The Ordnance Survey list has 26 Benchmarks in grid SE2045, most of which are normal Cut Marks, but there are a couple of other types, a bolt and a pivot mark. The square does cover the town centre which is why there are so many marks – getting on for twice the number on any other grid square I am looking at

1 – CUT MARK – HALL SE SIDE BURRAS LANE NW FACE 4.0M W ANG
FOUND BUT BADLY DAMAGED
The Cut mark is on the North West face of the Hall on the South East side of Burras Lane, 4mtrs in from the West corner
The Burras Lane Church hall was converted into houses almost 10 years ago, and as the hall is on a hill the floor level of the houses is several steps up from the street level, One of the steps cuts through the Cut mark leaving it only partially visible, but easily recognisable .

2 – CUT MARK – NO2 FARNLEY LANE
EXISTENCE NOT CONFIRMED
The Cut mark is on No.2 Farnley Lane
Unfortunately there is no further information given other than the house it is on, and there is no definite sign of the mark on the house… there is a possibility that it is behind the creeper as I have shown on the second picture – but I can’t confirm it.

3 – BOLT – P A BOLT PARA OTLEY BR C R SW SIDE RD
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Bolt is on the South West road side parapet of Otley Bridge
Easy to spot as it’s right in the middle of the bridge, but it is on the far side from the footpath and so you can’t get near it because of the traffic

4 – CUT MARK – TWR ALL SAINTS CH OTLEY SW ANG W FACE
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the West face, South West corner of All Saints Church
This is actually a Bolt type Cut mark, not just a normal plain one.

5 – CUT MARK – LO ENT PARK SW SIDE BRIDGE ST SE ANG E FACE
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the South East corner of the East face of the Lodge at the Park Entrance on the South West side of Bridge Street
The Cut mark is right where it’s supposed to be, similar to several others the Cut mark goes through the joint between two stones and the repointing has covered the mark somewhat

6 – CUT MARK – CLOCK TWR MARKET ST SW ANG W FACE
MISSING
The Cut mark is on the West face of the South West corner of the Clock Tower on Market Street
This corner of the Junilee Clock has had it’s bottom stones replaced – so the mark has gone

7 – CUT MARK – WALL JUNC SE SIDE RIVER WHARFE OPP MANOR ST
NOT FOUND
The Cut Mark is on the Wall junction on the South East side of the River Wharfe, opposite Manor Street
I couldn’t decide exactly where this was Cut mark location was, the footpath wall ends behind this large tree and a lower wall joins it to carry on along the river bank, but I couldn’t see anything on the bit of wall behind the tree or the end of the wall itself. Possibly the tree has pushed up the ground and hidden the cut mark.

8 – CUT MARK – NO5 BRIDGE ST W FACE SW ANG
FOUND BUT BADLY DAMAGED
The Cut Mark is on the South West corner of the West Face of No.5 Bridge Street
No. 5 Bridge Street is the Horse and Farrier pub, which has been ‘done up’ a couple of times in the last 25 years. The cut mark is barely recognisable – sandblasting has worn away the side cuts, leaving just the top cut and a depression where the base of the vertical cut was

9 – CUT MARK – SW ANG NO6 BONDGATE
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the South West corner of No.6 Bondgate
The shop here has changed hands and frontages many times, but the cut mark on the corner stone remains undamaged

10 – CUT MARK – SE ANG BAY HORSE PH NO20 MARKET PLACE
FOUND IN POOR CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the South East corner of the the Bay Horse Public House, No. 20 Market Place
This mark is suffering from a leaking drainpipe keeping it wet alot of the time… moss is the main problem at the minute but in the winter ice is going to start eating away at it.
I will try to get a better photograph of it, the sun was too direct when I took this one

11 – CUT MARK – BLDG COURT OFFICES SW ANG S FACE
FOUND IN VERY POOR CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the South West corner of the South face of the Court Offices Building
Easy to find but a very worn mark

12 – CUT MARK – OTLEY C OF E SCH 4.2M SE ANG S FACE
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the South face of Otley C of E School, 4.2mtrs from the South East corner
The school has now been split up into domestic properties so the mark is in someones garden… fortunately I could peer through the hedge they are growing to spot on photograph the cutmark

13 – CUT MARK – NO12 WESLEY ST 6.1M NE ANG N FACE3
FOUND BUT VERY BADLY DAMAGED
The Cut Mark is on the North Face of No.12 Wesley Street, 6.1mtrs in from the North East corner
This bench mark has a couple of posts on bench-marks.org.uk, both of which state that the mark is strange because it is upside down… both ‘finders’ are wrong ! The upside down marks (and there are two of them) are modern arrows cut in by a cutting disc to mark the limits of presumably a concreted over cellar opening in the pavement.
The actual cutmark is very damaged but the horizontal cut is clearly visible… the lower cuts will soon be not recognisable at all when the last bit of stone delineating them flakes off

14 – CUT MARK – W FACE SW ANG NO1 WESLEY ST
FOUND IN POOR CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the West Face of No.1 Wesley Street, South West Corner
Easy to find. but fairly worn down, just the horizontal cut and the bottoms of the lower cuts are still visible

