<< Our Photo Pages >> Giants Grave, Penrith - Ancient Cross in England in Cumbria
Submitted by nicoladidsbury on Sunday, 13 February 2005 Page Views: 33537
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Giants Grave, Penrith Alternative Name: Giant's ThumbCountry: 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 |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 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. |
| 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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I have visited· I would like to visit
eirrac5 MonumentMen would like to visit
TheCaptain visited on 19th Sep 2022 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4 An evening in Penrith, and despite thinking I knew something like hogback stones were here, I missed seeing the Giant's Grave in the dark with the churchyard gates closed. But I did see the Giant's Thumb carved cross and take a picture of it from the nearby path.
Anne T visited on 10th Oct 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Norse Crosses and hogback tombstones (Giant's Grave), St Andrew's Church, Penrith: On our way to Kirkoswald, we stopped off in Penrith for a coffee and a cake. I remembered from some dim and distant memory that there were some Viking Hogbacks and Anglo Saxon crosses in Penrith but couldn’t remember which church they were in, and there was no mobile signal, so as we were opposite the church we walked into the churchyard anyway. And there was the small collection of 2 Norse crosses and 4 Viking hogback tombstones – very worn.
Inside the northern door of the church, to the right of the western-most ‘Giant’s Thumb’ cross there are some line drawings of the patterns on the crosses and the hogbacks. There is also a church guide, the back page of which has a short description of the Giant’s Grave.
Towards the north western end of the churchyard another cross stands on its own. Closer inspection highlights the inscription at its base, showing this is a reconstruction.
Looking at the Anglo Saxon Corpus just now (22nd October) we missed a couple of other stones – 1 built 4 metres up into the north wall of the tower (very worn) and another upside down near the south west corner of the church. As Penrith is a place we pass reasonably frequently, a repeat visit will definitely be in order!
MAIGO coin nicoladidsbury kelpie have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 3.5 Access: 4.5
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 semi-circular 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 Cæsarius, an ancient hero of gigantic stature."
For more information see Historic England List ID 1007629 and Pastscape Monument No. 12281. The Journal of Antiquities also features a page for this site - see their entry for The Giant’s Grave, Penrith, Cumbria, which includes directions for finding these stones, together with drawings and background history.
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