TILNEY ALL SAINTS LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

The Legend of TOM HICKATHRIFT

In the churchyard of Tilney All Saints is a grave. 'Yes', it would be a rare thing to find a churchyard
        without a grave. How many though have the grave of a genuine giant?

Yet in this quiet, little village there is the final resting place of a famous giant, HICKATHRIFT.....
For centuries, even to this modern day, there are scholars still writing about him, talking
about him and arguing about him. You can find the name Tom Hickathrift in historical
literature, in children’s stories and hear of him in local folklore. All of which give various
accounts of his life. The only thing we can say for certain is.........................................
He was a giant of a man!

He was born in a small village, now called Marshland St James, and his grave can be found in
Tilney All Saints. There are so many events linked to him one feels he must have lived
more than one life.
  Children read of him in fairy stories,stories that have him triumphing over another
giant who terrorised the area and killing him with the axle of his cart and using
the cartwheel as a shield.
  He is also depicted as the hero who found the local landowners battling with peasants
driving them off their common land. Once again he used the axle from his
cart and the wheel to turn the tide of the conflict.
                         Locally there are stories of him spending a lot of time at the court of King James 1. 
  To continue on with the local tales would not be practical here, but, a little research
by an interested party would unearth a wealth of stories.
<        Some academics have been debating whether Tom and another giant of a man killed
during the crusades were one and the same, his name being Sir Frederick Tilney
also supposed to be buried in the same churchyard.
         There are two, maybe three monuments to Tom Hickathrift. One is at Terrington St John,
one in our churchyard, the other whereabouts unknown. 
All of which depict a cartwheel and an axle.
   These monuments, approximately three feet high, are called Hickathift’s candles.
The tales of Tom Hickathrift along with the interest in Sir Frederick continue
to be discussed today and probably in future years as well.
                As, would be expected of such a local hero, HICKATHRIFT is the focal point of our village sign.

Meanwhile, if you ask for Hickathrift locally today, you will be directed to a
retirement home built on the supposed site of his house.


EXTERNAL LINKS for HICKATHRIFT
The Legend of Hickathrift
The Tale of Hickathrift