Hunkleton Stone

Looking out to sea at Newbiggen there was a lot to see. Tracing the skyline of St Bartholomew's Church on Church Point, the caravan site, and the now iconic Couples Sculpture, all eyes to Denmark.

But in the foreground was a huge boulder, looking fresh out of an ice age ice cube tray, incongruous on a pebble-less beach.

The Hunkleton Stone is a chunk. The sand had been beautified and beach groomed with neat lines where the rakes had removed any unsightly, unseaweedy debris and I felt slightly like I should take my shoes off as you would on visiting your auntie's new cream shag pile.

But sinking into the soft sand, my footprints and me where the only things on this beach making our way to the Hunkleton Stone.

It's big! Nothing pebbly about this hunk of stone from the Glacial Epoch. It's unattached and isolated on the sand just proud of the sea.

It looked curious and dark and so regular in shape and like it had just been plonked in place.

The truth of the matter is that this tempered block has put in an appearance several times over the last few centuries or so. It was recorded on maps in 1865, 1898 and 1924 and then strangely, it disappeared! How does a chunk of granite vanish?

This black hunk of rock, not native of these shores, bouled into the bay during the last ice age. Imagine the Northeast and Newbiggin especially under a blanket of ice with icebergs bobbing in the bay? Erratics are formed by glacial ice erosion resulting from the movement of ice. This was likely carried from Scotland or North Northumberland, many miles away, transported on ice rafts through glacial waters to live out its granitey days in Newbiggin by the Sea.

When times warmed up, so did the hearts of courting canoodling couples and historically the Hunkleton Stone was a place to stop for a snog, a bit of erotic on the erratic, to dive out of yer lasses arms into the sea, or to generally jump up and down in view of the sea on a piece of The Pleistocene!

The stone had been exposed due to a layer of glacial clay lying on the beach, but seventy years ago, The Hunkleton Stone started to vanish as the levels of the bay began to sink and water levels rose.

Sadly it was only exposed at high spring tide. By the early 2000s, the stone had vanished and was no longer a feature of the beach.

However, thanks to the sterling stone detectives, father and son team, Tim and Richard Martin, they navigated their way around the erratic erratic, and it was once again located via GPS with steel pins being driven through the sand to hold its location.

Negotiations were made with Wansbeck District Council over the next year and a huge mission to re-expose and raise up the rock was launched, using diggers and imported sand. Job done!

However, not even the Hunkleton was set in stone! By 2013 the stone had sunk again. Tim Martin tried his best stone conjuring powers as he had done in 2005 but the big block of black stuff was nowhere to be seen. This time satellite technology was employed to get a target area of the beach. What a juxtaposition, glaciers and satellites in the same discussion!

There was a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing with local residents all hell-bent on rediscovering the rock.

Pins prodded and poked around underground until, in the fading light of a late night, luck was stuck in a final knock, and the Hunkleton Stone was relocated. Heavy lifting machinery was employed and Bob's yer Hunkleton, the stone was raised and put back in pride of place!

You can find the hopefully now static erratic right at the bottom of the beautifully named Horseshoe Steps, but don't forget to bring your slippers so as not to mess up the perfectly smooth sand!

On the other side of the bay to where you'll be standing, you'll see the church of St Bartholomew's, painted by Lowry in 1966. Why not walk along the promenade and pop in?