During our recent visit to Yorkshire, we stopped at the village of Rudston to see the ‘Rudston Monolith’.
The Monolith, dating from the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze age (2500-2000BC) is the tallest standing stone in the UK. It is estimated to weigh 40 tonnes. There is evidence that it once stood within a stone circle. The stone now stands within the churchyard of Rudston village.
Also in the churchyard are a series of graves from a local family who inherited the title ‘MacDonald of the Isles’ following a court case in 1910, which ruled that although an illegitimate son could not inherit the title under English law, there was no such provision under Scottish law. Robert, the eldest son of the 3rd baron, had inherited the family’s Yorkshire estate near Rudston on his fathers death in 1847, whilst his younger ‘legitimate’ brother Godfrey had inherited the title and the Scottish lands that went with it. In 1910, Robert’s grandson took the case to court claiming that the title was legally his under Scottish law.
Pete's Favourite Things 