More Scenes from Wiltshire
Westbury White Horse
Leucippotomy or the "art of cutting white horses" has been practised since the Early Iron Age, as can be seen from the stylised example at Uffington in neighbouring Berkshire. That White Horse shows how man's art was taken from the cave wall to the hillside... and where finer and more visible place could there be than the English rolling countryside to do this.
Many of the horses, as well as other figures and numerous regimental badges, you can see today are on the southern chalk downs... ten or eleven of them being in Wiltshire. The exact number is in doubt because some may now be lost to view whilst others may be waiting to be rediscovered. As an example the Devizes Horse cut by the Shoemakers of that town in 1845 was lost for many years... then partially revealed in 1979 due to the exceptional dry weather... however, it has not been seen since.
But the White Horse that is seen and remembered most is on the slopes of Bratton Camp, another Iron-Age fort site, just outside the town of Westbury. This was cut in 1778 over an older and smaller horse and unlike other chalk figures has been concreted over... instead of receiving a traditional "scouring" every seven years or so to clear the weeds and neaten the edges it receives a fresh coat of paint.
No one knows for certain why the present White Horse was cut into this hillside overlooking Westbury but it has been speculated that the original figure commemorated King Alfred's decisive victory over Guthrum and the Danes in AD 878 at the Battle of Ethandun (the nearby village now known as Edington).
The Westbury White Horse we see there today faces the other direction and can be seen from up to 50 kilometres away from various parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Avon. It is also a striking landmark for travellers journeying from London to the West Country on British Rail's High Speed 125 express trains.
Although the White Horse is almost 50 metres tall, seen from the road below a foreshortening of the sloping hillside makes it look rather stubby. A much better viewpoint is to be had from the top of Bratton Down where the Horse takes on its proper equine grace and with, on a clear day, the bonus of a view across the Vale of Westbury and into the distance towards the Cotswolds.
An alternative view would be to take to the air like a modern-day Pegasus... there are plenty of them to be seen on a day with good thermals for the hang-gliding fraternity.
9:39:26 PM 
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