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The Cerne Abbas giant has stood on the side of this hill, overlooking the village, for an indeterminate number of years. The first mention of it was in 1694 amongst the accounts of a church warden, for re- cutting the turf, this is now done every seven years or so. The outline consists of a foot wide trench of about the same depth.


There is no mention of the figure before 1694 however, nor in any medieval documents, this leading some people to speculate that it is not as old as first thought. However, the general opinion is for it to be early AD.


Size
The figure is 180 feet in height and 160 feet in width at the widest point. Apart from the huge club he is wielding over his shoulder, the other obvious feature is that our friend has no need for the new wonder drug Viagra.

It is this fact that has led people to believe that it was built as a fertility symbol, representing the god Hercules. Although I remember reading somewhere that one school of thought was that this part of the giant was a later addition, and like most of these things there is always lots of speculation as to the real facts.


Fertility & Legend
It is said that childless couples hoping for a child should try to conceive while laying on a certain part of the figure. There is also an area just above the figure that is used for a May dance, links once again with fertility rites.


The local tale concerning the site, is that the giant was killed by the villagers, who then cut around the outline of his body in the chalk. Modern scientific opinion however generally discounts this story.
The giant is best viewed from the air, as the hillside is not as steep as other sites with hill carvings, you can however see reasonably well from the road, if your plane is being serviced and is not available for use.


There is a car parking area to one side of the hill, this being the only place to park in these narrow lanes. The small village of Cerne Abbas itself being a very short distance away.

Co-Ords: 366647 101676 / ST 666016  

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