Britain possesses over sixty hill figures of varying size and design that are carved into her hillsides. They invite both admiration and curiosity. Most are laid out on hillsides that have underlying chalk foundations. These figures are so huge that that they can be viewed from miles around and are especially visually effective on bright summer days. Most of these figures are made up of white horses, but amongst the others there are two giants (one in a naked depiction), a multitude of crosses, various military commemorations, a stag, a lion, a panda, a kiwi, and a kangaroo.
Steve Prout explains.
The Uffington White Horse. Source: World Wind, available here.
The description of this activity has been termed “leucippotomy” for the carving of horses and “gigantotomy” for giants (there are currently four of this kind in Britain). Whether these adopted terms are intended to be applied seriously is debatable since they do not appear in the dictionary. The name usually attached to such figures are geoglyphs. This peculiarity has been a phenomenon that has continued from the 1700s into modern times, one of the latest being a horse that was created in 1999 in Devizes, Wiltshire but there have been subsequent ones. Wiltshire is home to most of Britain’s hill figures but there are others in Scotland, Wales, and the North of England - but their presence is few and far between, for example only two figures are to be found in Scotland.
Only a handful are considered to have authentically ancient uncertain origins and of the others few pose any mystery and only minor ones if any. Those that were created in the twentieth century are the easiest to explain and can be traced to a specific event. Perhaps these reasons for the more modern examples offer the answer to some of the earlier and unexplained figures. Some created in the 1800s continues to present minor puzzles simply because their creation was unrecorded due to simply being forgotten, confused, or dismissed as frivolous acts - examples of this are the first Westbury Horse and the Rockley Down or the Broad Town Horses.
Wartime Commemorations
The early twentieth century saw a variety of new figures appear on numerous hillsides in Britain to join the plethora of white horses. Many of these hill figures were inspired by the events from the First World War. At the end of the war people needed an outlet to grieve, remember and honor the sacrifices they suffered. It was something that needed to match the gravity and sheer size of the tragedy and sacrifice. Every village in England had lost friends, relatives and loved ones and few families were unaffected from the war. Shoreham, a town in Kent, was one of the villages that between May and September 1920, entrenched a thirty-meter chalk Christian style cross into a nearby hillside for this purpose. As it lays solitary in quiet pastures its presence resonates in that quiet serene countryside hill. Its creator was a Samuel Cheeseman, whose motivation emanated from the tragic loss of his two sons in the First World War. The memorial is also dedicated to a further forty-eight inhabitants of the village who also perished alongside them.
A similar style cross was carved at a village in Lenham for the same reasons. Lenham is in that same county of Kent, twenty-three miles away from its earlier counterpart at Shoreham. It is similar in design and is double the size of the Shoreham Cross. It was created a year later by a certain Mr G H Groom who was the local Headmaster.
In Wiltshire, a variety of military inspired figures appeared across the landscape that was previously dominated by a multitude of white horses until the early twentieth century. The post war period was a frustrating time for soldiers that were awaiting demobilization. The sheer size of the task to administer the demobilization process was a slow and frustrating process for the men waiting and for those who were challenged with making this monumental task happen. Most of these men were not regular soldiers, only conscripted for the duration of the war and they quite understandably wanted to return home quickly now the fighting was over. It led to the problem of finding ways to keep these soldiers occupied.
The soldiers from New Zealand based at Bulford, Wiltshire set about carving a giant Kiwi into the hillside above their camp. They clearly took their inspiration from the Regimental Badges of Fovant Down that were created two years previously. The kiwi was designed in 1918 by a Captain H Clarke who was an engineer. It is quite incongruous compared to some of the other figures present in Wiltshire as the Kiwi is not native to Britain. It is interesting to note that as time passes on, its significance and the one-time presence of its New Zealand creators will be forgotten - and the very existence of a kiwi will puzzle some heads. It covers over four hundred feet or one and a half acres of land. For the present the Bulford Kiwi still serves as a lasting reminder to the presence of the soldiers of New Zealand that fought on the side of Great Britain.
