The Uffington White Horse

Ancient History and British Tradition

Jul 14, 2009

Over the centuries, the Uffington White Horse of Britain has drawn the interest of historians, tourists and archaeological preservationists.

Carved chalk hill figures, visible from miles around in the landscape, are a unique aspect of British archaeology. The Uffington White Horse is one of the oldest examples of such monumental constructions.

Sometime around 2500 years ago, someone climbed up the north-western slope of a hill on the Berkshire Downs, a few kilometers south-west of Oxford, England, and carved a 100-meter-long figure of a stylized horse into the natural chalk. These prehistoric artists began a tradition that continues to this day, with continual re-carving of the horse’s form. It has held a lingering fascination for generations.

The Uffington White Horse is probably the first hill figure ever created in Britain. It must have been remarkable to those who saw it in its landscape that also includes other ancient monuments. Archaeologists have determined that during the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age (around 1300-600 BCE), the horse was carved into the bedrock and then repeatedly infilled with chalk to maintain the white outline of the figure.

What Does the White Horse Mean?

The horse has been a subject of debate almost as long as people have been writing about it, and has been well-known since Medieval times. It was perceived of as one of the “wonders” of Britain in AD 1100. In the 17th century, the horse was usually either assigned to the Saxons, or to the ancient pre-Roman Britons.

In later times, it was a symbol of King Alfred and the true meaning of Englishness, as in Thomas Hughes’ 1859 novel, The Scouring of the White Horse. After abandoning the theory of Alfred, the hill became associated variously with King Arthur, “the faint seeds of human life on this planet,” (Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse, 1911) and the “Celts.” Schwyzer notes even “the serious suggestion … that the Horse might in fact be a representation of a dinosaur made by cavemen…."

The horse was certainly significant to enough different people over the millennia to keep communities re-carving it at least once per generation until modern times. When Hughes wrote his novel in 1859, the activities surrounding the "scouring" (re-carving) of the white horse were already well-established. The fair associated with the scouring was called the “pastime” and drew people from all over Berkshire, including the nobility. It had the character of a country fair, with games, tents, music and food. Hughes researched the history of the pastime, referring to old newssheets and handbills. He pointed out a few of the more interesting occurrences from past fairs:

This type of detailed flavor is what makes Hughes’s novel such a valuable source for understanding the popular meanings and treatment of the horse.

But what the horse means to people today is certainly vastly different from what it meant then, or in prehistoric times. It is a mystery to visitors and historians, a puzzle to figure out and interpret. Was it a mystery in the Iron Age, too? Did only the locals really understand its significance, and passers-by merely marvel at this great artistic and engineering feat?

The White Horse Tradition Today

Now, under the auspices of The National Trust, people still climb the slopes and “scour” or re-carve this mysterious White Horse. They still re-write their heritage on the Berkshire landscape. The site and its surroundings are visited by over 200,000 people each year.

The White Horse then, is much more functional today than many other pieces of ancient “art,” that sit placidly in museums, telling about but not re-creating Britain’s marvelous past and current identity.

Miles, et al. (2003) Uffington White Horse and Its Landscape Investigations at White Horse Hill, Uffington, 1989-95, and Tower Hill, Ashbury, 1993-4. Oxford Archaeology: Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph No. 18.

Schwyzer (1999) “The Scouring of the White Horse: Archaeology, Identity and ‘Heritage’.” Representations 65, Special Issue: New Perspectives in British Studies: 42-62.

Marples (1949) [1981] White Horses and Other Hill Figures. Gloucester: Alan Sutton.

The copyright of the article The Uffington White Horse in Ancient History is owned by Jennifer Walker. Permission to republish The Uffington White Horse in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.