Editing Uffington White Horse

{{EngvarB|date=May 2022}}
{{Short description|Prehistoric carving in Uffington, England}}
{{About|the prehistoric hill figure|the folk rock band|Uffington Horse (band)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}

{{Infobox ancient site
| name  = Uffington White Horse
| image  = Uffington-White-Horse-sat.jpg
| caption  = Aerial view of the White Horse
| location  = [[Whitehorse Hill]], [[Oxfordshire]], [[England]]
| map_type       = United Kingdom Oxfordshire
| map_dot_label  = Whitehorse Hill
| map_caption    = Location in Oxfordshire
| range  = 
| coordinates  = {{Coord|51|34|39|N|1|34|00|W|format=dms|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:GB}}
| altitude_m     = 261
| type  = [[Hill figure]] monument
| length  = 100m (330ft)
| built  = 1380 - 550 BC
| material  = [[Chalk]]
| ownership  = [[National Trust]]
| management  =
| public_access  = Yes
| other_designation  =
| website  = {{URL|nationaltrust.org.uk/white-horse-hill}}
| designation1  = Scheduled monument
| designation1_date  = 1929
| designation1_number  = 1008412
}}

The '''Uffington White Horse''' is a [[Prehistoric Britain|prehistoric]] [[hill figure]], {{convert|110|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="powell">{{cite journal |last=Powell |first=Eric A. |date=Sep–Oct 2017 |title=White horse of the sun |journal=[[Archaeology (journal)|Archaeology]] |volume=70 |issue=5 |pages=9–10 |issn=0003-8113 |url=http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=17&sid=d022d3dd-d76c-4a0c-8bda-3d22c2e5033b%40sessionmgr103 |access-date=31 August 2017 |url-access=subscription}} {{cite web |title=Master File Complete [for subscription] |website=EBSCO |url=https://www.ebsco.com}} {{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}</ref> long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white [[chalk]]. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of [[Whitehorse Hill]] in the English [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]] of [[Uffington, Oxfordshire|Uffington]] in [[Oxfordshire]], some {{convert|10|mi|order=flip|abbr=on}} east of [[Swindon]], {{convert|8|km|abbr=on}} south of the town of [[Faringdon]] and a similar distance west of the town of [[Wantage]]; or {{convert|2.5|km|abbr=on}} south of Uffington. The hill forms a part of the scarp of the [[Berkshire Downs]] and overlooks the [[Vale of White Horse]] to the north. The best views of the figure are obtained from the air, or from directly across the Vale, particularly around the villages of [[Great Coxwell]], [[Longcot]], and [[Fernham]].

The Uffington White Horse was created some time between 1380 and 550&nbsp;{{sc|bc}}, during the late [[Bronze Age]] or early [[Iron Age]]. The site is owned and managed by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] and is a [[scheduled monument]].<ref name="nhle">{{National Heritage List for England |num=1008413 |desc=The White Horse hill figure 170&nbsp;m NNE of Uffington Castle on Whitehorse Hill |access-date=15 February 2014}}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'' stated in 2003 that "for more than 3,000&nbsp;years, the Uffington White Horse has been jealously guarded as a masterpiece of [[minimalist art]]."<ref name="marktownsend">{{cite web |first=Mark |last=Townsend |date=4 May 2003 |title=Big Brother's logo 'defiles' White Horse |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/may/04/channel4.bigbrother |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref> The Uffington Horse is by far the oldest of the white horse figures in Britain; the others inspired by it have an entirely different design.<ref name=WiltshireUffington>{{cite web |title=Wiltshire Uffington |website=Wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk |url=http://wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/uffington.html |date=21 March 2010 |access-date=23 April 2011}}</ref><ref name="hows.org.uk">{{cite web |title=Uffington White Horse |website=hows.org.uk |url=http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/uff/uffing.htm |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref>

==Origin==
[[File:White Horse of Uffington.jpg|thumb|Uffington White Horse, sketched by [[William Plenderleath]] in ''The White Horses of the West of England'' (1892)<ref name="Plenderleath" />]]
The earliest reference to the site is found in [[Medieval Welsh literature]]. The [[Red Book of Hergest|Llyfr Coch Hergest]] (''Red Book of Hergest'', 1375–1425) states that "Near to the town of Abinton there is a mountain with a figure of a stallion upon it, and it is white. Nothing grows upon it." Some scholars have compared the figure to the Celtic goddess [[Epona]], or the later [[Rhiannon]] of the [[Mabinogi]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Red Book of Hergest |website=maryjones.us |url=http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/hindex.html |url-status=dead |access-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709041237/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/hindex.html |archive-date=9 July 2011}}</ref>

