Giants Stone of Tweedsmuir
Three ancient stones on the road to Fruid Reservoir from Tweedsmuir are linked with the legend and death of Jack the Giantkiller.
Category: Giants
Brent Knoll
The hill, which was once and Iron Age hillfort, is associated with an Arthurian Legend, and was the abode of three fearsome giants.
The Giants of Stokesay Castle
This legend belongs to the area around Stokesay Castle in Shropshire, and was first recorded in Shropshire Folklore, A Sheaf of Gleanings by Burne and Jackson London 1883. What follows is a short adaptation of the original folklore.
The Origin of The Wrekin
This is one of two folktales, which explain the origin of the Wrekin, a 1,334 foot high hill standing on the Shropshire plain. The hill has the remains of an Iron Age Hillfort on its summit, and folk evidence suggests it was an important focal point for our prehistoric ancestors.
The Wrekin
This impressive hill sits in the middle of a rolling landscape and at 1,334 feet is an impressive landmark for miles around. The hill is crowned with the remains of an Iron age Hill fort and it is said that a beacon fire was lit on its summit during the Spanish Armada.
Stokesay Castle
This thirteenth century fortified manor house is supposedly the hiding place of a treasure chest full of gold, which was hidden by two giants. The legend says the treasure is guarded by a raven which sits atop the chest. The key to the chest was apparently lost when one of the giants dropped it in the moat.
The Six Hills, Stevenage
The six hills which occupy prominence in the town are tumuli or Round Barrows dating from the Bronze Age. According to legend the hills are spade fulls of earth taken from Whomerly wood and thrown at the town by a giant (or the Devil) intent on destruction. His last shot went well off mark and knocked the steeple off Gravely Church two miles away.
Alderman Hill and Alphin Pike
In legend the rolling boulder-strewn hills of Alphin Pike and Alderman Hill were the abodes of the giants Alphin and Alderman, after whom the peaks were named. Alphin and Alderman were at first on friendly terms, until they both became enamoured with a beautiful water nymph called Rimmon, who lived in the valley below them in the bubbling waters of Chew Brook.
The Cerne Abbas Giant
The Cerne Abbas Giant or the ‘Rude Man’ is one of the largest hillfigures in Britain, he (the figure’s gender is beyond doubt) is one of two representations of the human form, the other being the Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex. The giant, carved in solid lines from the chalk bedrock measures in at 180 feet high, and carries a huge knobbled club, which measures 120 feet in length.
Spinsters Rock
Spinsters Rock is a burial cairn dating to the early Bronze Age. The structure was re-erected in the 1862 after collapsing earlier in the year.
According to folklore the rocks where erected by a group of three spinsters who where on a journey to deliver some wool. Obviously these three women where seen as giants having the strength to carry such a heavy burden.
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