The Trendle (Cerne Abbas)

Also known as:
Maypole Enclosure and The Frying Pan
Nearest town:
Dorchester (12km SSE)
OS reference:
ST667016
OS sheet:
194
Latitude:
50° 48' 44.68 N
Longitude:
2° 28' 21.75 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of The Trendle (Cerne Abbas) (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by formicaant

The Trendle can be seen as a raised bank, just above the Giant.

Image credit: Mike Rowland 18/10/09
formicaant
formicaant Oct 18, 2009

Articles

Folklore

The Trendle (Cerne Abbas)
Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Oct 29, 2003

Just above the giant’s head is a small square Iron Age earthwork, and a maypole was traditionally raised here, as if another fertility symbol were required.

Childs, the former sexton, well remembers the maypole. It used to be set up in the ring just above the giant. It was made from a fir-bole and renewed every year. “It was raised in the night,” It was decorated with garlands, &c. The villagers went up the hill and danced round the maypole on May I. Nothing of the sort is now done.
.. The maypole was set up, not as is usual elsewhere, in the town, which possesses two convenient spaces, formerly, no doubt, “village greens,” but a good way off, on the top of a very steep hill immediately above the giant, in the centre of an ancient camp, belonging probably to the Bronze Age.

From: Dorset Folklore Collected in 1897
H. Colley March
Folklore, Vol. 10, No. 4. (Dec., 1899), pp. 478-489.

Sites within 20km of The Trendle (Cerne Abbas)

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