Character
The Childe of Hale
His feet hung out the cottage window.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- A giant's gravestone in a village churchyard
- Legend from
- History and legend; epitaph
- Best time
- Any
- Tone
- Whimsical
Nine feet three, they said. At night the giant slept with his feet out of the window.
John Middleton, the Childe of Hale, was born in the village of Hale in 1578 and was buried in its churchyard in 1623. His epitaph and accounts of the time give his height as 9 feet 3 inches. Legend says he slept with his feet hanging out of the window of his small cottage. Gilbert Ireland, the local landlord and Sheriff of Lancashire, hired him as a bodyguard. When King James I heard of him, Middleton was taken to court. There, Wikipedia says, he beat the King's champion wrestler, breaking the man's thumb, and was given £20. His grave can still be seen at St Mary's.