Hero
Giants of Red Castle
Strike the copper basin three times, and the giant comes out.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Ruined castle among sandstone cliffs and caves
- Legend from
- Arthurian tradition, recorded 1830s–80s
- Tone
- Curious
Sixty-four knights were locked in the Giants' Well, until Lancelot came.
Hawkstone Park is a hilly landscape of caves, cliffs and follies near Weston-under-Redcastle, with the ruined Red Castle at its heart. Burne recorded a local belief that King Arthur kept court at the Bury Walls hillfort nearby and fought the giants of the Red Castle. An old couple at the Hermitage Farm, who owned a battered copy of Malory, told Bishop Heber's generation that the giants Tarquin and Tarquinius held knights prisoner in the Giants' Well until Lancelot slew Tarquin. They pointed out the brook that ran with blood for three days and the field where Lancelot killed Sir Carados. Others say the Holy Grail lay in the grotto.