Please don't accept the validity of this story. It's wrong and isn't supported by the records of several eminent independent historians and archaeologists of the period (Allen, Speight, Turner, Wardell, etc) who visited and photographed this and other pieces of prehistoric rock art. None of them made any note of recent additions to the carvings in their visits to the site, which is simply unbelievable. It's difficult to know how this archaeologist has made such a quantum leap of a mistake (many local people saw it as a simple publicity stunt).
The idea proclaimed by Gavin Edwards is based on a friend-of-a-friend (foaf-lore) story from the 19th century, and relates to how one local chap went round telling people that his carvings would, one day, be as famous as the prehistoric ones. And in the woods where the original Panorama Stones came from, we find examples of the said Mr Ambrose Collins' own carvings (with his initials and date) to prove it; something you would have expected the local archaeologist to have known about, or at least explored, if he was going to make such wild claims as this.
The style of Mr Collins' Victorian carvings contrast sharply with those on the Panorama Stones and no valid scientific assessment would give veracity to the spurious notion advocated by Mr Edwards. Indeed members of the Ilkley CSI team have called the notion, "utter nonsense." The idea should be consigned to the same dustbin as theories of Erich von Daniken and his entourage.
Elaborate rock art which for years is believed to have been created by prehistoric Ilkley man (West Yorkshire, England) was probably only created about 170 years ago, it has been revealed. A Victorian workman could have been responsible for some of the markings on one of Britain's most famous examples of prehistoric rock art. Ilkley archaeologist Gavin Edwards says he has proof which suggests the cup and ring markings on the town's internationally-known Panorama Stones were tampered with by a workman called Ambrose Collins in about the 1870s. He said the ladder-shaped markings are what has made the design on the largest of the three stones, the most elaborate example of bronze-age' art in the UK - but he seriously doubts they are the real thing. He got suspicious when he was studying sketches of marked stones which were donated to the town museum in 1880.
"The ladders were not on the drawing. Because I feel the ladders are so prominent it's difficult to believe they could not possibly have been noticed or been omitted by artistic licence. There has been talk of this Victorian embellishment before but people have really not wanted to acknowledge or admit tampering could have happened. It will cause a debate but the bigger, the better" - Gavin Edwards.
Mr Edwards, who works at the Manor House museum for Bradford Council, said he had more proof from an article in a 1913 edition of the Ilkley Gazette. He said a report of a lecture given by Ilkley Moor bailiff T C Gill made mention of the previous bailiff telling him about a workman from a convalescent home called Ambrose Collins who spent his time "carving and ornating' rocks.
"No one seemed to pick up on this at the time, no one has ever questioned it. I think we should be celebrating it because it's a wonderful story. It doesn't deny the authenticity of the stone, it's just another element of its design with an extra story added to it made even more fascinating by the fact, we may know who has done it - Ambrose Collins" - Gavin Edwards.
The Panorama Stones - which are now scheduled monuments and have recently been scanned in the hope of ageing the markings - were brought down from the moor by a local man in the 1890s who saved them from being destroyed when a reservoir was built and paid £10 for them. They are now in a railed enclosure near St Margaret's Church in Queen's Road.
"There are lots of myths and legends floating about the most elaborate of the Panorama Stones but I don't subscribe to the theory the ladder markings are fake. "There are a number of articles from around the 1880s by very responsible people who accepted these ladder markings were genuine and I'm sure at that time they would have been able to tell if they had been so recently added" - Bill Godfrey, Ilkley historian.
"Evidence that some of the markings are fake is logically plausible but it could be that the ladder markings weren't included in the pencil drawings either because they were never distinct enough to be noticed by the artist or that the person who drew them was only looking for cup and rings so ignored the other markings. There's also another rock still in situ on the moor that also has a ladder on it. There's no hard evidence either way. The jury is still out but I feel the weight of evidence is on Gavin's side" - Dr Keith Boughey, Rock art expert.
Source: This is Bradford
Latitude: 53.921624N Longitude: 1.826837W
The Panorama Stones were moved from their original location in 1892 to a small woodland opposite St Margaret's Church.
