Giant
The Giant Sisters
One hammer, two chapels, and a two-mile throw.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Roofless 14th-century chapel ruin on a sandstone hill
- Legend from
- J. B. Dashwood (1868), as cited by later writers
- Tone
- Light-hearted
Two hills, two chapels, two giant sisters and only one hammer. Watch the sky over the Wey.
Two chapels stand on two sandy hills on either side of the Wey valley near Guildford: St Catherine's, now a roofless ruin, and St Martha's, still in use. The story says they were built by two giant sisters, Catherine and Martha. The sisters had only one hammer between them, so they tossed it back and forth across the valley, about two miles, as each needed it. Some tellings add that they built the chapels to make up for a sin. The tale is credited to J. B. Dashwood's account of 1868. In fact St Catherine's was built in the early 1300s.