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Hi Jan!
Keep in mind that Mr Gavin Edwards also can 'proof' that the ladder-motifs on the Panorama Stone are a 'forgeries'.
Looking forward (with Andy) to some pics with the stone in situ.
I assume you're being slightly sarcastic here, yes? The "ladder" motifs on the Panorama Stones certainly aren't proved as Victorian, and Mr Edward's notion must be taken with a pinch of salt. The "ladder" motifs show up as faded elements in an old photograph taken by Thomas Pawson of Bradford in the late 1890s. In his accompanying description of these stones, neither Harry Speight nor his contemporaries made any comments regarding additional motif elements on these rocks. And considering the relative clarity of the 1890s photo and the accompanying erudition of Messrs Speight & co, we can safely assign the notion that the ladders are Victorian additions to the dustbin. Mr Edwards' notion that sections of the Panorama Stones where the ladders motifs occur are not shown on an 1896 drawing indicates, simply, that the motifs weren't noticed as a result of poor lighting conditions or rain; much as the modern "accurate" drawing of the same stone in Boughey & Vickerman's fine text misses elements that are clearly shown in Mr Pawson's 1890's photo.
I appreciate that Mr Edwards has alleged a local man from the 1870s, one Ambrose Collins, allegedly carved "cup-and-rings" in his day. However, if we accept that the faded Panorama Stones ladders are only 120-30 years old, then we're gonna have to reconsider a huge number of carvings on the Rombald's Moor area as potentially of the same period. We can of course look selectively at some of the designs on some of the rocks and look for discrepancies in form, such as with the Lattice Stone on Middleton Moor (known as Middleton Moor 37 on MegPortal), north of Ilkley, or the eroded variations on the Lunar Stone, but the movement between hearsay to authenticity is a quantum leap unworthy of serious consideration without proof. Though the 2 CR examples I cite here - the first in particular - has markedly different style and form to the vast majority of others on the moors north and south of here. Summat's "not quite right" with that one. Mr Ambrose Collins might have had his joking hands on that one perhaps!?
I'll add the images & notes to the Northern Antiquarian later today & pass a copy of Mr Pawson's old photo to MegPortal for Andy's consideration.
ttfn - Paul
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