Day 5

Day 5
THE GIANT ABBAS

the line drawing of the Giant

Giant from Cerne Abbas seem from the sky. the trendle is seen as a poligonal relief at the top of its head.

Another rainy morning, but the forecast said it would be sunny – at some point.
As I had this big crave to go see the Giant from Cerne Abbas, I realized it would be worthy to get a train to Yeovil, and then the D12 to the little village of Cerne Abbas (Abbas meaning abbey). Traveling by train is slightly different by bus. In the bus there’s more curves and stops, and you enter into little towns and villages, and somehow into the life of the people. The train is faster and straight, but you can’t see much. In the way I still had the chance to see another chalk drawing in the landscape, called the White Horse, but it is a contemporary creation. There is a much older chalk drawing with this name in Uffington, not far from there.

The train really spared me some precious time, as I get to Yeovil in half the time, and still could get the bus to Cerne Abbas with no much trouble. And just left the couch right in front of the Giant, that is great, really. Cerne Abbas is located in very high area, and the giant is in a prominent position there.
The ground beneath the Giant Hill is chalky, but even so is necessary to repair the white lines from time to time, as the rain water washes it. Last time it was made it was necessary 17 tons of chalk. The area was donated to the National Trust in 1920, and they are in charge to take care of it. Looking the Giant from the same plane don't help much, as the access is not allowed. There are better view points on the other side of the valley, but by far the best is from the air.

the view from the hill

There are some reasons for caring this drawing. Like everything exposed to natural conditions, chances are that the drawing can be vanished or vandalized. The Giant is considered a fertility symbol for the Neopagans and couples use to copulate in it for this reason.

The Giant is a 60 meter high drawing of a naked man carrying a club produced by cutting the grass and showing the natural chalk that lays underneath, producing thus a white line. The line as the depth of the cut is about 30 cms. There are some of those chalk drawings in English landscape, but not so many can be considered old. There is another chalk drawing depicting a human figure called the Long Man which is about the same size of the giant and stands at Wilmington. Both figures resemble in size, and in the fact that carries club (Abbas Giant) and two rods (the Long Man).
there's a collection of postcards about the matter here:
http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/hist/hist.htm

one of the modern chalk drawings, that dots England's landscape

Although it is thought as an older monument, there’s no reference of any kind from the Giant until late of the XVII century, when other old monuments had been traced since medieval times. Considering that just beside his head there is a mound called the “Trendle”, that’s been known since medieval times, it is possible that the Giant have been made later. There’s even a malicious comment that the giant would be a caricature of Oliver Cromwell made by a local farmer.

On the other hand the figure looks like an ancient drawing, for its simple lines, the crudeness of the figure with the club and the phallus. It is said to have a sack on other hand and it would therefore portrait a hunter. I think it would be very public if someone do such a figure in the landscape in a little town as Cerne Abbas, especially in the XVII century.

the map shows possible alignments in the area

the view from the top of the hill

The whole group (the Giant and the Trendle) stands on the top of a hill much in the style of the iron age fortresses, and the evidence of ancient site just beside it is from importance. Therefore it is possible that the figure of The Giant can be older, and there are claims on that. The Giant is also related to the roman Hercules and to an even older Celtic god.

street in Cerne Abbas

wonder why they made that