Gogmagog
Gogmagog EuropeOr Gourmaillon, the giant figure cut into the chalk hills near Cambridge. Although the age and identity of this pre-Celtic figure remains a mystery, as do the other chalk-cut figures to be found in southern England, there can be little doubt that it was connected with the fertility rites of prehistoric religion. An Elizabethan edict actually forbade Cambridge undergraduates from attending festivities then held near Gogmagog; they were too lewd.
The legend of giants in Britain is old. In his Historia Regum, written in the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth states that the island was once peopled by a race of giants. They died out, and Trojan settlers led by Brut captured the last two. The name of Britain came from Brut the giant-killer.
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