Wake the Giant

This weekend sees the annual effort to "wake the giant" take place in Warrenpoint, where a 36-foot giant named Finn is in need of rousing! Part of the Giant Adventure programme, this celebrates the place of the giant in the myth and legend of the North, and will see collaborative performances, a parade, and even an appearance from Finn himself - if we're lucky!

One of the most famous giants of the North is Charles Byrne, not a mythological figure but a real man who lived from 1761 - 1783. Byrne is often known as 'the Irish Giant,' and was something of a celebrity in London society for a year or so. Thought to suffer from a pituitary tumour, the source of his remarkable growth, Byrne died young and his end was inauspicious. Afraid of being dissected by anatomists (namely, John Hunter), which was seen as a mark of infamy at the time, Byrne made arrangements for his own burial at sea - but his corpse was interrupted on its journey. falling into the very hands he had sought to avoid, and under Hunter's knife. 

In this film, Brendan Holland, a descendant of Byrne's, learns more about his connection to the giant, as well as taking the viewer through his own story. The same tensions between myth and science pervade the piece, and we are reminded that controversy continues to haunt the departed giant as his skeleton has for many years been displayed in the Hunterian, continuing the contravention of his wishes. With the museum closed until 2020, commentators have suggested that the time has come to grant the Irish Giant his wish, and commit him to the endless depths of the ocean. While Warrenpoint will be aiming to wake the giant this weekend, perhaps soon Charles Byrne will, at last, rest in peace.