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Beowulf: Local legend or monster myth?
IT is a world where topless men fight off the unwanted attentions of fierce dragons.
Some might say the image resembles Hartlepool town centre after closing time on a weekend night.
In fact the scene is part of new multi-million pound fantasy movie Beowulf.
The film, whose stars include Angelina Jolie and Ray Winstone, may still yet owe a debt to Hartlepool.
For opinion is divided over whether the legend its storyline is based on is actually set in town.
The argument mainly centres on the similarity between the world where Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is based – Heorot – and the earliest name for Hartlepool – Heretu.
Heorot, which can also be loosely translated into Hart, was initially a great hall built for the Danish people.
Furthermore an archaeological dig in our own Hart Village, on the outskirts of Hartlepool, later found the remains of a hall.
Local author Paul Screeton, who has written about the area's myths and legends, adds: "There was a big dig in Hart village a number of years ago which found the remains of a very large wooden structure from the Anglo-Saxon times."
"Local Victorian author David Haigh also proposed that everything in Beowulf did happen in the Hartlepool area.
"Other people have argued that the whole epic took place in Denmark, Sweden or even Kent. I would like to think it could have happened in Hartlepool though.
"Certainly the great big hall in Hart Village gives some very good circumstantial evidence that it could have happened here."
Mail columnist Alan Wright is also convinced of a link between Hartlepool and the legend.
He visited Denmark, where the 8th century poem is set, in the early 1980s with Hartlepool Round Table and spoke at length to a Danish expert about the tale's origins.
Mr Wright said: "I remember studying Beowulf at university and was fascinated by the links with Hartlepool.
"I spoke to a Danish lecturer on a Round Table trip to the fishing port of Hirtshals and he said it was widely accepted that the place in Beowulf was ancient Hartlepool. He was absolutely convinced."
In the poem, Heorot Hall is invaded by Grendel, a half-human monster, who is slaughtered by Beowulf.
This incurs the anger of the beast's mother who will use any means possible to take her revenge. An epic battle then follows.
Not everyone, however, is as convinced of Hartlepool's claim on the new Hollywood hero.
Robin Daniels, from the Hartlepool-based Tees Archaeology service, said: "We have had a number of queries on this over the years.
"The earliest name for Hartlepool is Heretu and it is the apparent
similarity between that and Heorot that fuels the rumours.
"The claim itself came from Denmark but it is pure coincidence. It has no connection."
Mark Simmons, regeneration officer for Hartlepool Borough Council's museum service, added: "The Beowulf story is based on part fact and part legend with lots of stories mixed together.
"There has never been any evidence to say it was set in Hartlepool. It is far more likely that it took place in Scandinavia.
"Everyone in Hartlepool will have known about the story at the time just like everybody knows about the story of Robin Hood now.
"If there was a big link between Beowulf and Hartlepool then we would be making a big song and dance about it. But unfortunately there is not."
Yet there may still be one telling clue to keep the myth about a myth going.
Look closely at the official seal for the Hartlepool borough.
It shows a deer standing on the edge of water with a hound on its back.
Legend has it that it was better to stay on dry land and be attacked by hounds than venture into the waters where Grendel lived.
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Weather for Hartlepool
Sunday 27 May 2012
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