Tom Hickathrift

Tom Hickathrift—also known in some versions as Jack Hickathrift—is a legendary figure from East Anglian folklore, often compared to Jack the Giant Killer. While he is not always portrayed as a giant himself, he is consistently described as having immense, giant-like strength.

Many tales have grown around his exploits. In one popular version, set around the time of the Norman Conquest, Tom is depicted as a simple laborer who killed a giant living in the marshes of Tilney, Norfolk. Armed with only an axle-tree jammed through a cartwheel, he fought and defeated the giant. When his weapon broke, he reportedly grabbed a “lusty rawboned miller” and used him as a club. For this extraordinary feat, he was rewarded with the governorship of Thanet. Another story claims that Tom, as a giant himself, hurled a cannonball to drive off the devil—leaving a dent in the churchyard at Walpole St Peter as evidence.

In the fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs, Tom lives in the marshlands of the Isle of Ely. Though initially lazy and gluttonous, he grows to be prodigiously tall and strong, with the power of twenty men. Tales of his strength include carrying immense loads of straw and trees with ease, kicking a football so far it disappeared, and single-handedly fending off a gang of robbers. He later finds work hauling beer in Wisbech, but weary of the journey, he takes a shortcut through the land of the local giant. The enraged giant tries to attack him, but Tom once again grabs an axle-tree and cartwheel and defeats his foe in a fierce battle. After the victory, he claims the giant’s land and earns the admiration of the local people.

Jacobs based his retelling on a chapbook from around 1660 held in the Pepysian Library, edited by G. L. Gomme. Gomme noted that in Tilney churchyard, a tomb once bore carvings of a cartwheel and axle-tree, which locals associated with a figure named Hickifric. This man, according to tradition, had defied an oppressive local lord, hinting at possible historical roots for the legend.

Some scholars have suggested that Tom Hickathrift may echo older mythological figures like the Norse god Thor (Anglo-Saxon: Þunor), who also battled giants, ate voraciously, and wielded a powerful hammer. There is even speculation that the “miller” used as a weapon in some versions of the tale may symbolically link to Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir.