This picture was taken on one sunny day during a bike ride to a small hamlet called Hale village on the outskirts of the city of Liverpool.
It is one of those rare places near-ish such a major city (it is a 25-mile round trip cycle from where I live in the city centre) that still has traditional thatched cottages, and the rural feel of the cycle out to Hale village gives you the impression of getting out into the countryside, with rolling fields mainly growing commercial crops of peas and potatoes.
But without a doubt, the most interesting story of Hale village is that of the legend of The Child of Hale.
As the story goes, a giant man called John Middleton was born in Hale in 1578, allegedly 9 feet 3 inches (or 2.82 metres) tall, John was reputedly extraordinarily strong and had to sleep with his feet out of the window of his small house.
These legends are unsurprising when you see me standing next to the statue of John Middleton in the title picture of this post... I am 6 feet one inches (or 1.85 metres) tall and am dwarfed by this giant.
I have heard tales of The Child of Hale having 'learning difficulties' which made him susceptible to exploitation by acquaintances who used his size and reputation to their advantage. However, these rumours are very much a disputed myth known to many Scousers (the colloquial term for people from Liverpool) and have never been proven as fact.
One thing is certain... history tells us that John Middleton attracted the attention of the sheriff of Lancashire for his size and was hired as a bodyguard.
When King James I stopped by in 1617 to knight Ireland he heard about Middleton and invited both of them to the court, which they accepted in 1620. Middleton beat the King's champion in wrestling and in doing so broke the man's thumb. He received £20, a large amount of money in those times. Jealous of his wealth, Middleton's companions mugged him or swindled him out of his money while he was returning to Hale. Middleton died impoverished in 1623.
Source Wikipedia
This adds weight to the 'word of mouth' belief that The Child of Hale was indeed named as such due to him possessing a lower mental age than his years, thus his companions ease in swindling him and eventually leaving John destitute.
I personally believe that it did happen this way.
I think The Child of Hale was a victim of the times, probably a relatively gentle soul who had to abide by the dreadful algebra of necessity as the late great Terry Pratchett coined it.
The Child of Hale was a man who committed necessary acts to survive in a brutal time, but who eventually paid for his trusting nature with robbery, destitution and eventually death.
A sad story I know, but so often history is littered with stories like this; tales of the strange, weary and forgotten souls who paid the price for being different.
Thanks for reading 🌿
All photos and media design used in this post are my own.
Camera: Samsung S7 Smart Phone.
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