Ilkley Moor

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Ilkley Moor is the highest part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The peat bogs rise to 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level. It is famous as the inspiration for the Yorkshire county anthem "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at".

The name Ilkley moor is possibly derived from the Old English meaning "moor near woodland clearing of a man called Yllica".

To the north, where the moor drops steeply down towards Ben Rhydding, a satellite of the town of Ilkley, are two millstone grit rock climbing areas: Rocky Valley and Ilkley Quarry.

Ilkley Quarry is the site of the Cow and Calf a large rock formation consisting of an outcrop and boulder. The rocks are made of millstone grit, a variety of sandstone, and are so named because one is large, with the smaller one siting close to it, like a cow and calf. There was once also a "bull", but that was quarried for stone during the spa town boom Ilkley was part of in the 19th century. According to local legend, the Calf was split from the Cow when the giant Rombald (for whom Rombald's Moor is named) was fleeing an enemy, and stamped upon the rock. The enemy, it is rumoured, was his wife.

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