10,000 years ago the area would have been as bleak and windswept as this.
Wharfedale was just appearing from under a layer of ice over 1,000 ft deep.
As the glacier melted it uncovered the terraces and escarpments it had formed, and left behind
piles of rocks - such as the Buckstones.
Or so heavy that they couldn't be carried any further - such as the Noonstone on Addingham
Moorside - which was left perched high on a ledge.
The weathering on some over millennia has left them as beautiful works of art - such
as the Doubler Stones.
The rock on top is hard durable millstone grit, and they sit on the softer sandstone,
which is gradually being weathered away.
And on Ilkley Moor the Rocky Valley was formed when softer rock collapsed and was eroded
away - leaving behind a gritstone escarpment, from which massive blocks have come tumbling
down.
But the most prominent feature is the Cow & Calf rocks.
Legend has it that a giant called Rombald had an argument with his wife, and as he strode
away towards Almscliff Crag, seven miles away, he slipped and broke the Calf from the Cow.
His wife, chasing, gathered stones in her apron to throw at him.
But the apron strings couldn't hold the weight of the rocks and broke - leaving behind two
heaps of stones - the Great Skirtful ….. and the Little Skirtful.
In fact the Calf is split from the Cow by a natural fault in the rock.
It has been rumoured that there was a Bull, and that this was used for building material.
Rombalds Moor on the Wharfe valley side is in fact made up of Hawksworth, Burley, Ilkley
and Addingham High and Low moors- just five of the 14 moors that make up Rombalds Moor.
No one is exactly sure where the name Rombald comes from - but the best theory is that it
is a corruption of De Rommilly - wealthy landowners who lived in Skipton and built the original
castle there in the 12th century.
When man first came here over 7,000 years ago.
The moor then would have been covered in woods and the valley bottom a series of shallow
lakes and marshland.
They kept to the valley sides, and have left us many signs.
These flint arrowheads, dating between 3,500 to 5,000 years ago - would have been used
for hunting.
Flint isn't a local material - the nearest site in Yorkshire is on the Yorkshire Wolds
some 70 miles away.
This tells us that there was already an extensive trading network.
If you look carefully around areas such as Woofa Bank or Lanshaw Delves, you can possibly
still find arrowheads such as these.
Stone axes would have been used to clear land and chop down trees, until the introduction
of bronze around 3,000 years ago.
By this time animals such as sheep, pigs and goats had been domesticated - and would have
needed protection at night from wolves, wild cats and other prey.
These are walls of an enclosure thought to have been in use 3-4,000 years ago.
The enclosure, which includes huts, were excavated in the mid 1980's.
The walls were rebuilt using stones found on the site.
They would have been slightly higher and probably grassed over.