The Rudston - July 2002
In July, my father and I visited the Rudston, just to the west of Bridlington. At 25 feet high,
this is the tallest standing monolith in Britain. It is in the cemetery of the parish church in the village of Rudston.
The name derives from a corruption of 'Rood Stone', as it is believed that a cross was put on top of
it to sanctify it, as also the church was built on what was an important pagan site.
You may notice the lead hood (see left) that now protects the hole in the top of the stone where the cross was.
We also visited Bridlington, which was a tourist trap, and the light house at Flamborough Head,
taking in Dane's Dyke on the way back. This ditch and dyke, they now believe, was nothing to do with the Danes at all,
but was constructed to establish a beach head for an invading King during the Dark Ages.
Anderby Creek - August 2002.
The first week in August saw the family at the same beach house that we have used for several years, at Anderby Creek, near Skegness in Lincolnshire. I arrived by train and was straight in the drink with my nieces (see near right).
My Dad was kind enough one day to take me to 15th-century St. Michael's Church at Coningsby (see far right). The dial of the clock is 16 and a half feet in diameter and as such is the largest one-handed clock in the world. After that we turned up at the nearby 'Snipe' woodland nature park only to find ourselves in the middle of a wedding reception that was being held in the open air there.
A Visit to Dumfries and Galloway - October 2002.
Grid Reference NX 709 489
At the end of October, my Dad took me to Dumfries and Galloway. We stayed at a farm guest house just out of Dumfries.
The day we had up there, we visited the picturesque smugglers bay of Balcary, then the ruined Dundrennan Abbey, then dug out the rock carvings near Kirkcudbright pictured left.
The date of these carvings is thought to be from late Neolithic to early Bronze Age. Their purpose is still unknown. The book I have gives over a hundred explanations, the most likley being sun worship or some
kind of fertility rite. We also visited Bruce's Stone, where Robert the Bruce is said to have rested after a battle with the English in 1307.