Overview
- Work to restore the 180‑foot figure began this week with National Trust rangers, trained volunteers and a small number of fundraising prize‑winners packing about 17 tonnes of fresh chalk into the carved trenches.
- The Trust moved the job forward from its usual autumn slot after staff observed increased algal growth and heavier rainfall that have dulled the giant’s outline and washed away past repairs.
- This year the team is trialling a chalk‑and‑water paste intended to bind the material more firmly in the steep trenches and reduce runoff and weed growth that cause rapid loss of chalk.
- A recent public appeal backed by Sir Stephen Fry raised around £330,000, enabling the National Trust to buy more than 130 hectares of surrounding chalk grassland for habitat protection and archaeological study.
- Scientific dating published by the Trust in 2021 places the giant’s first carving in the late Saxon period (c.700–1100 AD), and the new land purchase will let archaeologists and ecologists manage the site together to support species such as the Duke of Burgundy butterfly.