{"id":608000,"date":"2026-05-28T06:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/608000\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T06:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:36:09","slug":"rechalking-beloved-cerne-giant-is-a-sticky-process-and-climate-crisis-is-making-it-worse-dorset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/608000\/","title":{"rendered":"Rechalking beloved Cerne Giant is a sticky process \u2013 and climate crisis is making it worse | Dorset"},"content":{"rendered":"

For centuries, the custodians of the Cerne Giant<\/a> have clambered up the dizzyingly steep hill every decade or so to rechalk the outline, making sure the hulking figure can be seen far and wide across the rolling Dorset countryside.<\/p>\n

But the painstaking job, which involves hacking out the grubby old chalk by hand and packing in fresh, felt all the more urgent this week because effects put down to the climate emergency are making the giant a little duller and perhaps a touch more fragile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe giant is hundreds of years old but the modern world is certainly affecting him,\u201d said Luke Dawson, a National Trust lead ranger, as he supervised workers and volunteers who were at work restoring the giant to gleaming glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve noticed algae growth starting to dull the giant\u2019s bright white outline. We can\u2019t say for certain what\u2019s driving that, but warmer, wetter conditions may be a factor. The milder winters and wetter summers make perfect growing conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also seeing more intense rainfall, which can increase water runoff and gradually wear away the chalk, so we\u2019re planning further monitoring to understand the impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jane Hanney-Martin, 50, left, volunteered to help with the rechalking, but the steep terrain can make it an arduous task. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The custom has been to rechalk the 55-metre-tall giant roughly every seven to 10 years. It was last done in 2019<\/a> and before that in 2008<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be we have to adapt and perhaps rechalk more often,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cWe will also explore ways to retain more water within the landscape, for example by allowing areas of scrub to develop and establishing permanent grassland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rechalking technique is being adapted. In 2008 and 2017, it involved packing in dry chalk and tamping it down. \u201cBut that\u2019s very difficult because the hill is so steep,\u201d Dawson said.<\/p>\n

So this time they are experimenting with mixing chalk (they need 17 tonnes of it) with water to create a paste. Dawson said: \u201cIt\u2019s like a putty, which makes it easier to make it stick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe rechalking of the Cerne Abbas Giant, in Dorset | Jim Wileman<\/p>\n

Despite the problems faced, the sight of workers and volunteers scrambling across Britain\u2019s largest chalk hill figure on a bright late spring day was a joyful one. \u201cIt\u2019s a beloved figure,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cEveryone in the village has a connection with the giant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Trust, which owns the site, leads the work but willing helpers so far have included a local vicar and staff from Cerne Abbas Brewery. Children from nearby schools are also booked in to help.<\/p>\n

The hot weather means there have had to be adaptations. In previous years there have been morning and afternoon shifts, but the latter are being cancelled because of the heat.<\/p>\n

Workers have been rechalking for 20 minutes an hour and two gazebos are perched on top of the hill to provide shade. Walnut and lemon cake are on offer, but no chocolate because of the melting risk.<\/p>\n

The figure is well known for its depiction of male genitalia. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Earlier this year a nationwide fundraising appeal enabled the National Trust to buy significant areas of land around the giant, which it says will help protect the wider landscape.<\/p>\n

The appeal, backed by Stephen Fry, reached its \u00a3330,000 target in 60 days<\/a>, with donations flooding in from across the UK and as far afield as Australia, Japan and Iceland.<\/p>\n

Some of those who donated won the chance to help with the rechalking, including Debby van den Berg, a 51-year-old civil servant from Gouda in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

She admitted her family were surprised when she revealed she would spend holiday time rechalking a West Country giant. \u201cBut this is so special, so English,\u201d she said during a break from working on the club.<\/p>\n

The mysterious origins of the figure have long fascinated history buffs. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Van den Berg was puzzled that a figure with such prominent private parts was to be found in the English countryside. \u201cWe think of the Brits as reserved but I don\u2019t think this figure would have survived in Holland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jane Hanney-Martin, 50, a museums manager from the West Midlands, was scraping away the old chalk and vegetation with a mattock. \u201cIt\u2019s lovely to be part of something so special,\u201d she said. \u201cLumping the old chalk uphill to get it away is hard work but it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The giant\u2019s origins have long puzzled historians, prompting theories that it is a depiction of Hercules or a satirical rendering of Oliver Cromwell.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the trust commissioned scientific analysis that revealed it was probably created in the late Saxon period<\/a>, between AD700 and AD1100.<\/p>\n

With a heatwave continuing in the UK, the rechalking has been tricky. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Lunch \u2013 sandwiches from a local pub \u2013 was brought up in a Fortnum & Mason wicker basket. The rechalkers took time to catch their breath, take in the expansive views and try to spot the butterflies that flit here, including the endangered Duke of Burgundy.<\/p>\n

Michael Clarke, a National Trust area ranger who has helped care for the giant for 33 years and is a veteran of four rechalkings, said he was fond of the grand old figure and had noticed the effect the changing climate was having.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast time, we did the rechalking in the late summer\/early autumn and the rain washed a lot of it away. We get complaints when he\u2019s not as bright as people want.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warm weather should dry out the chalk paste nicely and hopefully he\u2019ll just about be as good as new again when we\u2019re done here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For centuries, the custodians of the Cerne Giant have clambered up the dizzyingly steep hill every decade or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-608000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}