The figure is one of a number in the area that was long thought to have ancient origins. In the 17th century, [[John Aubrey]] attributed the figure to [[Hengist and Horsa]]. However, Aubrey also ascribed its origins to the [[Ancient Britons|British Celts]], noting the similarity of the image to those found on native Iron Age coins.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwyzer |first1=Philip |date=Winter 1999 |title=The scouring of the White Horse: Archaeology, identity, and 'heritage' representations |journal=Special Issue: New Perspectives in British Studies |pages=42–62 |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> [[Francis Wise]] would state that the image was created by [[Alfred the Great]] to celebrate his victory at the [[Battle of Edington]].{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Although the notion of it being a [[Sub-Roman Britain|post-Roman]] creation remained popular, many antiquarians and scholars had noted the design's similarity to the [[Celtic art]] found on the coins of the local tribes (the [[Dobunni]] and [[Atrebates]]). Comparative analysis of the design with [[numismatic]] and archeological finds was conducted by [[Stuart Piggott]] in 1931 and Ann Ross in 1967, with Piggott suggesting circa 100&nbsp;{{sc|BC}} as a possible date of origin.<ref>{{cite web |last=Nash Ford |first=David |series=The Uffington White Horse, Part&nbsp;4 |title=Dating the Horse |website=David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History |url=http://berkshirehistory.com/archaeology/white_horse4.html |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref> In 1949, Morris Marple suggested a Bronze Age date, comparing the design to others throughout Europe and North Africa.<ref>{{cite web |title=Uffington White Horse |website=BritishFolklore.com |url=http://britishfolklore.com/uffington-white-horse |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref>

Following an excavation in 1990, the figure's origin was finally settled with [[optically stimulated luminescence]] testing. Simon Palmer and David Miles of the [[Oxford Archaeology|Oxford Archaeological Unit]] dated silt deposits to the period between 1380 BC and 550 BC, confirming the Uffington White Horse to be Britain's oldest chalk figure. The new [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] date would place the figure's origin at the same time as [[Uffington Castle]], during a period when the horse was transforming warfare in Britain.<ref>{{cite book |last=Darvill |first=Timothy |year=1996 |title=Prehistoric Britain from the Air |page=223 |isbn=0521551323 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Uffington White Horse |magazine=Atlas Obscura |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/uffington-white-horse |access-date=15 July 2017}}</ref>

==History==
Until the late 19th century, the horse was scoured every seven years as part of a more general local [[fair]] held on the hill. [[Francis Wise]] wrote in 1736: "The ceremony of scouring the Horse, from time immemorial, has been solemnized by a numerous concourse of people from all the villages roundabout."<ref name="SI">{{cite magazine |last=Cleaver |first=Emily |date=6 July 2017 |title=Against all odds, England's massive chalk horse has survived 3,000&nbsp;years |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/3000-year-old-uffington-horse-looms-over-english-countryside-180963968/|access-date=12 July 2017}}</ref> After the work was done a rural festival was held sponsored by the [[lord of the manor]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Knight |year=1847 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge |volume=III |place=London, UK |page=225}}</ref>

During the Second World War the figure, easily recognisable from the air, was covered over with turf and hedge trimmings so that ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' pilots could not use it for navigation during bombing raids.<ref name="SI"/> It was uncovered after the war by Welsh archaeology professor [[William Francis Grimes]].<ref name="StClair">{{cite book |last=St. Clair |first=Kassia |year=2016 |title=The Secret Lives of Colour |place=London, UK |publisher=John Murray |isbn=9781473630819 |oclc=936144129 |page=57}}</ref>
 
