Free Folklore of Yorkshire by Kai Roberts Page A

Forks House stile. Their numbers were such that they were able to easily overcome the giant and decapitated him, allowing his head to roll into the delph below. His body, meanwhile, turned to stone and it is said that a fragment of the giant’s petrified form can still be seen beside the path which leads from the Brontë waterfalls to Top Withins. This relic is known as the Cuckoo Stone, although authorities are divided as to whether it is actually a natural earth-fast rock or an artificial standing stone.
    If the Cuckoo Stone was an ancient standing stone, this would be entirely consistent with other giant lore, as local legend is just as ready to attribute the anomaly of ancient megaliths to the work of giants. A substantial Bronze-Age burial cairn on Burley Moor (part of the Rombald’s Moor massif) known as Little Skirtful of Stones was variously credited to Rombald or his wife. In one version of the tale, his wife spilled the stones she was carrying in her apron whilst stalking across the moor in pursuit of her husband. In another, the stones were dropped by Rombald himself as he carried them to construct a bridge over the River Wharfe in the valley below. Similar tales are told of the creation of the less well-preserved Great Skirtful of Stones nearby, although some sources suggest this cairn in fact marked the grave of the giant.

    Little Skirtful of Stones on Rombald’s Moor, spilled by the giant’s wife. (Kai Roberts)
    The motif of a giant’s grave was frequently attached to actual ancient burial sites, suggesting that folk may have dimly recognised the purpose of such monuments long before barrow-digging antiquarians confirmed it. The substantial dimensions of such tombs must have seemed fit for giants and there are a number of places known as ‘Giant’s Grave’ spread across the county. Although many lack any detailed narrative, their names remain as a clue to the associated lore. Sadly, a number have been entirely destroyed by deep-soil ploughing and stone theft over the centuries, but a particularly notable example can still be seen in Halton Gill, beneath the distinctive bulk of Pen-y-ghent. The badly damaged site remains largely inscrutable, but it is thought to represent the remains of a late Neolithic chambered cairn or an early Bronze Age round barrow.
    The remains of the chambered cairn known as Stony Raise on the flanks of Addleborough in Wensleydale represent the largest example of such a monument in Yorkshire, even after a great quantity of stone was removed for building material in the early nineteenth century. It is scarcely surprising that such an imposing site became associated with the activity of giants. The cairn was supposedly created when a giant transported a heavy chest of gold from Skipton Castle to Pendragon Castle in the Eden Valley. As he crossed Addleborough, the burden became too great and he collapsed, letting the horde fall to the ground beside him. This accident caused the giant to blaspheme and at this exhortation the earth itself rose over the chest in pious defiance.

    Wade’s Stone near East Barnby, grave marker of the legendary giant. (Kai Roberts)
    Meanwhile, Wade was supposedly buried beneath a standing stone known as Wade’s Stone or Wade’s Grave, near East Barnby. There was once a second stone some 12 feet away from the first and it was believed that these two marked his head and feet respectively. This site stands a small distance from the shell of Mulgrave Castle, also reputedly the work of Wade. The ruins seen today are actually the remains of the second castle to have stood on the site, constructed in the late eleventh century by Nigel Fossard, who was gifted land around Whitby by the Conqueror himself, and not destroyed until 1647 on the orders of the Long Parliament, following its use as a Royalist garrison during the Civil Wars.
    However, the Norman castle replaced an earlier Saxon fortification and it was this building which was credited to Wade. In this