Search for the Lost Abbey: Cerne Abbas | Time Team (Dorset)

The Cerne Abbas Giant looms large over the Dorset countryside. While the Giant's origin has been a source of debate for centuries, an even greater mystery is what happened to the Medieval abbey that once stood somewhere at the foot of the hill.
Now, a team of archaeologists, led by Dr Hugh Willmott of the University of Sheffield, have launched an investigation to relocate the structure that disappeared following Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Time Team has been covering the action as it unfolds, and we sent Dr Lawrence Shaw to meet Hugh to find out more.
Join us at 7pm (BST) on Saturday 4th May for highlights of the 2023 excavation.
2024 CERNE ABBAS DIG OPPORTUNITY
Would you like to dig at this year's excavations at Cerne Abbas? To find out how to apply, visit: www.hugh-willmott.co.uk/cerne
3D artist's impression model created by Andy Woodhead.
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[@amandachapman4708]

A fascinating lost mediaeval Abbey ... I couldn't but think how Mick Astin would have loved this dig.

[@chris...9497]

I visited in 2002 with friends made on the internet. It was a bucket list dream I had given up on, but my friends paid my fare from the US to the UK. The very first ancient feature I was shown, within hours of touchdown at Heathrow, was the Cerne Abbas Giant. Before I left the UK ten days later, I had seen some small stone circles, then Stonehenge (with the markings of a woodhenge in the carpark), the Avebury Stone Circle, a crop circle in the wheat field beside it, the Uffington White Horse, the Uffington Castle ruins, Dragon Hill (just down the hill from the Uffington Castle, where myth says St George killed a dragon), a stylized dragon crop circle across the road at the bottom of Dragon/Uffington Hill, and a couple additional chalk horses high on hillsides. Actually, now that I cast my mind back to the time, I recall crossing the road by Silbury Hill and walking up a long incline to, I think, the West Kennet Long Barrow I so treasure that experience.

[@poddmo]

I really like this format of supporting and reporting on other teams' digs

[@gregedmand9939]

Imagine: If Time Team could take us along for a 3 month dig? I think the 3 day format was a great idea for the Era of broadcast TV. But perhaps it's time to think a little bigger. To encompass the numbers of viewers, who want to see so much more, from around the world?

[@NationalTreasureExplorers]

Could not agree more, the 3 day thing always bugged the hell out of me lol 😅

[@lenajesse]

I imagined for a brief moment...and then remembered, that it costs more to take a bunch of people away from their day jobs for 3 months instead of just a long weekend. Also, producing a larger amount of content for tv/youtube/patreon/social media/internet would balloon the budget even further... If Time Team could take us along for a 3 moth dig, their number of Patreon supporters would need to grow...by A LOT. 😊

[@EmilyBoulting]

Watch this space!

[@ThePhilcam]

100% imagine archeology on the scale of some of the chateau renovations like the Pethericks… a bit lower tech on the production front but video every day or at least twice a week.

[@Tesserae]

The one aspect of the three-day dig that bothered me was when they on,y found something interesting at 6PM on the last day and then they would have to fill the trenches back in. I wished they could return to the site on the following weekend for another three days and continue the dig. Perhaps this type of multi-3-day-dig could be a cost-effective compromise to the expense of a three-month dig.

[@juliesiefke1173]

Mick would have been delighted!

[@douglasboyle6544]

I'm so happy to hear there will be more coverage of this dig, less than 10 minutes dedicated to this can barely do it justice!

[@GaryNoone-jz3mq]

Hello from the little town of Corowa, NSW in Australia.

[@michellecook2338]

Hi from New Zealand . Love time team . Thanks 😍

[@ModernKnight]

love the video. seeing the brightly painted stone was excellent and a reminder that medieval life was often colourful!

[@faithlesshound5621]

Next time I visit a mediaeval cathedral I'll try to imagine the stonework painted like that. It wasn't always fifty shades of grey.

[@ingerfaber3411]

@@faithlesshound5621 Try googling Danish "kalkmaleri" - it will show the decoration of the church walls and ceiling before the Reformation (1536). The paintings were chalked over but have been restored in many old churches

[@nicoleroth3127]

The painted bits of masonry as well as the floor tiles were just stunning! Just how stunning they must have looked in situ we'll probably never know, because full on daylight and artificial light easily lead to the conclusion, that it looked quite gaudy - to our modern taste that is - when in a more muted light filtering through medieval glass windows or in candlelight, the colour would have to be bright to make an impression. I'd really love to see a church like this, as it would've been in the middle ages. Unfortunately, these days, even when renovating churches, the people responsible seem to prefer a minimalist approach. They renovated the Roman style cathedral (which, except for the cloister was completely destroyed during WWII and rebuild from the original plans) near where I live, and it's now just plain white inside. They even covered the alternating red and white limestones making up the arches that were an absolute hallmark for this style in this region, and I'm still upset about it. It's still a stunning building, but I'm not sure how I feel about the extreme minimalism they opted for. Just one thing they did right, they removed the electricity from the 11th century chandeliers and installed hidden lighting in the ceiling. During high masses, the chandeliers, using real candles again, are now the only source of lighting, and it's breathtaking. That said, there's another Roman style church in that city, and it has it's original painted ceiling. It was cleaned a couple of years ago and the vibrancy of the colours so many centuries later is aweinspiring. But one thing it's not, and that is gaudy, because the light coming in through the windows, while sufficient, is muted. - And yes, I'm aware, that here we're talking Gothic style and with that much bigger windows, but regardless, I'm sure the colourful inside would've been absolutely beautiful and not garishly gaudy.