The First World War also inspired the creation of the Regimental badges of Fovant Down, the best and most obvious example. Before the crosses of Shoreham, Lenham and the Bulford Kiwi, various regiments from the Dominions and the British Army gathered in 1916 for the purpose of carving fourteen individual badges onto the hills at Fovant Down, Wiltshire. Again, the main reason was to occupy the soldiers from the horrors that were being reported from the various fronts, alleviate the feeling of homesickness, and provide a release from the relentless grind of military training. Today those badges that remain still serve to remind us of those sacrifices made by those men, but sadly a number have now long overgrown or have been lost beyond any hope of restoration due to a lack of maintenance. The badges included an outline map of Australia, a badge representing the Royal Army Medical Core, City of London Rifles, a rising sun for the Australian Commonwealth Forces, a Kangaroo, the Devon Regiment, Royal Fusiliers, and The Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Others were added after World War Two.
Royal connections
Britain’s incoming Kings and Queens also appear to have inspired the creation of other hill figures. The Hackpen White Horse in Wiltshire and the First White Horse in Littlington, Sussex were carved in 1838 to celebrate the ascent of Queen Victoria to the throne. Other monarchs were also celebrated in similar fashion. The White Horse in Osmington, just outside the coastal resort of Weymouth, is one the largest white horse hill figures in Britain. It is unique in the fact that it is the only figure to feature a rider who represents King George III. From 1789 King George held Weymouth under Royal Patronage and even visited the town on numerous occasions. In 1815 a group of army engineers are believed to have carved this figure into the hillside to occupy their time whilst they waited and prepared for an invasion by Napoleonic forces from the continent. This never materialized and the figure remains today. A different hillside representation to a monarch is the Wye Crown, in the county of Kent. This was carved in 1902 by a local Agricultural College to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII.
Antique follies and examples of strange indulgences
There were other reasons for such a myriad of hill figures. The southern part of Britain, in particular Wiltshire, are abundant in White Horse hill figures. Only one horse in Uffington is of genuine antiquity and its origins remain unknown. The rest originate from the 1700s and 1800s. Most of these hill figures pose no mystery as to their origins and for those that do, mostly the mysteries are very minor ones. Some hill figures were not inspired by history - some are recorded as being the product of whimsical and frivolous acts on the part their wealthy and indulged landowners. Examples of this are the First and Second Horse at Westbury, one of the most famous and well known of all hill figures of England.
The first Westbury figure is believed, according to investigations in the 1700s, to have been an antique folly. This very bizarre behavior was contagious amongst certain wealthy landowners in the 1700s. These landowners made claim to possess or discover various objects of antiquity on their land. In some cases, a cairn, burial mound or hill figure would suddenly be “discovered” as was the case at Westbury. Many of these claims would at the time go unchallenged since local tenants would not want to upset their wealthy and influential landlords. It may have been for the simple fact that the more rational thinkers of the population saw it for what it was and that it was a frivolous act that occupied much valuable land. An investigation in 1742 with local people put the creation of the first horse around 1700 or as the investigation quoted “wrought within memory of persons still living or recently dead”. The fact was that this “antique horse” 1778 was willingly destroyed in 1778 on the orders of the landowner and was quickly remodeled by a certain Mr Gee. Perhaps this proves that maybe they knew more of the horse’s origin and that its claims to be of an older age were untrue.
The case of the nearby Cherill Horse (alternatively known as the Oldbury Horse due to its proximity to the nearby castle of the same name) in Wiltshire is another example of this strange behavior. It can be seen with the naked eye from the top of the hill above the Westbury Horse. It was designed by a Dr Alsop two years after the restoration of its relation in Westbury. This restoration allegedly gave him his inspiration, most probably combined with puerile jealousy “of that landowner has one got one, then I want one too.” To sum up the witnesses at the time Alsop was referred to by local townsfolk as “the mad doctor,” due to the unnatural preoccupation of carving a giant white horse on a Wiltshire slope whilst shouting instructions and directions to his workers from a megaphone!
