193: The British Giant

Lundy seems to have had a "primaeval" population: since flint flakes and pottery have been found in and near the many small tumuli which dot the surface.

In 1856 two skeletons were discovered on the south part of Lundy Island, in Devon, England. One was 8ft 5in, and the other was 8ft 7in (2.56m). They were buried in stone-lined graves with several other average sized skeletons. Lundy has been mentioned in historical literature for millennia and the Romans were told the inhabitants were, “a specially holy race of men...who refused trade and had visions of the future.”

In old legends, rock-wielding giants who were masters of sorcery were said to be buried there. These giants of Great Britain “...were driven there from bases in Cornwall and … angrily hurled rocks back to the mainland.” Lundy is also one point on the great Lunation Triangle connecting it with Stonehenge and the Preseli Bluestone quarry in South Wales.

Either in the coffins themselves or beside them, (sources vary), were found some pale blue stone beads and some fragments of pottery. The date attributed to the beads, and also the graves, is anywhere from Roman times to the 14th century. The beads were apparently sent to Bristol Museum but there seems to be no record of what happened to the human remains (anyone surprised?).

More accounts....

While digging foundations for the wall of the rickyard, they came upon a pair of 'kists', or stone coffins, built of granite, and each covered with a large slab. The larger grave was loft, in length, and provided with a lump or pillow of granite, hollowed out for the reception of the head of a gigantic skeleton which lay within. The feet rested on another block.

The smaller cist, which also contained a skeleton, was but 8ft. long, and differed from the other in having no head or foot rest. Both were covered with a pile of limpet shells. Mr. Heaven was sent for, and the skeletons carefully measured. The larger had a stature of 8ft. 2in. Mr. Heaven was present the whole time, and not only saw the measurement taken, but, as he himself told me, saw one of the men place the shin-bone of the skeleton against his own, when it reached from his foot half-way up his thigh, while the giant's jaw-bone covered not only his chin, but beard as well. The skeleton in the smaller cist, although that of a very tall person, was thought little of beside that of the giant. Mr. Heaven, who has some knowledge of anatomy, considered it to be that of a woman. Close by seven other skeletons were discovered, but these were of ordinary stature, and buried without stone coverings. At the end of the line lay a great quantity of the bones of men, women, and children, buried in one common grave. Some glass and copper beads and one of gold were found with these bones, and a few fragments of pottery. Some of these were preserved, and the bones were then covered up.\

In 1928 and 1933 two separate attempts were made to re-discover the Giants' Graves. These were unsuccessful in that no cist structure was found , though more individual burials were revealed and these appeared to be dated by coins and pottery to the 15th century. The present author, involved in the 1960s in an island-wide archaeological survey, conducted excavations in the field adjacent to the farm buildings erected in the mid- 19th century. Two sites of relevance were discovered:

a - A rock-cut ditch associated with occupation material of the mid I 2th century, and possibly the site referred to in the Orkneyinga Saga as a 'stronghold ' to which Swein Asleifsson pursued Hold of Bretland. This was sealed by a massive 2m thick wall, ostensibly part of the 13th century stronghold of the documented Marisco family.

b - A Christian cemetery, with burials in orderly rows, some of which were detected with the help of the field notes of the 1928 and 1933 investigators. One grave was completely excavated and showed the burials to have been dug through a midden of the 14th/15th century and to have been sealed by a midden of the early 17th century. It contained large quantities of limpet shells and pottery, and overlay a granite grave slab of trapezoidal shape, other examples of which are still to be seen in the 19th century foundations of farm buildings on the island.

The sequence of activity on this site can therefore be summarised as follows:12th century: the presence of an occupied and defended structure, with rock-cut ditch.

• Early 13th century: levelling of this site and the construction of a further defended structure.

• Mid 13th century: demolition of this structure. (Both the archaeological and historical evidence support this interpretation.) Post 13th century: midden extended over the site and continued in use until the mid- 15th century.

• Post 15th century: Christian cemetery laid out but was itself to be the site of a midden by the early 17th century.

• 19th century: farm construction removed grave slabs and eventually uncovered the burials which are the subject of this note.

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The grave was suspected to be around 12th century, due to bones not lasting long on Lundy Island due to the conditions. Yet, buried as they were, under stone and not soil, one cannot be sure of their date. The only thing that is sure, it the length of the skeletons.