Giants occur in virtually every folklore around the planet and Britain in ancient times was known for its giants. The bible mentions giants both before and after the flood of Noah. Many people believe that they were the offspring of angels and human women as described in the Book of Genesis.

 

[Gen 6:4 KJV] 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.

 

There were giants in the land of Canaan after the flood. There is not any explanation of how they came to be there but they seem to have been evil in nature. The Hebrew words to describe them were Anakim, Nephilim and Rephaim. Anakim are repeatedly described as giants, descended from the Nephilim. Rephaim are another group of giants associated with the Nephilim. Philistine giants, including Goliath, were remnants of these ancient giant clans.

 

The post flood giants do not seem to have been as mighty as the pre flood ones. The further they bred away from their angelic roots the weaker they became. The Israelites were able to defeat them and drive them out of Canaan. However, the giants were able to spread out over the Earth and find strongholds in other places which explains why there are legends of giants all over the world. One of the places where they became famous was Britain.

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In ancient times Britain was known as Albion. There has been a lot of discussion over where this enigmatic name came from. In fact, Albion was the name of a giant who inhabited the island. He was the son of Neptune the sea God, also known as Poseidon (Greek). John Milton told the story in his History of Britain (1670) In Book I he recounts that the land was 

 

"subdu'd by Albion a Giant, Son of Neptune; who call'd the Iland after his own name, and rul'd it 44 Years."

 

Further evidence that Britain was the land of the giants comes from the 12th century historian Geoffrey of Monmouth. He wrote in  Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of The Kings of Britain") that the exiled Brutus of Troy was told by the goddess Diana:

 

Brutus! there lies beyond the Gallic bounds

An island which the western sea surrounds,

By giants once possessed, now few remain

To bar thy entrance, or obstruct thy reign.

To reach that happy shore thy sails employ

There fate decrees to raise a second Troy

And found an empire in thy royal line,

Which time shall ne'er destroy, nor bounds confine.

 

Brutus and his fellow Trojans eventually reached the island of Albion and found it inhabited by a few giants. Brutus named the island after himself giving it the name Britain.

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Geoffrey goes on to recount how the last of the giants were defeated, the largest one called Goëmagot is flung over a cliff by Brutus’ follower Corineus. There are other stories of giants in Britain. In the 14th century, there was another tale that Albina, a goddess associated with the dawn, and her sisters founded Albion and procreated there a race of giants.[23] The "Albina story" survives in several forms, including the Anglo-Norman poem "Des grantz geanz" dating to 1300–1334. This basically explains that the giant race feuded with itself which is why there were only a few left when Brutus arrived.

 

Legends of giants are common in Cornish folklore. In the same way that Somerset is known for its dragons, Cornwall is known for its giants. However, it is not all hearsay. There have been accounts of the bones of giants being found in Cornwall. In the next video I want to look more specifically at the Cornish connection with giants and the biblical connection.

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According to the legendary Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Brutus of Troy arrived in Britain—then named Albion—around 1115 BC. He was said to have landed at Totnes in Devon, where he defeated giants and founded a new Trojan colony, giving the island its name.

 

The invasion of Canaan by the Israelites was in my opinion about 1500 BC although some scholars put it as late as 1200 BC. Either way the defeat of the Canaanite giants was earlier than Brutus’ arrival in South West Britain. The giants could have arrived in Britain after their race was ejected from Canaan. By the time that Brutus arrived they were already in decline. While travelling to Albion Brutus met a man called Corineus and his people. Corineus was also a Trojan and he and his people joined Brutus on his travels. Corineus settled in Cornwall, which was then inhabited by giants. Brutus and his army killed most of them, but their leader Goemagog was kept alive for a wrestling match with Corineus. During the fight, Goemagog broke three of Corineus' ribs; enraged, he picked Goemagog up, ran to the coast, and threw the giant from a high rock into the sea, with the craggy rocks below tearing him to pieces.

 

This story goes to illustrate that in legend at least Cornwall was the home of giants. There are accounts of actual giants skeletons being found in Cornwall. According to folklore, the island of St Michael’s Mount was built by the 18ft tall giant, Cormoran, who carried granite across from the mainland at low tide. About 300 years ago, the skeleton of a real-life giant was discovered entombed in a hidden chamber on St Michael’s Mount.

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During renovations of the church on St Michael's Mount, a small door that had been blocked up was discovered in the south east wall, and upon opening it and following stone steps down into a vault, the skeleton of a very large man was found lying on the floor. Most accounts put his height at 7 feet and 8 inches.

 

Another account of a giant’s remains come from a man called  Richard Carew who wrote the following in 1602:

 

“Not far from the Lands End there is a little village called Trebegean, in English the town of the Giant’s Grave. Near whereunto and within memory certain workmen searching for tin discovered a long square vault containing bones of an excessive big carcase [sic] and verified this etymology of the name.”

Carn Brea castle in Cornwall is the site of human settlements that stretch back millenia. It is said that a mighty giant once lived in this place, terrorising his neighbours. When he grew old he lay down to die and his body turned to stone becoming part of Carn Brea Hill. There are rock formations here known as the Giant’s coffin, the Giant’s head and Giant’s hand, the Giant’s wheel and the Giant’s cradle. There are many other legends of Cornish giants such as Bolster, Trecobben, Wrath, Blunderbore, Rebecks and Cormoran. In my opinion they embody the memory the real giants that inhabited Cornwall in ancient times. They were dying out when people arrived in the region but the memory remains.

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The Book of Giants is an ancient book which expands upon the Genesis narrative of the Hebrew Bible, in a similar manner to the Book of Enoch. Fragments of The Book of Giants were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It sheds light on the nature of giants who were wicked in nature and were part of the reason why God sent the flood on the earth. They were the offspring of the “watcher” angels who God originally sent to instruct humanity in His ways. Instead the watchers rebelled against God and had sexual intercourse with human women, who then birthed a hybrid race of giants. The giants were always evil in their ways and despite the attempts of the godly man Enoch to help them they refused to turn from their evil ways, and acted in defiance against God.

 

Wherever in the world there are stories of giants there are also stories of cannibalism, human sacrifice and other horrible things. In the Cornish legends not all the giants were totally evil but I think that what happened is that the legends grew over the centuries and the real horrible demonic nature of the giants was partly forgotten. They are certainly not to be mourned. The important point for us is that only human beings are made in the image of God and capable of being saved.