Not wishing to interupt EndTheMadness' intriguing and well-researched thread, in regards of strange rock formations,
may I mention Marsden Rock on the North Sea coast that had a similar shaping. Sadly due to safety fears, the arch
was demolished in 1997 and yet the Grotto area still enjoys regular visitors.
![[Image: JS90360794.jpg]](https://i2-prod.chroniclelive.co.uk/incoming/article11361794.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200e/JS90360794.jpg)
What remains of the limestone stack is situated just north of the village of Whitburn, where it has been suggested
Lewis Carroll derived his idea of the Walrus and the Carpenter during a meeting with such a tradesman making his
way home from the nearby -and now redundant, many shipbuilding enterprises on the river Wear.
Carroll was staying at his cousin's (Wilcox) home in Whitburn at the time and they often joined Lewis in making-up
verses to delight themselves in the art of word-conjuring. It was here that Carroll’s contributed to their mirth with a
stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry which begins:
"Twas brillig and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe."
Referencing the Jabberwocky in his publication 'Through the Looking Glass' in 1872, a beasty said to have been
procured from Carroll's imagining of The Sockburn Worm legend. (Also a posting on the archived Rogue Nation site!)
Carroll -having grown up in the region (the rectory at Croft-On-Tees), regularly visited the area where his neighbour at
Oxford University (Henry Liddell) frequented due to be being born in Sunderland (Wonderland?!) The young Lewis once
sketched Frederika Liddell on Roker beach with a backdrop of Spottie’s Hole in the Holey Rock. This was the entrance
to an underground passage, thought to lead to Hylton Castle, but is now bricked-up.
Frederika has a sister that was said to be a later inspiration for Carroll's famous tales, she was called Alice.
may I mention Marsden Rock on the North Sea coast that had a similar shaping. Sadly due to safety fears, the arch
was demolished in 1997 and yet the Grotto area still enjoys regular visitors.
What remains of the limestone stack is situated just north of the village of Whitburn, where it has been suggested
Lewis Carroll derived his idea of the Walrus and the Carpenter during a meeting with such a tradesman making his
way home from the nearby -and now redundant, many shipbuilding enterprises on the river Wear.
Carroll was staying at his cousin's (Wilcox) home in Whitburn at the time and they often joined Lewis in making-up
verses to delight themselves in the art of word-conjuring. It was here that Carroll’s contributed to their mirth with a
stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry which begins:
"Twas brillig and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe."
Referencing the Jabberwocky in his publication 'Through the Looking Glass' in 1872, a beasty said to have been
procured from Carroll's imagining of The Sockburn Worm legend. (Also a posting on the archived Rogue Nation site!)
Carroll -having grown up in the region (the rectory at Croft-On-Tees), regularly visited the area where his neighbour at
Oxford University (Henry Liddell) frequented due to be being born in Sunderland (Wonderland?!) The young Lewis once
sketched Frederika Liddell on Roker beach with a backdrop of Spottie’s Hole in the Holey Rock. This was the entrance
to an underground passage, thought to lead to Hylton Castle, but is now bricked-up.
Frederika has a sister that was said to be a later inspiration for Carroll's famous tales, she was called Alice.
Read The TV Guide, yer' don't need a TV.