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Large Human Femora in the Church of S. Eustachius, Tavistock

Abstract

TAVISTOCK ABBEY was founded A.D. 961 by Orgar, Earl of Devonshire, and endowed and completed by his son Ordulf A.D. 981. Some bones, said to have been found in an ancient stone coffin in the Abbey ruins, are locally believed to have once formed part of the skeleton of the said Ordulf, a reputed giant. According to William of Malmesbury, this Ordulf could stride across a stream ten feet wide, and he is said, by the same authority, to have torn off the bars from the town gate of Exeter with his hands, and to have wrenched away the hinges with his feet.

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SMITH, W. Large Human Femora in the Church of S. Eustachius, Tavistock. Nature 53, 152 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/053152b0

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