Yasmin Khan (Member no: 903)

The Rudston Monolith

As the tallest standing stone in Britain it is over 25ft tall and is said to extend another 25ft below the ground. One legend holds that is simply fell from the sky one day “killing certain desecrators of the churchyard”

The Rudston Monolith is the closest standing stone to me and is situated in Rudston, East Riding of Yorkshire. Having ancestorial history from the Wolds and the area of Rudston, my family often visited the church and from the first time I saw the stone standing in the churchyard as a child I was in absolute awe of it. As the tallest standing stone in Britain it is over 25ft tall and is said to extend another 25ft below the ground. One legend holds that is simply fell from the sky one day “killing certain desecrators of the churchyard”

Another legend states that it was thrown by the Devil, who wished to destroy the church, but due to the Devil’s bad marksmanship it landed in its present position. My nanna on the other hand has always told me

that the stone was placed there in ancient times to mark it as a special place in the area due to the (then unexplainable) happenings surrounding the unusual river called the Gyspy Race River. The River starts in the wolds, after fast waterfall the river bed rises then the water goes underground, a spring is eventually formed; it runs a fast ‘race’ but disappears for a few years, making the bed dry but then ….causing water to fill the river bed again miraculously and without any rain. She says therefore the stone historically marks where precious water would appear out of nowhere as our ancestors had then, no logical explanation for the appearance of the water.

I’m sure these are only but a few theories and legends surrounding the Monolith, but nether the less the stone is a remarkable prehistoric landmark to look upon.