Britain's rudest chalk figure is undergoing a much-needed touch up – and your Daily Star rolled up our sleeves and got our hands dirty.
The Cerne Abbas Giant, located near the Dorset village, is a mysterious 55-metre tall outline of a naked club-wielding man thought to be 1,000 years old. For centuries, locals and more recently the National Trust have maintained the figure with tonnes of chalk and elbow grease.
The hard work was usually carried out once a decade. However, extreme weather – more rain and intense spells of sunshine – has dimmed the figure in recent years, so the polishing commenced earlier than usual.
Daily Star man Dan Grennan answered the call and joined the 200-strong volunteers trying not to rub the mysterious figure the wrong way. Luke Dawson, National Trust Lead Ranger for Dorset, explained the process of “polishing” the Cerne Abbas Giant.
The old chalk is dug up and taken off site to be used to fill farmyard potholes. It is no easy task because, if the outline was straightened out, there would be 450 metres of chalk outline about a foot wide.
The National Trust staff and volunteers then spread two layers of wet chalk with hand trowels to form the new outline.
Wet chalk is being used for the first time because it “sets like a rock” and takes longer to be eroded in the hotter and wetter climate.
Luke said: “The first layer we left nice and rough so it grips a bit like a plaster. The top layer, we are doing now, is smooth so it doesn't get seeds and soil settling in.
“17 tonnes of chalk is what we usually need but we have ordered an extra 10 tonnes. I reckon we will use half of the new order so it’ll come out as 22 tonnes used.
“The rest will be used to repair the hill forts in the area.”
Liz Flight, Senior Visitor Experience Officer at the National Trust, told the Daily Star: “I like to think that the Cerne Giant stands proud over the area, guarding the archaeology and the wildlife.”