[@richardh8082]

Thrilled to see comments from across the globe! Hi all from here in the uk! :)

[@soniahamilton9914]

Hello Richard! From Ontario Canada!!

[@bethannyallain5395]

Hi there from Western Massachusetts. I am so glad you given us an update. Thise insitu floor tiles are amazing. I so enjoy Time Team.

[@jublaim]

Hello from south west Sweden; Sjuntorp. I find archeology very exciting and have followed Time Team since late 90s.

[@DakotaRose2546]

Hello from New South Wales, Australia 🙂

[@johnkotick7905]

Hello from Los Angeles, California

[@pamelaroyce5285]

and Pasadena!

[@user-es4cj8ct1o]

Hello from Michigan. USA

[@GaryWNorman]

Hello from Titusville Florida!

[@patriciacashman5553]

Hello from Vermont USA ☮️

[@BritGirl-fg9gj]

Hello from North Carolina

[@s.peters2140]

I eagerly await anything posted by Time Team. Can't wait for the next one!

[@louiseedwards29]

Hello from New Zealand 🙂

[@judithsands2737]

Hello from 🇧🇸

[@judithmccrea2601]

Hi from the Sierra Nevada in California. Love this show!

[@workingguy6666]

This was great.

[@dr.ryttmastarecctm6595]

This is a generational dig. I can envision +30 digging seasons at this site.

[@Divig]

This was so interesting

[@Davlavi]

Loving the segment.

[@desafrique53]

I never tire of tiles.

[@terryt.1643]

Hello from Central Coast California! Love Time Team 🥰👍👍

[@pamelatanner5082]

Hello I used to live in Pismo Beach ⛱️! In Austin TX now

[@jonathanwetherell3609]

I had never even heard of this monastery!

[@Svvithred]

Thank you for this very interesting and informative upload, I absolutely love it when there is an excavation of a previously untouched site!

[@alanmcmillan6969]

Good archaeology!

[@gonefishing167]

Looks great, thank you 🙏🙏👵🇦🇺

[@GaryWNorman]

Fantastic

[@lyher2722]

SUPER INTERESTING.! Beautiful tile floors ! Great find, on the Corinthian column stone carved piece.!

[@AXEL00754]

Greetings from Sydney Australia....

[@Bmg1652]

Hello from Portland, OR. USA !

[@nicolehuffman2995]

Hello from Southern Oregon.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thanks

[@Javaman92]

I like this!

[@gilesellis8002]

Talk about " W O W " factor 😇

[@PtolemyJones]

Funny to imagine an abbey whose windows opened on the image of a giant phallus.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

But was 'it' there when the abbey was in existence?

[@PtolemyJones]

@@Wotsitorlabart According to the timeline given, very much so.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

@@PtolemyJones I was being coy - I meant the phalus. Tests prove that the giant dates from between 700 and 1100 and the Abbey was founded in 987. Those tests were taken from under an elbow and a foot. But those are not what makes the giant famous. Your original comment begs the question - would the monks have tolerated such an image next to their abbey? A soil sample from the giant's most famous attribute might have answered this by indicating as to whether it was created by the late Saxons or was say a scurrilous 17th century addition.

[@PtolemyJones]

@@Wotsitorlabart I doubt people were always as sensitive to such things as they became in the 20th century. Art from back then seems to be full of phallus images, even in the Vatican.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

@@PtolemyJones Indeed. And there are the Sheela-na-gigs (male and female) - but they seem to be a warning against the sins of the flesh. But this is literally on a giant scale! It just seems a lost opportunity that they didn't take samples from the one thing that makes the giant such an intriguing figure.

[@54mgtf22]

Love Time Team

[@jm_c2440]

Thank goodness -- ANYTHING but another FUGOO!

[@mariansmith7694]

I have always wondered what could beunearthed if given more than 3 days.

[@Tawadeb]

This is fascinating. Destroying the monasteries was a heinous act

[@galeng73]

I might be drinking this time around, but this is f*cking awesome. Seriously, it doesn't get much more awesome than this - and I've been on a couple of digs.

[@bigsarge2085]

✌️✌️

[@jesperandersenjever]

Hello from Denmark

[@robynw6307]

Are they children helping with the dig? Wonderful. Get 'em early I say.

[@stephenevans6070]

He wont pull many women, the giant, he's waving the wrong thing about

[@louiseedwards29]

😂😂

[@tardismole]

Absolutely loved Time Team. Just don't like this new format. It's more like a history documentary than an archaeological investigation.

[@georgevaughan1287]

I’ve seen this before. This isn’t new

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

Hi - this is new. It was in summer 2023 and we are returning this summer to continue the story. Thanks

[@cncshrops]

Troll.