302 holmes: pre-historic remains of rombalds moor. 
depth. Stephens says that in Scandinavia this figure means Thor's 
hammer, or power ; Cox, in Aryan mythology, recognises the male 
and female symbols, in which idea Inman agrees. In China it is 
worn as a charm, and one Italian antiquary says "it is an emblem 
of Libitina, or Persephone, the awful Queen of the Shades." Others 
say it signifies fire, water, and the union (?) of the two, etc. [See 
Wareing, pp. 10-40.] The fact is, while doubtless it had a meaning 
wherever first used, it has now lost all meaning to us. But there it 
stands at Ilkley, by whom brought, or with what intention, is 
alike a puzzle and a mystery. The conclusion that certain of these 
mysterious rock markings are the emblems of ancient superstition — 
and the symbols of nature or sun worship, appears to be as well ascer- 
tained as the relations of the subject and the conditions admit of. No 
other solution is equally tenable relating to that class of cups and 
rings, which, as before indicated, are frequently found upon upright 
or pillar stones. Upon those more complex or chart-like figurings 
the conclusions are not so definite nor so generally accepted. But 
believing that it has the best both internal and external evidence of 
probability, we are justified in accepting it for the time being, and 
until a more extended observation, if not positive investigation by 
pick and shovel, shall demonstrate the fact or disprove the hypo- 
thesis. The position of the stones bearing figures upon Rombalds 
Moor may be described negatively as having no fixed inclination. 
They lay at all angles of the compass, and in various degrees of 
inclination from horizontal to vertical. Only ten groups of figurings 
are known on the south side of the central ridge of the moor. Two 
stones, figured by Mr. Glossop in the Bradford Antiquay, Sept., 
1882, are near to the Baildon Moor grave mounds, described on a 
previous page ; and two or three others are upon Bracken Hill 
Green, at the top of Shipley Glen. They are evidently of the chart 
type. All else that I know are upon the north face of Rombalds 
Moor, at elevations of from seven to eight hundred feet above the sea 
level. They will extend from Addingham to Menstone, near four 
miles, in a direct line ; and though a few are or have been covered, 
and one was evidently not in situation, the figures may be generally 
described as being cut upon good sized stones in important positions. 
