Nothing remains of the buildings of this early monastery, and what happened to them, and what caused their disappearance, is purely a matter of conjecture. We can only surmise that they were destroyed during the Danish invasions of the ninth century.
At Kirkdale church, which is situated close to the cave already described, there was discovered about the year 1771 a sundial bearing the longest known inscription of the Anglo-Saxon period. The discoverer was the Rev. William Dade, rector of Barmston, in the East Riding, and a letter of great length, on the stone, from the pen of Mr J.C. Brooke, F.S.A. of the Herald's College, was read at the Society of Antiquaries in 1777.
The sundial, without any gnomon, occupies the central portion of the stone, which is about 7 feet in length, and the inscription is closely packed in the spaces on either side.
It reads as follows, the lines in brackets having the contractions expanded:--
[Transcriber's Note: The "|"s below are my best rendition in plain ASCII of a Saxon ampersand, which is a long vertical bar with a short horizontal bar at the top, pointing to the left.]
+ ORM · GAMAL · SVNA · BOHTE · SC[=S]
[ + ORM · GAMAL · SUNA · BOHTE · SANCTUS]
GREGORIVS · MINSTER · ÐONNE HIT
[GREGORIUS · MINSTER · THONNE HIT]
PES ÆL TOBROCAN · | TOFALAN · | HE
[WES ÆL TOBROCAN · & TOFALAN · & HE]
HIT IET · MACAN · NEPAN · FROM GRVNDE
[HIT LET · MACAN · NEWAN · FROM GRUNDE]
XPE: | SCS GREGORIVS · IN EADPARD
[CHRISTE: & SANCTUS GREGORIUS · IN EADWARD]
DAGVM C[=N]G | N TOSTI DAGVM EORL +
[DAGUM CYNING & IN TOSTI DAGUM EORL +]
Completed under the dial.
+ | HAPARÐ ME PROHTE · | BRAND P[=RS]
[+ & HAWARTH ME WROHTE · & BRAND {PRÆPOSITUS]
{PRESBYTERS]
The modern rendering is generally accepted as: "Orm, the son of Gamal, bought St Gregory's minster (or church) when it was all broken and fallen, and caused it to be made anew from the ground for Christ and St Gregory in the days of King Edward, and in the days of Earl Tosti, and Hawarth wrought me and Brand the Prior, (priest or priests)."