The Cerne Giant
The Giant is probably the most instantly recognisable feature of the Cerne Valley. He is a naked, club wielding man, carved into a hillside above the village. The Giant’s origin is uncertain. Maybe he was carved in Romano-British times to represent the god ’Hercules’. Perhaps he was created by the Benedictine monks of Cerne Abbey or even by a local nobleman to lampoon Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century. The arguments are set out in more detail on the Cerne Abbas Historical Society website.
The Giant was scheduled as an ancient monument in 1924 and is now in the care of the National Trust. Every few years the chalk infill is replaced by the Trust with the help of local people. The Giant is best viewed from the Giant Viewing Point parking on the A352 road. Alternatively you can walk up Giant’s Hill and around the perimeter fence which protects the Giant. In 2020 the National Trust will be celebrating the centenary of their responsibility for this famous figure. We are looking forward to supporting their activities, including the introduction of a Giant Trail for walkers.
Re-chalking the Giant in 2019 – a local resident volunteer’s story
Earlier this month I was pleased to have the opportunity of participating in a milestone event in Dorset life, that of providing a makeover to the Cerne Abbas Giant. The Giant is one of the most iconic figures in England’s green and pleasant land, along with his friends The Long Man of Wilmington, the Westbury White Horse and the rather unlikely Bulford Kiwi (carved by New Zealand troops waiting for a ship to take them home after the First World War).
The land immediately enclosing the Giant was given to the National Trust in 1920, so next year will be his centenary in Trust ownership. This land is part of a larger enclosure, owned by the Minterne Estate, created for the Giant’s protection against erosion. The National Trust and Minterne arrange for sheep to graze in the enclosure twice a year, in spring and autumn, to keep the site tidy. The hill is too steep for cattle. A small team from the National Trust visits every 2-3 months to strim the edges of the Giant and to clean the chalk lines; the sheep tend to use the chalk lines as paths which has a sullying effect on the pristine whiteness of the great man.
The restoration project just undertaken is generally done every 7-8 years. The last clean-up was in 2008, and we inhabitants of Cerne Abbas were thus delighted when the National Trust was minded to revisit this year in anticipation of the centenary. The activity this month took two weeks. The first four days involved widening and straightening the lines and digging out around 5 centimetres of surface chalk and soil. Michael Clarke, the National Trust’s project manager who masterminded the operation, said that in the 1960’s a far deeper excavation was performed, taking out 30 centimetres. The other days were given over to installing and compacting the fresh chalk. Each day between 15 and 25 staff and volunteers performed the work, from the National Trust, Dorset Countryside and Natural England.
A team of reporters and photographers recorded our hours of toil (one learns fast not to overfill the bags of soil) duly reported on television and in the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the Metro.
The finished product is a joy to behold. In today’s turbulent and troubled times with trade wars, the refugee crisis, Brexit, destruction of the rain forests in Brazil and Indonesia, the Cerne Abbas Giant will continue to put a smile on the faces of all who behold him.
Rupert Valpy, Barton Lodge, Cerne Abbas.
September 2019