Cerne Abbas

The Dorset Historic Towns Project report on Cerne Abbas.

The character of Cerne Abbas is derived from its well-defined historic town layout and the number and quality of its historic buildings. The nucleated medieval town plan survives almost intact and exerts a strong influence on the character of the town in terms of street and plot layout. The relationship of the town to the surviving remains of the Abbey is an important contributing factor to its distinctiveness, and reflects the importance of the ecclesiastical aspect of the town's history and development.

Perhaps the greatest contributor to the character and local distinctiveness of Cerne Abbas are the historic buildings. Numerous medieval and post-medieval buildings form unbroken groups in the streetscape with little disruption from modern development. The consistent use of local building materials and vernacular building details provides strong local character and emphasise links with the surrounding landscape.

The fine landscape setting in the river valley framed by dramatic steep swooping chalk valley slopes adds a major positive visual component to the town and for the chalk hill figure of the Cerne Giant, which is arguably the most famous element of Cerne Abbas today.

Summary report

Here is a summary of the report (February 2011).

Detailed sections of the report

We have broken down the full report into individual sections, please select one of the parts to read:

• Part 1 and 2 Introduction and overview
• Part 3 and 4 Context and sources
• Part 5.1 and 5.2 Historical development - Saxon and medieval
• Part 5.3 to 5.5 Historical development - Post-medieval to modern
• Part 6 Character appraisal
• Part 6 Historic Urban Character Area 1 The Abbey
• Part 6 Historic Urban Character Area 2 The town
• Part 6 Historic Urban Character Area 3 Acreman Street
• Part 7 Research and appendices