Many more in Wiltshire were to follow, most of which are accompanied by various conflicting accounts. Perhaps the act of turf cutting was becoming tiresome as others were appearing at Pewsey, Alton Barnes and Broad Town, and few people may not have the sense of urgency or importance to produce a correct account of these events. Many perhaps naturally thought that these figures were unlikely to remain permanent features as land after all was a valuable resource. In the latter case they were mistaken because many of these varying models prevail today.
Another example of whimsicality in a completely different location, is the Kilburn Horse of Yorkshire, one of only a few hill figures present in the North of England. It was carved under the whim of a travelling businessperson called Thomas Taylor. He was inspired, after being present and witnessing the festivities during the scouring and maintenance of the Uffington Horse, to carve a White Horse in his own home county and in 1857 he did just this. The horse can still be seen today in Yorkshire in the Hambleton Hills, Thirsk.
There are two modern examples of surprising appearances on our hillsides. One happened in the 1980s and that is the case of the Luzley Horse near Manchester. It is now lost after being allowed to be overgrown by vegetation, but its origins can be easily researched, and its story found in local paper archives. It was carved by a retired railway worker William Rawsthorne. He hid his work as he gradually worked on his figure over a period then surprised the local inhabitants by unveiling it one night to surprise them as a new day greeted them. It received a mixed reaction and it is now lost.
Another example is the case of the Laverstock Panda that has all but disappeared. It appeared in the early hours of January 1969 as part of a student prank known as “rag week” by the undergraduates of North Wales College at Bangor. All kinds of explanations were offered such as this Panda served as a homing device for Soviet Satellites and that it was a celebration of East-West co-operation over the London Panda called Chi-Chi (by the London and Moscow Zoo) who brought the two Pandas together for mating purposes. This is normal in studying the history of hill figures - in the absence of any solid facts the most outlandish explanations appear over time or almost immediately to fill the void, while often dismissing the more prosaic and usually correct explanations.
Conclusion
There is very little mystery about Britain’s hill figures that trouble historians’ or archaeologists’ heads. There are some that do lack any solid explanation; however, does that really create a mystery? Morris Marples, who was the leading authority on the subject, aptly summed up the overarching motive for their origins, their continued existence and creation. While he was discussing the Uffington Horse he stated that “man has always like to commemorate his achievements by the erection of some distinct monument and this is assuredly a very effective monument as later imitators realized.” This is certainly true of many of the hill side artworks we know about, especially those made in the twentieth century.
Aside from the focus of the English monarchy and the Great War there exist further examples with further motives such as the Dover Castle Aeroplane of 1909 that celebrated Louis Bleriot’s first crossing of the English Channel and the second White Horse in Devises, Wiltshire carved in 1999 that marked the coming of the millennium. Marples was right in that man does enjoy celebrating and always seeks to leave a lasting imprint showing his efforts, sacrifices, and achievements in expressive and grandiose ways - so there is no reason to assume that our ancestors were any different. We just do not have the benefit of history being recorded.
Hill figures are no different in purpose from say a cenotaph, a plaque, a stone cross, monument, or even a specific building being named in honor of a person or event. Therefore, for those few that pose us minor mysteries we can at best only be satisfied with a close approximation of the truth. We should as Marples said accept the “simplest answer as it is usually the correct one.”
The art of hill cutting continues today but less frequently and with a more muted response. Like our ancestors we also have day to day things that pre-occupy us while these activities are undertaken. In Leicester, a procession of galloping white horses is cut into a main roundabout, and in a school in Devises a smaller copy of the town’s famous horse has been cut into the school playing fields. Whatever the motive there is no argument that these figures make the landscape of Britain more intriguing and a pleasure to view. Furthermore, by diligently maintaining them we will continue to remember their significance in our history.
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Sources
Discovering Hill Figures – Kate Bergamar – 1997 – Shire Publications
White Horses and other Hill Figures – Morris Marples – 1981 – Alan Sutton Publishing
Lost Gods of Albion - Paul Newman - 1998 – Sutton Publishing Ltd
The Hill figure Homepage.co.uk – Dr Mark Howes
