The 180-foot (55-metre) Cerne Abbas Giant, carved into the side of a chalk hill in Dorset, is restored around every decade to prevent it from fading into the grassy landscape."Typically, we carry out this work every 10 years, but we noticed it was starting to look a bit dull and needed some attention," Liz Flight from the National Trust heritage conservation charity, adding that it was last given a makeover in 2019.
The giant is formed of a series of trenches carved about 30 centimetres deep into the underlying chalk hill © Ben STANSALL / AFP
Flight noted that heavier winter rains were washing away the chalk and increasingly frequent heatwaves had hastened the growth of algae and weeds, blurring the giant's obscene outline.The giant is formed of a series of trenches carved about 30 centimetres deep into the underlying chalk hill, complete with a 10-metre-long erect penis.Its origins remain shadowy, with National Trust research in 2021 revealing that it was likely carved during the late Anglo-Saxon period, between 700 and 1100 AD.Volunteers from far and wide were hard at work on Friday."Some come from the nearby village, others from London, and even from as far away as Australia," said Flight, adding some 300 people had been gathered for the two- to three-week-long project.
