A
gigantic early Irishman was recorded in the pages of the Strand
Magazine in December 1895. The giant was of roughly the same
dimensions as the creature disinterred by St Patrick, but his
posthumous effect upon the world was of a decidedly more spectacular
nature. The article is well worth quoting at length. Pre-eminent
among the most extraordinary articles ever held by a railway
company is the fossilised Irish giant, which is at this moment
lying at the London and N.W. Railway Company's Broad Street
goods depot, and a photograph of which is reproduced here. This
monstrous figure is reputed to have been dug up by a Mr Dyer
whilst prospecting for iron ore in Co. Antrim. The principal
measurements are:- entire length, 12ft. 2 inches; girth of chest
6ft. 6 and a half inches; and length of arms, 4ft. 6 inches.
There are 6 toes on the right foot. The gross weight is 2 tons
15 cwt; so that it took half a dozen men and a powerful crane
to place this article of lost property in position for the Strand
Magazine artist. Dyer, after showing the giant in Dublin, came
to England with his queer find and exhibited it in Liverpool
and Manchester at sixpence a head, attracting scientific men
as well as gaping sightseers. Business increased and the showman
induced a man named Kershaw to purchase a share in the concern.
In 1876, Dyer sent this giant from Manchester to London by rail;
the sum of £4.2.6d. being charged for carriage by the
company, but never paid. Evidently Kershaw knew nothing of the
removal of the 'show,' for when he discovered it he followed
in hot haste, and, through a firm of London solicitors, moved
the Court of Chancery to issue an order restraining the company
from parting with the giant until the action between Dyer and
himself to determine the ownership was disposed of. The action
was never brought to an issue.
The
photograph of this fossilised (and therefore incredibly ancient)
titan is extraordinary, for it shows a well-proportioned human
being with arms folded across his chest and the head lying sideways
as if asleep. The body resides in a huge crate that is leaning
against (and towering above) a normal goods truck in a railway
siding. The lineaments of this antediluvian giant are beautifully
symmetrical, and its tremendous height gives it an aura of weird
power. As will be shown, these finds do not exist in isolation;
they are the physical corroboration emphasising the underlying
strata of all giant mythology.
The
memories of giants are strong in Ireland, where a whole prehistoric
race, the Fomoiri, are remembered as being among the island's
first gigantic inhabitants. They came as seafarers out of the
depths of the western Atlantic and were supposed to have entered
Ireland just after the ubiquitous Flood that finally wrecked
the antediluvian world. The word 'Fomor' has been translated
as meaning 'giant' and the Fomorians are also sometimes designated
as gods, masters of the fertilising powers of Nature, wielders
of thunder and lightning, sowers of mists and rain. They are
in fact thinly disguised guardians of the earth's natural energy
systems often interpreted in a metaphysical form. As we have
seen, this is a far from uncommon occurrence m mythological
history.
In
the English archives there is an important parallel to St Patrick's
Irish giant and it is found buried in the pages of an old book,
History and Antiquities of Allerdale. This work is a compendium
of folk-tales, legends and factual historical data relating
to Cumberland and certain localities centring around the Lake
District. The entry pertaining to the giant differs from the
usual treatment of this theme, for it is not a story but is
rather a sober description of the uncovering of a giant's body
sometime in the Middle Ages. The entry is headed, 'A true Report
of Hugh Hodson of Thorneway,' and reads as follows: The said
gyant was buried four yards deep in the ground, which is now
a corn field, his grave being marked by an old, upright stone.
He was four yards and a half long, and was in complete armour:
his sword and battle-axe lying by him. His sword was two spans
broad, and more than two yards long. The head of his battle-axe
a yard long, and the shaft of it all of iron, as thick as a
man's thigh, and more than two yards long. His teeth were six
inches long, and two inches broad; his forehead was more than
two spans and a half broad. His chin bone could contain three
pecks of oatmeal's. His armour sword and battle-axe are at Mr.
Sand's of Redington, and Mr. Wyber's at St Bees in Cumbria.
Text
and picture abridged by Gary Biltcliffe from Sowers Of Thunder
Anthony Roberts 1978 Rider and Co London
Genetics
and Genealogy Display Prints and Key Texts
