*** Welcome to piglix ***

Cerne Abbas

Cerne Abbas
Cerneabbascentre.jpg
The village centre
Cerne Abbas is located in Dorset
Cerne Abbas
Cerne Abbas
Cerne Abbas shown within Dorset
Population 820 
OS grid reference ST662012
• London 112.5 miles
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Dorchester
Postcode district DT2
Dialling code 01300
Police Dorset
Fire Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Dorset
50°48′34″N 2°28′52″W / 50.8095°N 2.4810°W / 50.8095; -2.4810Coordinates: 50°48′34″N 2°28′52″W / 50.8095°N 2.4810°W / 50.8095; -2.4810

Cerne Abbas is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies in the West Dorset administrative district in the Cerne Valley in the Dorset Downs. The village lies just east of the A352 road 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Dorchester. Dorset County Council estimate that the population of the civil parish in 2013 was 820. In the 2011 census the population of the civil parish, combined with the small neighbouring parish of Up Cerne, was 784.

In 2008 it was voted Britain's "Most Desirable Village" by estate agent Savills. It is notable as the location of the Cerne Abbas Giant, a chalk figure of a giant naked man on a hillside.

The village of Cerne Abbas grew up around the great Benedictine abbey, Cerne Abbey, which was founded there in AD 987. The Domesday survey of 1087 recorded cultivated land for twenty ploughs, with 26 villeins and thirty two bordars. For more than 500 years, the abbey dominated the area. The abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII in 1539 with the Dissolution of the Monasteries and was largely destroyed; a portion of the Abbot's Porch and Abbey guesthouse remain. St Augustine's Well, reputedly blessed by the saint, also remains. St Mary's Church, built by the abbey for the parish in the late 13th century, is in the heart of the parish and retains many original features.


...
Wikipedia

...