While the horse is annually re-chalked and restored by volunteers, there have been some alterations over the years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-08-02 |title=Uffington White Horse: Plans to fatten up shrinking Oxfordshire chalk figure |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-66371566 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240702111644/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-27259585 |archive-date=2024-07-02 |access-date=2024-07-02 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In August 2002, the figure was defaced with the addition of a rider and three dogs by members of the "Real Countryside Alliance" (Real CA). The act was denounced by the [[Countryside Alliance]].<ref>{{cite news |title=White horses defaced by activists |date=28 August 2002 |website=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2220725.stm |access-date=23 April 2011}}</ref> For a couple of days in May 2003, a temporary hill figure advertisement for [[Big Brother 4 (UK)|the fourth series]] of [[Channel 4]]'s series ''[[Big Brother (UK)|Big Brother]]'' was controversially placed near the figure.<ref name="marktownsend"/> In March 2012, as part of a pre-[[Cheltenham Festival]] publicity stunt, a bookmaker added a large jockey to the figure.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bookmaker adds jockey to Uffington Horse |date=9 March 2012 |website=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-17297495 |access-date=5 July 2017}}</ref> In August 2023, a restoration project was planned by the [[National Trust]] and archeologist Adrian Cox to quantify and reverse the gradual shrinking of the horse since the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-08-02 |title=Uffington White Horse: Plans to fatten up shrinking Oxfordshire chalk figure |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-66371566 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240702111531/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-66371566 |archive-date=2024-07-02 |access-date=2024-07-02 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In the summer of 2024, [[Oxford Archaeology]], in partnership with the [[National Trust]] and [[English Heritage]], began the project to restore the horse to its original position and shape with the help of many volunteers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/uffington-castle-white-horse-and-dragon-hill/the-uffington-white-horse-project/ |title=The Uffington White Horse Project |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=18 August 2024}}</ref>

==Representation and meaning==
It has long been debated whether the [[chalk]] figure was intended to represent a [[White horse (mythology)|horse]] or some other animal, such as a dog or a sabre-toothed cat. However, it has been called a horse since the 11th century at least. A [[cartulary]] of [[Abingdon Abbey]], compiled between 1072 and 1084, refers to "''mons albi equi''" at Uffington ("the White Horse Hill").<ref name="Plenderleath">{{cite book |first=W C|last=Plenderleath |author-link=William Plenderleath |year=1892 |title=The White Horses of the West of England |place=London |publisher=Allen & Storr |url=https://archive.org/stream/whitehorsesofwes00pleniala#page/8/mode/2up |page=8}}</ref>

[[File:The head of the White Horse of Uffington.jpg|left|thumb|The head of the horse, with sheep grazing around it.]]
[[Image:White Horse Hill & Dragon Hill c.jpg|thumb|White Horse Hill (left) and [[Dragon Hill, Uffington|Dragon Hill]] (right)]]
The horse is thought to represent a tribal symbol, perhaps connected with the builders of [[Uffington Castle]]. It is similar to horses depicted on [[Celtic coinage]], the currency of the pre-[[Roman Britain|Romano-British]] population, and on the [[Marlborough Bucket]] (an Iron Age burial bucket found in [[Marlborough, Wiltshire]]).{{efn|
...&nbsp;take a closer look at the sides of the bucket in order to identify Early Iron Age depictions of horses. They have similar features to the Uffington White Horse ... In the past, this resemblance has been used to date the Uffington Horse to the Iron Age. However, it was actually created much earlier, and does not compare exactly to Iron Age representations of horses, which are often much curvier in appearance.<ref>{{cite report |title=Early Iron Age horses on the Marlborough Bucket |type=exhibition label |publisher=[[Wiltshire Museum]] }}</ref>
}}

Another theory proposed by [[University of Southampton]] archaeologist [[Joshua Pollard]] points to the horse's alignment with the sun, particularly in midwinter when the sun appears to overtake the horse, to indicate that it was created as a depiction of a "[[Solar deity#Solar vessels and chariots|solar horse]]", reflecting mythological beliefs that the sun was carried across the sky on a horse or in a chariot.<ref name="powell"/>

==Scouring of the White Horse==
The White Horse has been carefully cleared of vegetation from time to time. The figure has remained clear of turf throughout its long existence, except for being covered as a precaution during the [[Second World War]] (as it could be used as a visual landmark for navigation by enemy planes). The cleaning process, known as the Scouring of the White Horse, was formerly made the occasion of a festival. Sports of all kinds were held, and keen rivalry was maintained, not only between the inhabitants of the local villages, but between local champions and those from distant parts of England.

