This is a photograph of the Saltaire Rabbit Stone, found near Salt's Mill in Saltaire, Shipley, West Yorkshire in 2011.
Salt's Mill is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was founded by Titus Salt in the 1850s on land once occupied by a corn mill. Titus Salt built the village of Saltaire for his mill workers and named the streets mainly after his family members. Titus Salt was once Mayor of Bradford and obtained a baronetcy. In those days many industrialists received titles - Samuel Cunliffe Lister of nearby Lister's Mill of Manningham, became Lord Masham.
We feel the rabbit stone was quite a rare find. Rabbits represent the Goddess Eostre, or Ostara, that the Christian Easter was named after. Eostre is a goddess of spring and fertility. When Britain converted from Paganism to Christianity, the dates, places and times of Pagan festivals were replaced with Christian celebrations at the same period. Churches were often built on the site of Pagan altars to encourage people who had gone to these places to worship Pagan gods, to embrace the Christian beliefs instead.
Today with the New Age revival, religions like Druidism are officially recognised legally in their own right.
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