Folklore & legend

The Giant's Grave at Housetter

Beorgs of Housetter, Northmavine

Undated; modern retelling

Shetland With Laurie's series on giants collects several North Mainland tales, none with a cited source. At the beorgs of Housetter in Northmavine there are two standing stones, two metres high and 5.5 metres apart, said to mark the grave of a giant. At Collafirth, an unnamed giant was carrying stones to Yell in a mesh and the handles broke in mid-jump, so the stones fell across the landscape, and a green space among the stones is called the giant's garden.

Spence confirms the general pattern, that Shetland standing stones were put down in popular belief to a race of giants. The record is a thin modern retelling of local tradition, and the pin is placed at Housetter.

Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open ground
Location
60.547, -1.338 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Shetland With Laurie, "Shetland folklore series: A land of Giants" [other]; John Spence, Shetland Folk-Lore (Lerwick, 1899) [public-domain]

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