The first of such festivals known took place in 1755 and they lasted until 1857, when 30,000&nbsp;people turned up for the event and were "too rowdy."<ref name="guardian scouring">{{cite news |first=Steven |last=Morris |date=22 May 2009 |title=Bank holiday grooming for Oxfordshire's White Horse |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |via=theguardian.com |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/may/22/oxfordshire-white-horse-bank-holiday |access-date=15 August 2022 }}</ref> ''The Scouring of the White Horse'', by Tom Hughes, was published in 1859 as a semi-fictionalised recounting of his visit to the 1857 event. He recounts being told that the local towns had laid claim to a tradition of scouring the White Horse since [[Saxons|Saxon]] times.<ref name="landow">{{cite web |author-link=George Landow (professor) |first=George P. |last=Landow |title=A "great basket of country treasures": Tom Hughes's ''The Scouring of the White Horse'' |website=The Victorian Web |url=https://victorianweb.org/authors/hughes/whitehorse.html |access-date=15 August 2022 }}</ref>

The tradition was revived in 2009 by the National Trust, with local volunteers replacing a layer of freshly quarried chalk on the [[Spring Bank Holiday]] weekend.<ref name="guardian scouring"/> Frequent work is required for the figure to remain visible. If regular cleaning is halted, the figure quickly becomes obscured. Periodic scouring continues, organised by the [[National Trust]]. On Chalking Day, volunteers with hammers, buckets of chalk, and kneepads kneel and "smash the chalk to a paste, whitening the paths cut in the grass inch by inch."<ref name="SI"/>

==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>

==Influence and cultural references==
The horse was a direct influence on much later hill figures of white horses,<ref name="hows.org.uk"/> including [[Kilburn White Horse]] (1858) in [[Yorkshire]],<ref>{{cite book |last = Marples |first = Morris |orig-year = 1949 |year = 1981 |title = White Horses and Other Hill Figures |publisher = Alan Sutton Publishing Limited |location = Gloucester |isbn = 0-904387-59-3}}</ref> [[Folkestone White Horse]] (2003) at the [[Channel Tunnel]] terminal near [[Kent]],<ref>{{cite web |title=More details |series=The White Horse |website=whitehorsefolkestone.co.uk |url=http://www.whitehorsefolkestone.co.uk/moredetails.html |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref> and a white horse cut from heather that existed from 1981 until the mid-1990s in [[Mossley]], [[Greater Manchester]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The nag under the heather |date=c. 1999 |newspaper=Tameside Reporter |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-geo-images/a49e49bf-d740-49cf-8dc3-a0c1966e9171_l.jpg |access-date=5 July 2017}}</ref> The first [[Westbury White Horse]], which faced left, is believed to have been inspired by the Uffington horse.<ref name="hows.org.uk"/> The Uffington White Horse has inspired lookalike hill figures, including one facing left in [[Ciudad Juárez]], [[Mexico]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Wiltshire white horses |website=wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk |url=http://www.wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/foreign.html |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref> Direct replicas of the Uffington horse can be found at [[Cockington Green Gardens]] in [[Australia]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Cockington Green Gardens |website=weekendnotes.com |url=https://www.weekendnotes.com/cockington-green-gardens/26502/}}</ref> and [[Hogansville]], [[Georgia (U.S. State)|Georgia]], U.S.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tunis Horses |website=hows.org.uk |url=http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/foreign/hillf%5Cgeorgia.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924031443/http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/foreign/hillf%5Cgeorgia.htm |archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> Uffington White Horse has inspired two sculptures in [[Wiltshire]], namely Julie Livsey's ''White Horse Pacified'' (1987) in nearby [[Swindon]],<ref>{{cite web |title=White Horse pacified |series=West Swindon sculpture walk, Part&nbsp;3 |website=swindonadvertiser.co.uk |date=23 July 2013 |url=http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/yoursay/blogs/born_again_swindonian/10566423.print/ |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref><!-- NOTE: The link says it was inspired by the horses surrounding Swindon, and the closest of all the horses to Swindon is Uffington --> a town which was also once considered for a white horse,<ref>{{cite web |title=Designs that were never made |series=Hill figures |website=hows.org.uk |url=http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/arch/designs.htm |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref> and Charlotte Moreton's ''White Horse'' (2010) in Solstice Park, [[Amesbury]].<ref>{{cite news |title=A white horse for Solstice Park |newspaper=Western Daily Press |url=http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/White-Horse-Solstice-Park/story-11759798-detail/story.html |access-date=10 October 2015}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The White Horse is used as a symbol by diverse organisations (mostly with Oxfordshire or Berkshire connections) and appears in numerous works of literature, visual art and music.<ref name="pollard">{{cite journal |first=J. |last=Pollard |year=2017 |title=The Uffington White Horse geoglyph as sun-horse |journal=Antiquity |volume=91 |issue=326 |pages=406–420 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2016.269 |doi-access=free |quote=A widely consumed image within popular culture ... the white horse features on the album covers of XTC and Nirvana&nbsp;... }}</ref>

