Cerne Abbas Giant

The Cerne Abbas Giant dominates the hillside above the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset: a 55-metre figure cut in chalk, male, naked, and unmistakably aroused, wielding a knotted club in his right hand. He is one of the most startling prehistoric figures in Britain — and one of the most mysterious, because unlike the Uffington White Horse, no medieval or earlier documentary record of him has yet been found.

The silence of the medieval record has led some historians to suggest he was cut relatively recently — perhaps in the seventeenth century as a political satire. Others maintain his origins are genuinely ancient, pointing to parallels with the Roman Hercules (club, nakedness, heroic scale) and suggesting he was created or adapted during the Roman period. The National Trust now owns and maintains him; the debate about his age continues.

Whatever his origin, the fertility tradition attached to him has been persistent and energetic. Women wishing to conceive were said to sleep on the figure, and particularly within the outline of his most prominent feature. The Maypole at Cerne Abbas was historically erected just above the giant's head. The tradition has been documented from the eighteenth century and continues informally today.