A Bradford author is keen to hear from anyone who can complete the story behind a family name carved on an Ilkley Moor boulder nearly a century ago.

Gordon Holmes, who works as a technician for Bradford University, is convinced the hands which cut 'GEORGE RESTALL' into a rock near the Cow and Calf belonged to his great-uncle.

Mr Holmes' Restall ancestors moved to Bradford from Gloucestershire in the 1880s and included his grandmother, Dorothy, and her elder brother George - who went on to work at Ilkley Picture House at the Pavilion in 1908.

Mr Holmes, who has written several self-financed books about the origins of the cup and ring stones on Ilkley Moor, came across his great uncle's name unexpectedly while visiting Ilkley last year, as he explained.

"It was just after the foot and mouth outbreak and I discovered several large boulders near the Cow and Calf Rocks with Victorian carvings on them," he said.

"To my astonishment one of the only large rocks situated with a panoramic view of Ilkley and the Railway Station had the words 'GEORGE RESTALL' carved on it.

"Since there was no other Restall family in West Yorkshire at the time the obvious conclusion is it was carved by George."

For the last few years Mr Holmes has been getting in contact with relatives around the country in a bid to trace the origins of the Restalls - and has tracked them back to 1540.

But his chance discovery on Ilkley Moor has sparked a new interest in what happened to his great-uncle after he left Ilkley.

Mr Holmes' research has shown that George Restall married Louie Newsome in 1912 and the couple had a son, Alvin, before moving to Plymouth.

From 1917 to 1922 Mr Restall served with the Royal Marines in Egypt, Sudan and around Suez, and was last known to be based back in Yorkshire, at Dewsbury, in 1935.

Mr Holmes said: "We know a lot about him because my grandmother kept postcards and letters from him, and we're 99 per cent certain it's the same George Restall whose name is carved into the rock.

"I found a letter from him dated 1935, when he was in Dewsbury, but that's the last we know of him.

"I'm hoping that someone in Ilkley may have known George, or his younger brother Eldred, who was killed at the Somme, during their time here. Any news at all would be welcome, just to see what's happened to his branch of the family."

Anyone with information can contact Mr Holmes on 07719 406825.