THE “GIANTS THUMB,” 
PENRITH PARISH CHURCHYARD. 
By GEO. WATSON. 
(Read before the Penrith Society. ) 
THE mutilated cross in Penrith Churchyard, popularly known as 
the Giant’s Thumb, is a relic of great antiquarian interest, and has 
lately been brought prominently before the public mind in conse- 
quence of its temporary removal, for the purpose of being more 
worthily placed upon a pedestal, and out of harm’s way of the 
widened public footpath through the churchyard, 
This old cross belongs to a class of early Christian monuments, 
whose age antiquarians are seldom able to agree upon more 
precisely than as being between the Sixth and the Twelfth 
centuries. They are variously spoken of as Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, 
and Runic crosses; the latter term, however, is loose and mis- 
leading—for in many instances crosses are so called when no 
Runic characters are to be found upon them. 
It is scarcely possible to speak of the Giant’s Thumb without 
referring also to the Giant’s Grave, which is universally acknow- 
ledged to be one of the most interesting, as it is also one of the 
most inexplicable, monuments of antiquity to be met with in the 
country. 
The earliest reference to Penrith church I have met with is in 
Camden’s Britannica, written early in the 17th Century ; he says, 
“Penrith, generally called Perith, is adorned with a pretty hand- 
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