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105:, but the long journey tired him, so one day he cut across the land of the Wisbech Giant. The giant took this badly and fetched his club to beat Tom, but at this point Tom took the axletree and cartwheel and fought the giant. After a furious battle the giant was killed. Tom took his land and was from then on held in esteem by the people of the area.
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features his battle against the
Wisbech Giant. There are still references to Hickathrift in the Wisbech area: Hickathrift Farm, Hickathrift House and Hickathrift Corner exist. The large indentation known as Hickathrift's Washbasin has however been built over. A large stone cross remains in Tilney All
120:. Gomme's introduction states that there was evidence that an axle-tree and cartwheel had figured on a stone tomb in Tilney churchyard and local accounts associated these with a man named Hickifric who had withstood the tyranny of the lord of the manor.
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and although initially lazy and gluttonous, he was prodigiously tall and it soon became apparent that he had the strength of twenty men. Various proofs of his strength are given: he carried twenty
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of straw and a tree as if they weighed nothing, kicked a football so far that nobody could find it and turned the tables on four men who tried to rob him. He eventually got a job carting beer in
140:): they were both known for fighting giants, ate prodigiously and used a hammer-like weapon (there is even a suggestion that the "miller" and Thor's hammer
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there is a depression in the ground, where it is said a cannonball landed after he threw it to scare away the devil (in this version Tom is a giant).
74:. When his makeshift weapon broke he grabbed a "lusty rawboned miller" and used him as a weapon instead. This exploit earned him the governorship of
46:. He famously battled a giant, and is sometimes said to be a giant himself, though normally he is just represented as possessing giant-like strength.
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In the
Wisbech area naughty children were told "Old Tom Hickathrift'll get you" and an old rhyme was still well known in the 1920s.
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Various stories of his exploits have grown up. In one version he is fabled to have been a simple labourer at the time of the
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From time to time the story of Tom is reenacted, as occurred in
Wisbech in 2016 as part of a HLF funded project.
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Saints churchyard, thought to be the last of three that were collectively known as
Hickathrift's Candlesticks.
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The
Hickathrift website contains a children's play, poem and other material drawing on the legend.
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A character named
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491:. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1891. pp. 89–116.
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1894 illustration of Tom
Hickathrift battling the Wisbech Giant
301:"Fenland Family History Society: Walpole St. Peter Church"
172:, although Borrow places his exploits as far north as
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VrPQmXOSqA&t=1s
128:It has been suggested that he echoes the Norse god
223:The folktale features in the Enid Porter project.
278:. London: Helicon Publishing. 1992. p. 499.
276:Brewer's Concise Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
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256:Monger, Garry (2020). "Giants and Dwarves".
58:and to have killed a giant in the marsh at
246:. London: John Russell Smith. 1849. p. 81.
16:Legendary figure of East Anglian folklore
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392:Cambridgeshire Customs & Folklore
347:Comparative Studies In Nursery Rhymes
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350:. London: Duckworth and Co. p.
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330:. New York: G. P Putnam's and Sons.
258:The Fens: Wisbech & Surrounding
179:The elaborate moulded plasterwork (
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244:Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales
183:) decorating the Old Sun Inn in
108:Jacobs cites his source as the
42:— a character similar to
489:Folk-lore and Legends: English
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394:. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
324:Jacobs, Joseph, ed. (1894).
299:Barbara Holmes (July 2006).
144:come from the same source).
116:from around 1660, edited by
93:, Tom lived in marsh of the
524:Fairy tale stock characters
211:The church and the steeple,
34:) is a legendary figure of
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367:Thomas Hickathrift (Giant)
242:Halliwell, James Orchard.
215:And still had not enough.
519:Legendary English people
327:More English Fairy Tales
213:And then all the people,
207:He ate a cow and a calf,
529:Cambridgeshire folklore
485:Tibbitts, Charles John
406:"Pupils enjoy a giant"
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534:Lincolnshire folklore
369:. Ketton Publishing.
365:Peter Jeevar (1993).
44:Jack the Giant Killer
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390:Enid Porter (1969).
549:English fairy tales
436:Enid Porter Project
152:He is mentioned in
78:. At the church in
66:armed only with an
50:Life and adventures
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432:"Tom Hickathrift"
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461:Hickathrift
134:Anglo-Saxon
118:G. L. Gomme
95:Isle of Ely
89:as told by
513:Categories
487:(C.J.T.).
306:30 October
230:References
87:fairy tale
199:trilogy.
181:pargeting
72:cartwheel
68:axle-tree
344:(1906).
197:Hereward
165:Lavengro
110:chapbook
40:folklore
38:English
142:Mjolnir
124:Origins
112:in the
103:Wisbech
85:In the
64:Norfolk
544:Giants
466:13 May
441:13 May
416:13 May
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76:Thanet
60:Tilney
264:: 18.
189:Essex
138:Þunor
468:2022
443:2022
418:2022
371:ISBN
308:2006
280:ISBN
162:and
130:Thor
168:by
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