===As an emblem===
The White Horse is the emblem of the [[Vale of White Horse District Council]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Vale of White Horse District Council |publisher=VOWHDC |url=http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref> the [[Berkshire Yeomanry]]<ref name=DoyleFoster2012>{{cite book |first1=Peter |last1=Doyle |first2=Chris |last2=Foster |date=20 July 2012 |title=British Army Cap Badges of the Second World War |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-7478-1110-7 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQjDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56}}</ref> (an Army Reserve unit based in [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]]), and educational establishments including [[Faringdon Community College]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Faringdon Community College |url=http://www.fcc.oxon.sch.uk/ |access-date=14 June 2017 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102040227/http://www.fcc.oxon.sch.uk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College |url=https://www.ridgewayschool.com/ |access-date=1 September 2021 |archive-date=13 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913084049/https://www.ridgewayschool.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> in Wroughton, Wiltshire, and The Ridgeway Primary School in [[Whitley, Berkshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ridgeway Primary School |url=http://www.theridgewayprimary.net |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref>

===Literature===
[[Thomas Hughes]], the author of ''[[Tom Brown's Schooldays]]'', who was born in the nearby village of Uffington,<ref>{{cite web |title=Uffington and ''Tom Brown's Schooldays'' |publisher=Tom Brown's School Museum |url=http://www.museum.uffington.net/what-you-can-see/?target=uffington-and-tom-browns-schooldays |access-date=14 June 2017 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306025333/http://www.museum.uffington.net/what-you-can-see/?target=uffington-and-tom-browns-schooldays |url-status=dead }}</ref> wrote a book called ''The Scouring of the White Horse''. Published in 1859, and described as "a combined travel book and record of regional history in the guise of a novel, sort of",<ref name=landow/> it recounts the traditional festivities surrounding the periodic renovation of the White Horse.<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Hughes |year=1859 |title=The Scouring of the White Horse |quote=...&nbsp;or, the long vacation ramble of a London clerk |publisher=Ticknor and Fields |place=Boston, MA |url=https://archive.org/details/scouringwhiteho00doylgoog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=David Nash |last=Ford |year=2003 |series=The Uffington White Horse, Part&nbsp;3 |title=Scouring and Pastimes |publisher=Royal Berkshire History |url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/archaeology/white_horse3.html |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref> In ''[[Idylls of the King]]'', written between 1859 and 1885, [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]] compares [[King Arthur]]'s removal of certain corrupt judges, who had been installed by his predecessor, Uther, to the way in which "Men weed the White Horse on the Berkshire hills, to keep him bright and clean as heretofore."<ref name=idylls>{{cite wikisource |last=Tennyson |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred, Lord Tennyson |date=1859–1885 |title=Idylls of the King |wslink= |chapter=Geraint and Enid}}</ref> [[G. K. Chesterton|G.K. Chesterton]] also features the scouring of the White Horse in his [[epic poetry|epic poem]] ''[[The Ballad of the White Horse]]'', published in 1911, a romanticised depiction of the exploits of [[King Alfred the Great]].<ref>{{Gutenberg |no=1719 |author=[[G. K. Chesterton|Chesterton, G.K.]] |year=1911 |name=The Ballad of the White Horse |bullet=none}}</ref>

