In a unique historical find, historians at the Giants Causeway have happened on a huge pair of wooly underpants which they believe once belonged to infamous Ulster Giant Finn McCool, proving once and for all that he was, in fact, very big. Now the Giant’s Causeway are opening their doors to any who would like to see, or even take a step inside, the giant’s 170 inch-waist pants.

Finn was famous for getting into brawls, including a long-running rivalry with Scottish giant Benandonner, so it was no surprise that the pants were found in a state of heavy disrepair.

Historian Winston Longbottom, credited with having found the pants, said:

Based on the size of the pants, we have theorised that they would have been worn by Finn at some point in his early teenage years, placing him at over six metres tall at the time, a far cry from the fifteen metres he would grow up to be but still means that the huge pants are thought to be the world’s biggest hand-knitted pair of undies ever found.

The team of knitters, using the same variety of the finest Aran wool, supplied by Donegal Yarns, worked for weeks on returning the pants to top condition. Led by Doreen Armstrong of the Ballymena Salvation Army, she describes the pants as “definitely one of the most unusual items we’ve ever knitted but was great fun and we hope people will come along and check them out for themselves.” A huge amount of wool was needed to put it together with the underpants tipping the scales at over 30kgs and, if taken apart, would reach over 26 miles from one end of the wool to the other, which is almost the distance from the Giants Causeway to Scotland.

If you’re unable to come along and see them, you can see how they would’ve looked on the giant himself thanks to a 3D reconstruction, based on the dimensions of the shorts, created by 3D modeller and animator ShiningShisa.

Kevin Murphy, Chief Officer of Voluntary Arts Ireland and leader of the #LovetoKNIT campaign said:

It’s not everyday you’re asked to help repair the underpants of a mythical giant so we were thrilled to get involved. We have great connections with NI’s knitters and crocheters already and that fact that it’s currently #LovetoKNIT month meant we were able to get a team of over 150 knitters from right across the country to help in its repair by sending in pieces of the pants with the Salvation Army in Ballymena then putting it all together – a really remarkable achievement.

To celebrate we’re asking people to knit their own pants – big or small – and share the result with on social media. Just tag your pics with #LovetoKNIT and we’ll share your work with the world!

#LovetoKNIT is the latest creative callout from #Loveto – a rolling campaign that each month chooses a different artform and invites the public to get involved and share their creative passions with the world. Coming up in May is #LovetoFILM so keep an eye on the #Loveto social media pages to find out how you can get involved.

View more pictures of the pants here.

You can follow all the #LovetoKNIT action as it happens via Facebook – www.facebook.com/LovetoHQ and Twitter – www.twitter.com/LovetoHQ. Or search for the hashtag and see what comes up!