The Arley Stone: "the place where the bounds begin".
The Arley Stone is the terminal rock at the end of Earl Crag, sitting above the confluence of the rivers Worth and Aire. Clifford Whone writing in 1940 provides the rock with several names: Hadelstone, Hatelstone, Hathelstone, Arley Stone or Early Stone. The 1852 Ordnance Survey map names only Earl Crag. Approximately a mile to the south east, the outcrop becomes the more dramatic and romantic Druids Altar or Altar Stone.
Whone believed the Arley Stone has been a landmark of some importance for eight centuries and used to fix the boundaries between Harden, Hainworth, Bingley and Keighley. Whone suggests that the Arley stone is identified in a Medieval Charter as "the place where the bounds begin". His research led him to conclude that it marked the boundary between post conquest vills of Keighley, Hagenworth, Hadelton and wood of Haredene; later it marked the boundaries of Keighley, Harden and Hainworth, and pre-1972 the boundaries of Keighley Borough Council and Bingley Urban District Council. In 2022 it marks the boundary between the civil parishes of Keighley Town Council and Harden.
Today the craggy outcrop is obscured from the north by an ill-judged strip of woodland planting that serves little purpose and only survives here due to the shelter afforded by the crag and another wire fence to keep the stock out. The Arley Stone itself is imposed upon by two drystone walls: the rock clearly became a useful fixing point for the enclosure of Harden Moor shortly after the 1852 OS map was published. The second series 6" to 1 mile 1895 map honours the enclosure walls but not the ancient landmark.
Comments
Post a Comment