In modern fiction, [[Rosemary Sutcliff]]'s 1977 children's book ''[[Sun Horse, Moon Horse]]'' tells a fictional story of the Bronze Age creator of the figure,<ref>{{cite web |first=Anne |last=McFadgen |title=Rosemary Sutcliff |publisher=Historical Novels |url=http://www.historicalnovels.info/Rosemary-Sutcliff.html |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Anthony |last=Lawton |date=26 March 2014 |title=The Horse People of ''the Eagle of the Ninth'' different from the Horse People (Epidi) of Sun Horse, Moon Horse |website=rosemarysutcliff.com |url=https://rosemarysutcliff.com/2014/03/26/the-horse-people-of-the-eagle-of-the-ninth-different-from-the-horse-people-epidi-of-sun-horse-moon-horse/ |access-date=30 March 2019 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330202525/https://rosemarysutcliff.com/2014/03/26/the-horse-people-of-the-eagle-of-the-ninth-different-from-the-horse-people-epidi-of-sun-horse-moon-horse/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the White Horse and nearby Wayland's Smithy feature in a 1920s setting in the Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery/detective novel ''A Pale Horse'' by [[Caroline and Charles Todd|Charles Todd]]; a depiction of the White Horse appears on the book's dust jacket.<ref name=Todd2008>{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Todd |author-link=Caroline and Charles Todd |year=2008 |title=A Pale Horse: An inspector Ian Rutledge mystery |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-123356-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IerpsIT06MsC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Pale Horse |publisher=[[Caroline and Charles Todd|Charles Todd]] |type=publisher's promotional site |url=https://charlestodd.com/books/a-pale-horse/ |access-date=30 March 2019}}</ref> Tom Shippey suggests that the horse may have inspired the banner flown by the horsemen of Rohan in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]], which is a white horse upon a green field.<ref name=Shippey2005>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=[[HarperCollins|Grafton (HarperCollins)]] |isbn=978-0261102750}}</ref> The horse is central to the 1978 BBC Television serial ''[[The Moon Stallion]]'' by [[Brian Hayles]],<ref name="Bramwell2009">{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Bramwell|date=31 March 2009 |title=Pagan Themes in Modern Children's Fiction: Green Man, shamanism, Earth mysteries |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan, UK |isbn=978-0-230-23689-9 |page=167 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-WHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA199}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Moon Stallion, The (1978) |website=BFI Screenonline (screenonline.org.uk) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1383693/index.html |access-date=30 March 2019}}</ref> who later novelised the series.<ref>{{cite book |first=Brian |last=Hayles |author-link=Brian Hayles |year=1978 |title=The Moon Stallion |publisher=The Book Service Ltd |isbn=0859391345}}</ref> "The horse on the chalk" in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Tiffany Aching]] series is inspired by the Uffington White Horse. Pratchett (who is famous for his sardonic humor) said "By an ''amazing'' coincidence, the horse carved on the chalk in ''[[A Hat Full of Sky]]'' (2004) is remarkably similar to the Uffington White Horse."<ref>{{cite book |last=Pratchett |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Pratchett |year=2004 |title=A Hat Full of Sky |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers Inc |isbn=9780062435279 |pages=280}}</ref> The White Horse is a significant setting, plot point, and symbol in the 2018 novel ''[[Lethal White]]'', the fourth instalment in the [[Cormoran Strike]] detective series,<ref>{{cite book |author=Galbraith, Robert (pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) |author-link=J. K. Rowling |date=18 September 2018 |title=Lethal White |title-link=Lethal White |place=London, UK |publisher=Sphere Books |isbn=978-0751572858}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=January 2019}} and inspired the 2022 [[A. F. Steadman]] novel ''Skandar and The Unicorn Thief''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imagininghistory.co.uk/post/annabel-steadman-on-skandar-ancient-burial-mounds-and-why-you-should-never-trust-a-sparkly-unicorn#google_vignette |title=Annabel Steadman on Skandar, ancient burial mounds and why you should never trust a sparkly Unicorn |date=27 April 2023 |website=Imagining History |access-date=13 June 2024}}</ref>

===Music===
[[John Gardner (composer)|John Gardner]]'s ''Ballad of the White Horse'' (1959) was inspired by [[The Ballad of the White Horse|Chesterton's epic poem]] of the same name. It was recently recorded by the City of London Choir, accompanied by the [[BBC Concert Orchestra]], and conducted by [[Hilary Davan Wetton]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Gardner: The Ballad of the White Horse |url=https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8774915--john-gardner-the-ballad-of-the-white-horse |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=Presto Music |language=en}}</ref>

