On this day in 1795, a meteorite made an unscheduled stop in Wold Newton in the East Riding, thrilling a ploughman who narrowly avoided being flattened. Witnesses reported a dark object streaking through the sky before slamming into the earth, leaving a crater nearly a metre wide. It punched through 300 mm of soil, embedding itself 180 mm into the chalk below. Weighing 25 kg, this cosmic intruder now sits in the Natural History Museum in London, sadly sans any Kryptonian babies to spice up the story1Wold Cottage meteorite. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Cottage_meteorite [Accessed 13 December 2025..

Here on Roseberry Topping, a more terrestrial enigma has appeared: a graffitied boulder on a slope otherwise free of such features. The graffiti suggests the stone to be lying prone, though its origins remain as grounded as its current position.
I came across this curiosity while following the track left by the digger used during recent repairs to the summit path. It lies conveniently by the side, suggesting it might have fallen from the digger’s bucket. Unfortunately, this theory falls apart when one remembers all the stones for the project were airlifted in by helicopter. I recall this well, having been tasked with keeping curious bystanders clear of the flight path. Most of the stones were lugged about in the typical large rubble bags, except for a few oversized boulders that were given the solo treatment. I distinctly remember a piece breaking off one of these but that fell much closer to the summit. Still, once might mean twice. Future archaeologists will no doubt enjoy puzzling over it, assuming they care enough.
- 1Wold Cottage meteorite. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Cottage_meteorite [Accessed 13 December 2025.
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