The largest Monolithic Standing-Stone in Britain

[Ichingcarpenter]

The Rudston monolith is the tallest prehistoric standing stone in Britain, standing almost 8 metres high, nearly 2 metres wide, a metre thick and weighing somewhere in the region of 26 tons. This giant block of grey sandstone or gritstone was quarried 10 miles away at Cayton Bay and was brought here either in the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age.




At ground level its circumference is 5 metres and its present height is just under 8 metres. An excavation conducted by Sir William Strickland in the late 18th century suggested that its depth below ground is as great as its height. How it arrived here is a matter for great speculation, however this was so, it was a considerable feat of engineering skill and human effort in the late Neolithic or Bronze Age.

Fossilised dinosaur footprints on one side of the stone may have contributed to its importance to those who erected it.



Rudston has evidence of continuous inhabitation for millennia and is thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited village in England. There are square and round barrows with numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age burials. Unfortunately, many of the excavations were carried out in the 19th century and due to the methods of "archaeology" used, little remains of the content.






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudston_Monolith

[L. Coyote]

1. A wee little thing compared to the megaliths in France.

Check this photo: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/18909153@N08/8113975106/

If you use Google earth, open this file for many more menhirs and selected photos: http://www.jqjacobs.net/archaeo/sites/brittany.kml

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Links don't work

and yes the monoliths of Carnac are bigger, I've been there...maybe give us a photo essay if you would.

However, I wasn't aware of this one in Wales though which is why I posted it.

[L. Coyote]

3. Download the file then open from Google Earth instead

if your system does not open a KML automatically.