Yernagate is a legendary

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

from

English folklore English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the region's Legendary creature, mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, Folk dance, dance, balladry, and Folklore, folktales tha ...

, supposedly a guardian of the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

area of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. The story goes that Yernagate was a giant who got tired of people stealing too much wood from the forest, and threw a man so high that he landed on the moon. Yernagate is also reputed to have taken a nap, causing a mound in the earth to be named Yernagate's Nap.

Origins

The story of Yernagate is an example of one of "the fable of ... gyants in the woods" near

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, mentioned by Daniel Defoe in 1724. Though the etymology of Yernagate is unknown, the traditional link between the New Forest and giants may be connected with the Anglo-Saxon names for the area: "Ytene" and "Jettenwald" (as well as the later anglicisation of "Ettinwood"), which are interpreted by some as meaning "the wood of giants" or the "giant's weald". According to some sources, Yernagate was a giant who was responsible for guarding the forests of Hampshire. Angry with a man for collecting so much wood he almost destroyed the forest, Yernagate threw him so high he landed on the moon, giving rise to the myth of the man in the moon. Yernagate lay down to take a nap at one particular place, forming a mound that then became known as Yernagate's Nap.

Topography

Though recent Ordnance Survey maps depict the site of Yernagate's Nap as being a small deciduous wood to the south of Little Linford Inclosure, according the maps of the 18th and 19th centuries it is actually a circular Bronze Age earthwork, and located on a small hill within Little Linford.

In popular culture

Renamed Yerna, the giant was also a character in a 2025 play by Kit Miles.

References

{{Reflist English giants English mythology New Forest folklore Hampshire folklore