing well is featured on The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) - see their entry for Elm Crag Well, Bingley, West Yorkshire, which has photographs, directions for finding this well and a brief archaeology &amp; history. TNA describe this as "a beautiful old place .....some 25 years ago, someone had built an ugly red-brick wall into the cave which, thankfully, someone has had the sense to destroy and rip-out ..... The waters from here come from two sides inside the small cave and no longer run into the lichen-encrusted trough, seemingly just dropping down to Earth and re-emerging halfway down the hillside. But the waters here taste absolutely gorgeous and are very refreshing indeed! And the old elms which gave this old well its name can still be seen, only just hanging on to the rocks above and to the side, with not much time left for the dear things."

  7. Point of interest after 17.6 km

    Harden Moor Stone Circle Possible Stone Circle or Ring Cairn in West Yorkshire

  8. Point of interest after 24.5 km

    Haworth The Pennine village where the Bronte sisters grew up was then a crowded industrial town, polluted, smelly and wretchedly unhygienic. Although perched on the edge of open country, high up on the edge of Haworth Moor, the death rate was as high as anything in London or Bradford, with 41 per cent of children failing even to reach their sixth birthday. The average age of death was just 24. Villagers typically subsistence farmed a few acres, often 'take-in' from the moors, which they combined with hand-loom weaving or wool-combing. But worsted weaving on a loom in your front room was already on its way out by the time the Bronte family arrived in the village in 1821; new water-powered mills began appearing along the River Worth from 1790, and the economy began shifting from domestic to industrial. When they had spare time people tended to devote it to religious worship. Baptist and Wesleyan chapels flourished in the village, and together with the Anglican church, provided the village with education and a social life.

  9. Point of interest after 26.4 km

    Round Cairn in Yorkshire (West) Strange stone cairns and other buildings including remains of a round house.

  10. Point of interest after 37.2 km

    Crow Hill Cairn Circle in West Yorkshire. It is little more than 32 feet across, with the tallest stone in the ring little more than 2 feet tall. A curious, small, 'squared' circle of loose stones exists in the south side of the ring and a raised embankment surrounds the site. Scatterings of small, football-sized stones are found both in, out and at the edge of the circle. Close by are other neolithic remains, including extensive walling, 2 or 3 other small standing stones and a large tumulus which Mike Haigh reckons might be the burial tomb of a successful local farmer.

  11. Point of interest after 37.4 km

    Turley Holes Standing Stones in Yorkshire (West) There are two standing stones in the vicinity of Turley Holes: Dimensions: 70 cm long, 100 cm high, and 40 cm thick. Its declination is 24.2 suggesting it may be a midsummer sunrise marker. Dimensions: 84 cm long, 145 cm high, and 20 to 50 cm thick. Its declination is -17.7/16.7 suggesting it may be an Imbolc/Beltane marker. More information on these stones may be found in Dr. David Shepherd's paper Standing for What? Standing Stones in the South Pennines.

  12. Point of interest after 37.4 km

    Rudstoop Standing Stone in West Yorkshire A recumbent monolith more than 8 feet long and 6 feet across which really needs to be resurrected as it would be an impressive sight! Found halfway up Withens Clough. Found in the appropriately called field-name of Standing Stone Fields. History of Halifax (c.1867), describes: "Standing Stone Fields: Not far distant from Hill Top, in this township (Erringden), there is a rough piece of ground known by this name. It is situated on the slope of the same hill as the remain last described and commands a view of the northern side of Sowerby, with the outlines and rocks of Langfield and the Withens. The locality was anciently the site of a number of upright single stones: most of these have been broken up and used in the contruction of the adjoining fences. But one, the last of the series, which the quarrying operations on the spot respected during the whole time they were carried on, was undermined and overthrown a few years ago, by a number of mischievous boys. The rock is a slab of millstone grit, measuring upwards of 9 feet in length, 7 feet 8 inches in width, at the base, and 4 feet 9 inches at the top: at the latter point it is 9 inches thick, and is 1 foot 6 thick at the base. The remain has, originally, been pyramidal in form, but the apex has been either broken off by violence or reduced to its present dimensions by decay."

  13. Point of interest after 37.4 km

    Turley Holes Edge Rock Art in Yorkshire (West) 15 cups. Above the Withens Clough - Cragg Vale junction there are three carved slabs with Site 1 being the clearest. The viewshed is north-east to south-east with the longest views to the south.

  14. Point of interest after 37.4 km

    Ring Cairn in Yorkshire (West) Three Bronze Age ring cairns on Midgley Moor. The largest of them is of 16 m diameter.

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