15 – CUT MARK – SHOP NO1 CHARLES ST W FACE SW ANG
MISSING
The Cut Mark is on the West face of the shop at No.1 Charles Street, South West corner
All the buildings on the odd-numbered side of Charles Street have gone to make way for a Doctors Surgery the Telephone Exchange and here at No.1 where the mark was there is now a car park for the nearby Cycle Shop

16 – CUT MARK – NE ANG THE METH CH BOROUGHGATE
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the North East Corner of the Methodist Church on Boroughgate
The Methodist Church has recently had the frontage altered to make is disabled accessible (steps replaced by zig-zag wheelchair ramps) but the Cut mark is just round the corner from the frontage so has not been damaged by the changes

17 – CUT MARK – PH THE YEOMAN GAY LANE E FACE 4.9M NE ANG
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the East face of The Yeoman public house on Gay Lane, 49mtrs from the North East Corner
I find this quite interesting, because the list of benchmarks shows that the last time this mark was verified was in 1957, however the pub was called The Fountain until 1986 only changing to The Yeoman when new owners were trying to update it’s image, The curiosity is that this name change has been included in the list, whereas the Mark at No.1 Charles Street is still shown on the list when the building there was knocked down in the early 60’s, so one modern change is included in the list but one on the next street corner isn’t

18 – CUT MARK – CHEVIN LODGE EAST CHEVIN RD SW FACE 5.2M W ANG
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the South West face of Chevin Lodge on East Chevin Road, 5.2mtrs in from the West corner
It’s amazing how many of these marks are across mortar courses in the stonework

19 – CUT MARK – SE ANG CIVIC CENTRE N SIDE CROSS GREEN
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the South East corner of the Civic Centre, on the North side of Cross Green
Another mark that is gradually wearing away, it is well over 100 years old though so it’s not doing too bad I suppose

20 – CUT MARK – BLDG COURTHOUSE ST 5.2M NE ANG N FACE
MISSING
The Cut mark is on the North face of a building in Courthouse Street, 5.2mtrs in from the North corner
No sign of the Cut mark. It would in theory be just about where the doorway has been made into a window, but the wall has been taken down and rebuilt and the mark lost.

21 – CUT MARK – WALL E SIDE CARLTON ST 0.9M S WALL JUNC S SIDE CAMBRIDGE ST
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the wall on the East side of Carlton Street, 0.9mtrs south of the wall junction with the South side of Cambridge Street
This mark looks much crisper than many in the town. The reason for this is that it is a much newer carving, the mark doesn’t appear on the 1921 map but does on the 1934 issue, so it was carved only 80-ish years ago compared with most of the rest which are on the earliest maps I can find dating from 1890. The earlier map does show a Benchmark on the wall across the road which disappears by the 1921 map, however the old mark is still visible if barely (see below where I have listed the old marks I have found)

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22 – PIVOT – PIVOT NE ANG NO69 CROSS GREEN
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Pivot mark is on the North East corner of No.69 Cross Green
A Pivot mark is a type without a horizontal cut, but is on a protruding stone where the top surface takes the place of the horizontal cut

23 – CUT MARK – NO52 LEEDS RD SW ANG S FACE
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the South face of the South West corner of No.52 Leeds Road
This Cut mark is on a private house which has a fair size garden between it and the road, fortunately the zoom on my camera was enough to pick it up

24 – CUT MARK – NO14 SIDE COPSE NW FACE 1.2M W ANG
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut mark is on the North West face of No.14 Side Copse, 1.2M in from the West corner
Side Copse is fairly near Otley Rugby ground and as I was looking for it early one Saturday afternoon there were a lot of spectators in the area… I was standing on the road (the path is narrow) looking at the wall when I was encouraged to move on by a car horn of a guy that wanted to park where I was, I guess he probably thought I was a bit strange staring at a wall !
This also looks to be a fairly crisp edged mark, but it is shown on the 1890 map – the coarser stone of the backstreets is obviously stronger than the decorative sandstone of the town centre buildings

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25 – CUT MARK – E FACE 1.5M NE ANG NO113 CROSS GREEN
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
The Cut Mark is on the East face of No.113 Cross Green, 1.5mtrs in from the North East corner
A cut mark damaged by the repointing of the wall and by the screw hole drilled for the cable clip – which is now missing itself

26 – CUT MARK – WALL S SIDE CROSS GREEN 9.1M E WALL JUNC N SIDE GROSVENOR TERR
FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION
A very well preserved mark, easily spotted very low down on the wall (well I spotted it as I was driving past in the car on the other side of the road – so it must be easy to see !)

OLD MARKS

There are more Survey marks than those shown on the OS list, most of these are older survey marks that have been lost over time, but some of these are still visible if you look carefully.
As I said on number 21 the current mark looks like a replacement for an older one that was across the road. The 1890 map shows this old mark on the opposite corner on the wall in front of the house on the other side of Cambridge Street

The old Mark is still visible, if only barely, I have indicated where it is in the lower picture