| Author | Message | ||
     Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.171.167.11 |
Cerne Abbas In today’s TIMES newspaper (17 Nov 09) there is an article about the Cerne Abbas chalk giant (liberally featured in the ‘Cern Zoo’ book) and its oft mis-orthographised ‘hadron’. ‘Hadron’ is Greek for ‘stout or thick’. The article debates the identity of the original creator of the giant and Lord Holles is proposed: “One resident who may have been responsible ... Denzil Holles, a characterful MP who fought for the Parliamentarians but was a Royalist at heart and who occupied the house from 1642-66.” The ‘house’ in question is the Abbey of Cernes “transformed into a country mansion in the mid-16th century after the Dissolution of the Monasteries”. That Dissolution was possibly history’s first Collider... A fanblade ferris-wheel laying waste across the land. Holles held Cromwell in contempt. A joke’s butt of the giant? The giant was covered up during the war for fear of the Luftwaffe navigating by his bright outline. The question is how many Holles makes a single Black Holle? | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Have you ever been to Cerne Abbas, Des? There are some wonderfully weird places around that Dorset/Wiltshire area - not just chalk giants, but white horses, strange man-made earth mounds, stone circles (I'd recommend Avebury over Stonehenge - it's much better). I don't want to sound like an advert for the West Country Tourist Board, but it's an interesting place for any student of the strange. I have a real soft spot for the place of my birth.  | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.157 |
Avebury takes your breath away. I've been inside stonehenge at six in the morning, but the sight of those stones rising up around you when you bend into the village is one of the most chilling things you will see. We went to see the giant at the same time but his grass had totally covered him. We saw zip. |