Archaeologists have been restoring the UK’s oldest chalk figure, a 3,000-year-old outline of a horse, northwest of London. The Uffington White Horse dates back 3,000 years to the late Bronze Age.
Over time, the horse, carved into an Oxfordshire hillside, has been narrowing. Grass grew over the edges of the figure, shrinking parts of its head and neck to half their original width. This year, it received a much-needed facelift.
Work on the 111m long figure started last year. The team trimmed back the encroaching grass to what they think was the original outline of the horse and repositioned some of the top layers of chalk.
A view before (left) and after restoration of the White Horse at Uffington. Photo: ITV News Meridian
During the restoration, archaeologists took soil samples from the lowest layers of the horse. The first modern researchers in the 1990s dated the figure to the late Bronze Age, using soil samples. Since then, analytical techniques have improved significantly. The team hopes to get a more accurate date for the horse’s creation using Optically Stimulated Luminescence. This technique uses the crystalline material in the soil to determine its last exposure to sunlight.
Why a chalk horse?
Though we know roughly when the horse was created, why it was built remains a mystery.
“It could have been a way of marking territory or as a tribal symbol,” suggests archaeologist Adrian Cox.
The horse is part of several ancient remains on White Horse Hill and the surrounding area. Uffington Castle, an Iron Age fort, stands at the top of the hill. It is approximately 220 meters by 160 meters and surrounded by a chalk bank. Excavations have found Iron Age structures within the fort and nearby burial mounds. Coins and pottery lie within those mounds, some of which date back to the Neolithic era. Others may have been used up to the time of the Saxons.
Working to widen Uffington White Horse. Photo: National Trust Images/James Dobson
The first records of the abstract white horse come from the Middle Ages. It was listed as one of the Wonders of Britain, alongside sites like Stonehenge. Some believe the horse was a symbol of fertility or marked the territory of a nearby community. Others debate whether it’s a horse at all. It may be a dragon, they suggest. Dragon Hill lies below White Horse Hill and is home to the legend of Saint George, who slew the dragon.
Over the centuries, the shape of the horse has changed slightly. Now it is a fairly abstract chalk design, but aerial images show that a more traditional horse shape seems to lie beneath it. Whatever its purpose, the chalk figure has been meticulously cared for since its creation.
Tended for centuries
Between the 17th and 19th centuries a “scouring festival” took place at the horse every seven years. Local people tended to the outline of the horse, cleared plants, and put down new layers of chalk. They then rolled cheese down the hill and feasted within the for, some 170m away. In World War Two, it was fully covered to stop enemy planes from using it to help their navigation.
“Through the efforts of generations of local people, the horse has been cared for, allowing it to survive for thousands of years to become an iconic feature of this landscape,” said Cox.
