Editing Uffington White Horse (section)

==Nearby prehistoric features==
[[Image:The Manger c.jpg|thumb|The Manger, with the White Horse at centre skyline and Dragon Hill (left)]]

The most significant nearby feature is the [[Iron Age]] [[Uffington Castle]], located on higher ground atop a knoll above the White Horse.<ref>{{cite journal |editor=Denison, Simon |date=April 1998 |title={{grey|[no title cited]}} |journal=[[British Archaeology]] |issue=33 |issn=1357-4442}}</ref>{{full citation|date=September 2022|reason=title, author, page, DOI}} This [[hillfort]] comprises an area of approximately {{convert|3|ha|abbr=on}} enclosed by a single, well-preserved bank and ditch. [[Dragon Hill, Uffington|Dragon Hill]] is a natural chalk hill with an artificial flat top, associated in legend with St George.<ref>{{cite web |title=Uffington Castle, White Horse, and Dragon Hill |date=16 April 2011 |department=Days out |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/uffington-castle-white-horse-and-dragon-hill/ |access-date=23 April 2011}}</ref>
[[File:Uffington White Horse - The Manger.jpg|thumb|The Manger viewed from the White Horse]]
[[Whitehorse Hill]] is designated a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] (SSSI). It is a geological SSSI due to its [[Pleistocene]] sediments, and a biological SSSI as it has one of the few remaining unploughed grasslands along the chalk escarpment in Oxfordshire.<ref name=citation>{{cite web |title=Whitehorse Hill citation |series=Sites of Special Scientific Interest |publisher=Natural England |url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001206.pdf |access-date=23 December 2013 |archive-date=24 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224083753/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001206.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Map of Whitehorse Hill |series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest |publisher=Natural England |url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271001206%27 |access-date= 23 December 2013}}</ref>
[[File:The giant's stair.jpg|thumb|The Giant's Stair, taken from White Horse Hill]]
To the west are ice-cut [[Terrace (geology)|terraces]] known as the "Giant's Stair".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Uffington White Horse |series=Royal Berkshire history |website=Berkshirehistory.com |url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/archaeology/white_horse.html |access-date=23 April 2011}}</ref> Some believe these terraces at the bottom of this valley are the result of [[medieval]] farming, or alternatively were used for early farming after being formed by natural processes. The steep sided dry valley below the horse is known as the Manger and legend says that the horse grazes there at night.
[[File:Uffington white horse.jpg|thumb|right|View from Dragon Hill road]]

The [[Blowing Stone]], a perforated [[sarsen]] stone, lies in a garden in [[Kingston Lisle]], {{convert|2|km|abbr=on}} away and produces a musical tone when blown through.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

[[Wayland's Smithy]] is a Neolithic [[long barrow]] and [[chamber tomb]] {{convert|1.5|mi|abbr=on|order=flip}} southwest of the Horse.<ref name="NHLE1008409">{{National Heritage List for England |num=1008409 |desc=Wayland's Smithy chambered long barrow, including an earlier barrow and Iron Age and Roman boundary ditches |access-date=15 July 2017}}</ref> It lies next to [[The Ridgeway]], an ancient trackway that also runs behind Uffington Castle, and is followed by the Ridgeway National Trail, a long-distance footpath running from [[Overton Hill]], near [[Avebury]],  to [[Ivinghoe Beacon]] in Buckinghamshire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=Neil |year=1994 |title=The Ridgeway National Trail Guide |publisher=Aurum Press |isbn=1-85410-268-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/ridgeway0000curt |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 2019, a group of workers laying water pipes near [[Letcombe Bassett]] unearthed an almost 3,000&nbsp;year-old settlement that archaeologists believe to belong to the same community involved in the creation of the Uffington White Horse. The find includes tools, animal bones and the remains of 26&nbsp;people whose skeletons suggest human sacrifice.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rob |last=Picheta |date=15 April 2019 |title=Victims of 'human sacrifice' found by engineers laying water pipes |publisher=[[CNN]] |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/15/uk/skeletons-human-sacrifice-discovered-scli-gbr-intl/index.html |access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref>