Giants in Devon

Before the giants moved to Cornwall there were quite a few living in Devon.

When Brutus left Asia after the Trojan War he was looking for somewhere to settle and he landed in Devon at Totnes. Along with several other Trojan warriors they discovered the land inhabited by giants and had to fight them for the land. Defeated, the giants took to the hills of Dartmoor and Devon except for Goemagot who had been wounded in the leg. He was discovered hiding in a bog and taken prisoner. He was patched up and well treated by the Trojans and then challenged to a wrestling match with the rest of the giants invited to watch. This match took place on Plymouth Hoe with the giants at one end and the Trojans at the other. The two rivals were in the centre and it is said that the giant was three times the height of an average man.

It was a long hard fight, Corineus was the more skillful but because of the giant's size found it hard to throw him. The giant seized him and hugged him in a bearlike grasp breaking some of Corineus's ribs. Angry now, Corineus hoisted the giant up by his girdle and threw him to the ground. The gound shook and trembled at the impact and Goemagat lay winded. Taking his chance, Corineus grbbed the giant raised him aloft, carried him to the cliff edge and threw him over where his body was dashed to pieces on the jagged rocks below. The sea was stained red with blood for miles around and the remaining giants fled, terrified, across the border into Cornwall. Brutus later became the ruler of the whole land to which he gave the name Britain.

At Plymouth Hoe, on what is now the Citadel, there once was a figure of a giant cut into the chalk soil. This turf cut figure was first mentioned in the audit book of 1486. It is assumed to be that of Goemagot, the giant who was thrown to his death by Corineus, Duke of Cornwall, during a wrestling match. However by 1602 there were two figures, distinguished as Goemagot and Corineus.

When the Citadel was being built gigantic jaws and teeth were apparently found and claimed as being those of Goemagot.

The giant Blunderbus lived on Dinger Tor and had four wives. His favourite was Jennie, she was the youngest and most beautiful. The other wives were jealous of her and would give her all the difficult and dirty jobs. She stayed cheerful through all of this because all she wanted was to make Blunderbus happy. The other three wives didn't like this and made his life a misery by burning his food, not washing his clothes and nagging him continuously. Eventually he tired of this and moved Jennie to a cave on the Cornish cliffs where he would visit her frequently.

One day she was sitting on the cliff when she heard three men plotting to wreck a ship. Later that evening she saw the men leading a donkey with lantern tied to his saddle along the path. This is an old wreckers ruse to make ships think that there is another ship and therefore plenty of deep water inshore. Fearing for the lives of the sailors she gathered up driftwood and set fire to it. Realising there must be danger the ship dropped anchor and sent a boat inshore to investigate. The wreckers were found by the sailors and slain without mercy. The captain of the ship, a Phonecian, was very grateful to Jennie and listened to all her woes before telling her that he had the recipe for 'the most wonderful food you have ever tasted'.

On the next visit by Blunderbus she fed him some of this 'clouted cream' and he was so impressed that he took her back to Dingle Tor with him. After the other wives had tasted it they too welcomed her and pleaded with her to show them how to make it. Soon the fame of this new food had spread all over Devon and people were asking for the recipe. That's how Devon became so reknowned for its clotted cream.

At Haldon Hill, Kenford a giant is said to be butied, his grave marked by two stones at head and foot, although they are a long distance apart. The exact distance is unknown for it was said that it could not be measured.