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Photo Pages: Giants Grave, Penrith - Ancient Cross in England in Cumbria
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Submitted by nicoladidsbury on Sunday, 13 February 2005 Page Views: 11488
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 Site Name: Giants Grave, Penrith Alternative Name: Giant's Thumb
Country: England County: Cumbria Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Penrith
Map Ref: NY51653017
Latitude: 54.664279N Longitude: 2.751098W
Condition:| 5 | Perfect | | 4 | Almost Perfect | | 3 | Reasonable but with some damage | | 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site | | 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks | | 0 | No data. | | -1 | Completely destroyed |
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Ambience:| 5 | Superb | | 4 | Good | | 3 | Ordinary | | 2 | Not Good | | 1 | Awful | | 0 | No data. |
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Access:| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access | | 4 | Short walk on a footpath | | 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk | | 2 | A long walk | | 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find | | 0 | No data. |
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Accuracy:| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates | | 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map | | 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map | | 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village | | 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town | | 0 | no data |
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Internal Links:    
External Links:              Giants Grave, Penrith submitted by nicoladidsbury
Ancient Cross in Cumbria. In the graveyard of St Andrews Church at Penrith are two ancient monuments. The most famous is the 'Giants Grave', which is where it is believed that Owen Cęsarius, king of Cumbria between 900 and 937 AD was buried. The 'Giants Grave' is a collection of ancient grave stones comprising two 11' high stone crosses and four hog-back stones. An excavation of the 'Giants Grave' showed a skeleton underneath with a sword. The four hog-back stones surrounding the grave are said to represent wild boar he killed in nearby Inglewood Forest.
The other famous item in the church ground is the 'Giant's Thumb'. This is the remains of a Saxon 'wheel' cross. It has been dated 920 AD.Mannix & Whellan, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland, 1847 write; "In the church yard is a curious antique monument, called the Giant's Grave, consisting of two large pillars, each of one entire stone; one of which is about eleven feet, and the other ten feet eight inches in height, and distant fifteen feet from each other, having the space between them partly enclosed on each side by four large stones of a semicircular form, placed about two feet asunder. The upper parts of the shafts seem to have been ornamented with the cross, 'at once the memorial of man's salvation, and the distinguished badge of the Catholic church.' There is also in the church yard a single pillar called the Giant's Thumb. Several rude and now unintelligible figures appear on some of these stones, which are said by some to have been raised in memory of Owen Cęsarius, an ancient hero of gigantic stature."
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 Giants Grave, Penrith submitted by brigantia
Image taken from Samuel Jefferson's History and Antiquities of Leath Ward, in the County of Cumberland, S. Jefferson: Carlisle 1840.
 Giants Grave, Penrith submitted by gloriamundi
An antiquarian drawing of the Giant's Grave.
 Giants Grave, Penrith submitted by nicoladidsbury
Hog Back stone detail
The intricate carving on this hog back stone has survived the Cumbrian weather for over a thousand years....
The spiral wave detail at the bottom of this stone is an identical design to the carvings at the bottom of the "giants thumb" nearby.
 Giants Grave, Penrith submitted by nicoladidsbury
Giants Thumb
Saxon wheel cross dating to 920AD and said to have been raised as a memorial to Owen Cęsarius, the second to last British King of Cumbria.
 Giants Grave, Penrith submitted by nicoladidsbury
Giants Grave, Viking Crosses and Hogback stones
The 'Giants Grave' is a collection of ancient grave stones comprising two 11' high stone crosses and four hog-back stones. An excavation of the 'Giants Grave' showed a skeleton underneath with a sword. The four hogback stones surrounding the grave are said to represent wild boar he killed in nearby Inglewood Forest.
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