Twelve Apostles of Ilkley Moor

As a poorly preserved Neolithic site, its precise purpose is unknown though in all likelihood was ritualistic. The site was surveyed in 1929 by Arthur Raistrick who stated that "its position suggests very strongly a burial with a peristalith of standing stones". Others have speculated that, rather than a fully fledged stone circle, it may have been a type of ring cairn. Dating from the Neolithic period when hunter-gatherer societies had begun to develop farming techniques, the construction of the site will have coincided with initial land clearance and deforestation for livestock grazing and therefore predates the main development of peatland.

The Twelve Apostles consists of the remains of a stone circle with a diameter of about 15 metres. The circle originally had between 16 and 20 stones, It is not clear who re-erected them, nor when. The site suffers severe visitor erosion, as it was formerly hidden beneath heather, but is now in an area of bare trampled soil. It is regarded as one of the most damaged prehistoric sites in West Yorkshire.