Cerne Abbas Giant

One of Dorset’s most iconic images, the Cerne Abbas giant stands 55 metres high, naked and erect (in all senses of the word), wielding a club over his head. Carved into the chalk hillside, it is the county’s most visited site, though these days it’s fenced off and you can only view it from a distance. No one really knows when or why it was carved, although it dates from at least Roman times and is most likely to have been an ancient fertility symbol – indeed, for many years it was thought that childless women would be able to conceive if they lay on the giant’s crotch. The best place to view it from is the car park and viewpoint on the side of the valley – to get there, follow the well-signed Giant’s Walk path.