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Hill figure

Giant Bolster

St Agnes, Cornwall

A giant who bled to death for love, tricked by a saint.

Bolster was a giant so huge he could stand with one foot on St Agnes Beacon and the other on Carn Brea, six miles away. He fell in love with St Agnes, who asked him to prove it by filling a hole in the cliff with his blood.

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When
Legend
Where
50.3100, -5.2100
Group
Hill figures & giants

Visiting

St Agnes Beacon and the coast path have fine views. The Bolster pageant is held each May.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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