Horses in the earth

Before the gods that made the gods
Had seen their sunrise pass,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
Was cut out of the grass.

Before the gods that made the gods
Had drunk at dawn their fill,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
Was hoary on the hill.

Age beyond age on British land,
Aeons on aeons gone,
Was peace and war in western hills,
And the White Horse looked on.

–G.K. Chesterton, “The Ballad of the White Horse“, 1911

Throughout England, there are numerous white horses carved into hillsides; the Uffington white horse (shown above) was found to have been created sometime during the Bronze Age (1200-800BC). I found a nice account of the visit to the horse here; some more photos here. (Of course, it could be a dragon too, a victim of St. George, but my hunch is that it could be an emblem of the pre-Christian horse cult in Britain)

Others are much more recent; the Alton Barnes horse, above, was commissioned by a man named Robert Pile in 1812, while the Westbury horse, also in Wiltshire, is thought to be much older, as it was mentioned in an 18thc. book. Exiled Preacher and Wiltshire Hotpot have some great photos.

Most of the figures were created by scraping away the top layers of grass and soil to expose the stark white chalk underneath, and the ones we know of only survived due to the maintenance efforts of local people, who scraped the figures clean and removed any vegetation which began to grow on them. However, some were constructed by piling light-coloured stones or rubble together to create a shape. According to Wikipedia, “Ancient figures all have an associated fair or ceremony which involves maintaining them.” Not all have survived; many of the older ones were lost and overgrown, like the Rockley horse (below).

Recommended:

• Wiltshire White Horses: their origin and locations
• The Hillfigure Homepage: particularly valuable for its information on lost figures
• Google Earth Hacks: lovely aerial photos
• Temporary Temples: more aerial photos (and some crop circles too)
• Tan Hill Fair and The Modern Antiquarian: Wiltshire customs and lore
• Mysterious Britain: g’wan, you know you love this stuff as much as I do
• Weird Wiltshire: actually, it looks rather nice…
• Royal Berkshire History: more on the Uffington horse