|
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 ;)
|
