Ilkley West Ramble #24: Cragg House - and Rock
This is the 24th in a series of 28 caches which will take you on a memorable ramble through some fine, varied West Yorkshire countryside immediately west of Ilkley and south of Addingham. The southern half of the ramble climbs up to (Q3) and then traverses (Q4) Addingham Moorside.
See Ilkley West Ramble #1: Intro & Start for maps, background info on the trail, and parking waypoints.
The cache, a small camo-taped flip-topped plastic poy, is hidden just south of the substantial Cragg House, (yet) another fine old Grade II listed farmhouse - one of many around here. See here for the detailed listing.
It was built in 1695 and the date and initials TR are inscribed on a plaque over the 'doorway with ogee lintel and cyma-moulded surround and with continuous drip mould which steps over doorway'.
Another extract states:
'Interior: House body has chamfered spine beams with jewelled stops. Wide segmental-arched fireplace with cyma-moulded surround and joggled voussoirs with to left, original carved oak cupboard with lozenge decoration initialed and dated 'TIR 1698'.
The old barn 100 east of the main house dating from the early C19 and having some fine old architectural features, is also a Grade II listed building (see here).
Some 290m south of Cragg House in the improved pasture on the hillside below Addingham Crag (@ N 53 55.312 W 1 52.592 is a Scheduled Monument - a carved, striated, gritstone, Cup and Ring Marked rock, 4m x 2.8m x 2.1m. It is east of the stile on the public footpath [from Cragg House up to Piper's Rock and the Millennium Trail running along Addingham Edge] and near the wall separating the pasture from the moor (see map in Gallery). The carving consists of two large cups, one with a partial ring, and three shallower cups (see listing here).
These carvings are typical of many others found on and near the moor and are believed to be from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods (c.2,800-500 BC) and provide one of our most important insights into prehistoric 'art'.
The exact meaning of the designs remains unknown, but they have been interpreted as sacred or religious symbols - they are often found near contemporary burial monuments.