Howburn Digger
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 15, 2017, 21:24
|
|
I might have missed something in this thread... and I don't mean to offend (any more than normal) ... but wasn't this Rudston big-pointy throntipede stone cock called the Rud(e)stone, because it was a big (rude) phallic dobber sticking up at the sky? Like a big Valentine's Day "Hello!".
|
thesweetcheat
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 15, 2017, 21:27
|
|
tjj wrote: Intriguing Rhiannon. If we are just talking large (tall) standing stones - either single or pairs, then I offer The Pipers, outliers of the Merry Maidens in West Cornwall. Happy to stand corrected of course but I have no recollection of them being described as fertility stones ... or have they?
Like the other pair of Pipers near The Hurlers on Bodmin Moor, and the Blind Fiddler in West Penwith near Boscawen-Un, these Cornish stones were reputed to be musicians turned to stone for playing the music for the dancing on the Sabbath that got their dancers turned into the nearby stone circles. Not sure I can remember reading of any fertility folklore or legends in connection with any of those either.
|
Rhiannon
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 15, 2017, 21:47
|
Well the Anglo Saxons were calling the place Rodstane when the Normans turned up to write their Domesday book. And in A-S Rod sounds like it's either a measure of land or something to do with roods as in crosses you get crucified on. So I don't think rude meant rude in those days
But if it sums up your theory about the stone quite nicely (and let's face it no one knows what was in the minds of the designers, you could be right), you could say as a 21st century bit of folk etymology it's fair enough, so go for it.
|
thesweetcheat
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 15, 2017, 21:58
|
|
There seems to be a kind of stone called "rudstone", but I don't think it's the same kind of stone as Rudston's stone, ironically.
|
moss
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 16, 2017, 05:02
|
|
thesweetcheat wrote: There seems to be a kind of stone called "rudstone", but I don't think it's the same kind of stone as Rudston's stone, ironically.
Well according to a wiki, 'Rud' is Scandinavian....
"The place-name 'Rudston' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, and means 'rood' or 'cross' stone, referring to the monolith. However, the name 'rud' derives from Old Norse ruð, meaning a clearing or pasture. So the place name could be stone in the clearing, Ruðstane. Nearby Howes of Duggleby and Ba'l (In Ugaritic mythology Baal is the lord of the storm; he bears a mace where Thor will grasp a hammer) also indicate Norse Viking place names rather than Anglo-Saxon origins."
Which of course follows through that this area is in the Yorkshire Wolds, a great industrialised topography of farmed land. If the rumour is true that the monolith had a christian cross on top, this would account for its damaged appearance and subsequent lead cap.
No sign of either A/S or Viking in the church Rhiannon, though Rudston is only about 6 kilometres from the sea, and that of course is where, and if, the route the stone would have come from around the Whitby area.
Perhaps with all those cursus's at the foot of the hill they went in for racing not fertility worship ;)
|
thesweetcheat
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 16, 2017, 06:21
|
|
Certainly the idea that the biggest stone was Christianised makes a lot of sense as to why it was allowed to remain. The ultimate symbol of Christianity triumphing over paganism, or the embracing of an earlier sacred site into a later mythos? Who knows.
|
ryaner
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 16, 2017, 07:57
|
|
Rudston=rude stone?
|
moss
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 16, 2017, 08:46
|
|
ryaner wrote: Rudston=rude stone?
Would of course describe it beautifully large' rude phallic stone' but Rud was used in the Domesday book, and the latin word 'rude' came several centuries later.
|
carol27
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 16, 2017, 08:53
|
|
There's speculation that the Rudston monolith extends as much underground as can be seen above ground; imagine that!
|
moss
|
Re: Large stones
Feb 16, 2017, 10:40
|
|
carol27 wrote: There's speculation that the Rudston monolith extends as much underground as can be seen above ground; imagine that!
Hi Carol, Notice you went to Rudston a few days ago, my friend Roy has sent me emails this morning with vast internet books on Yorkshire, keep me quiet for a few days. He also mentioned that fact as well, Strickland I think and loads of bones and skulls. Funnily enough when I get round to reading it seems that Willy Howe and Duggleby Howe had deep shafts as well. Did you visit either of them?
|
