John Middleton the Childe of hale
“HERE LYETH THE BODIE OF John Middleton the Childe of Hale. Nine feet three. Borne 1578. Dyede 1623.” - so reads the inscription on the great stone slab which marks the giant’s grave.
John Middleton was born in Hale in 1578 a normal and healthy baby of humble peasant stock. Middleton grew to a height of nine feet and three inches (2.8m), so tall it is said, that he had to sleep with his feet sticking out of the window of his tiny cottage (a plaque is visible on the cottage which is just a minute or two’s walk from the churchyard). Because of his ‘formidable appearance’ Middleton was employed as a bodyguard by a local landlord called Gilbert Ireland
John Middleton the Childe of hale
“HERE LYETH THE BODIE OF John Middleton the Childe of Hale. Nine feet three. Borne 1578. Dyede 1623.” - so reads the inscription on the great stone slab which marks the giant’s grave.
John Middleton was born in Hale in 1578 a normal and healthy baby of humble peasant stock. Middleton grew to a height of nine feet and three inches (2.8m), so tall it is said, that he had to sleep with his feet sticking out of the window of his tiny cottage (a plaque is visible on the cottage which is just a minute or two’s walk from the churchyard). Because of his ‘formidable appearance’ Middleton was employed as a bodyguard by a local landlord called Gilbert Ireland