Uffington White Horse
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The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylized figure, 374 feet long, cut out of the turf on the upper slopes of Uffington Castle, an Iron Age hill fort near The Ridgeway, in Oxfordshire, England. It is located some five miles (eight kilometres) west of the town of Wantage.
The figure is believed to date back some 3,000 years to the Bronze Age, and was probably carved by the Dobunni, a local Celtic tribe. Numerous other prominent sites of similar age are located nearby, notably Wayland's Smithy, a long barrow less than two kilometres to the west.
The horse is thought to represent a Celtic god (probably Epona) or a tribal symbol. It is quite similar to horses depicted on pre-Roman British coinage. For centuries, however, local people have maintained that it is a portrait of the dragon slain by Saint George on the nearby Dragon Hill.
Template:GBmap-named A more modern theory suggests that the stylised horse figure acted as a sign to people passing on The Ridgeway advertising horses being sold or catered for at the neighboring Uffington Castle (or a settlement that may have existed prior to the castle with the mounds visible today).
The cutting exposes the underlying chalk making the horse a striking figure. Up until the late 19th century the horse was scoured every seven years as part of a more general local festival. However, when the regular cleaning was halted the figure quickly became obscured. It now needs frequent work by English Heritage for the figure to remain visible. Best views of the horse are obtained from the north, particularly from around the village of Great Coxwell.
In August 2002 the figure was defaced with the addition of a rider and three dogs by members of the "Real Countryside Alliance"" (RCA). The act was denounced by the Countryside Alliance.[1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2220725.stm)
The Uffington Horse in popular culture
- The design of the Uffington Horse was used as the album cover of the 1982 album English Settlement by English rock group XTC, who come from the nearby town of Swindon.
- It also featured in the 1992 Vincent Ward-directed movie Map of the Human Heart.
See also
External links
- Uffington Whitehorse and Dragon Hill (http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/majorsites/uffington.html)
- Aerial photos and information (http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/uff/uffing.htm)
- Wiltshire & Oxfordshire chalk horses (http://wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/uffington.html)de:Uffington White Horse