[[David Bedford]]'s ''Song of the White Horse'' (1978), set for ensemble and children's choir and commissioned for the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Omnibus (UK TV series)|Omnibus]]'' programme, depicts a journey along a footpath alongside the Uffington Horse and includes words from Chesterton's poem. The composition requires the choir to inhale [[helium]] to sing the "stratospherically high notes" of the climax,<ref>{{cite web |title=David Bedford's ''The Song of the White Horse'' |date=5 November 2011 |publisher=BBC Radio&nbsp;3 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016vks3 |access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref> accompanied by aerial footage of the horse animated to show it rearing up from the ground.<ref>{{cite AV media |people = David Bedford (Composer), Tony Staveacre (Director) |year = 1978 |title = The Song of the White Horse |medium = TV |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIAlaiE6Do |access-date = 29 June 2017 | publisher = BBC |series = [[Omnibus (UK TV series)|Omnibus]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Gary S. |last=Dalkin |title=David Bedford: ''Song of the White Horse'' also featuring ''Star Clusters, Nebulae, & Places in Devon'' |publisher= musicweb-international.com |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/june00/whitehorse.htm |access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref> A recording, produced by [[Mike Oldfield]], was released by Oldfield Music in 1983.<ref>{{Discogs release |release=2866432 |name=David Bedford – Star Clusters, Nebulae, & Places in Devon / The Song Of The White Horse |type=album}}</ref>

The Uffington Horse is illustrated on the cover of ''[[English Settlement]]'' (1982), the fifth studio album by the [[Swindon]] band [[XTC]],<ref name="pollard" /><ref>{{Discogs master |master=70130 |name=English Settlement |type=album}}</ref> and appears (among other symbols copied from [[Barbara G. Walker]]'s ''The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects''<ref>{{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G. |year=2006 |title=Nirvana's ''In Utero'' |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-1776-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Benson |date=13 September 2009 |title=Nirvana – ''In Utero'' |series=Album cover art stories |publisher=SoundStageDirect |url=http://sound-stage-direct.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/album-cover-art-stories-nirvana-in.html |access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>) on the back cover of [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s final album, ''[[In Utero (album)|In Utero]]'' (1993).<ref name="pollard" /> Painted in 2024, a public mural of the ''English Settlement'' sleeve, prominently depicting the Uffington Horse, features on Crombey Street, Swindon.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gardner |first1=Ben |title=XTC mural in Swindon town centre paid for by superfan |url=https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/24217784.xtc-mural-swindon-town-centre-paid-superfan/ |website=Swindon Advertiser |access-date=9 June 2024 |date=29 March 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cerne Abbas Giant]]
* [[Long Man of Wilmington]]
* [[List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Oxfordshire]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Sources and further reading==
{{refbegin}}
{{div col begin |colwidth=20em}}
* {{cite book |last=Bramwell |first=Peter |year=2009 |title=Pagan Themes in Modern Children's Fiction: Green Man, shamanism, Earth mysteries |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=978-0-230-21839-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Darvill |first=Timothy |year=1996 |title=Prehistoric Britain from the Air: A study of space, time and society |publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-55132-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZPC_Bd7reVcC&pg=PA222}}
* {{cite book |last=Dyer |first=J. |year=2001 |title=Discovering Prehistoric England |publisher=[[Shire Books]] |place=Oxford, UK |isbn=0-7478-0507-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=David |last2=Palmer |first2=Simon |last3=Lock |first3=Gary |last4=Gosden |first4=Chris |last5=Cromarty |first5=Anne Marie |year=2003 |title=Uffington White Horse and its Landscape: Investigations at White Horse Hill, Uffington, 1989–95, and Tower Hill, Ashbury, 1993–4 |series=Thames Valley Landscape Series |volume=18 |publisher=[[Oxford University]] School of Archaeology |place=Oxford, UK |isbn=0-947816-77-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Plenderleath |first=W.C., Rev. |author-link=William Plenderleath |year=1892 |title=The White Horses of the West of England |publisher=Allen & Storr |place=London, UK |url=https://archive.org/details/whitehorsesofwes00pleniala}}
* {{cite journal |first=Diana |last=Woolner |year=1967 |title=New light on the White Horse |journal=[[Folklore (journal)|Folklore]] |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=90–111 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1967.9717080 |jstor=1258648 }}
{{div col end}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Uffington White Horse}}
* {{cite web |title=White Horse Hill |website=The National Trust |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/white-horse-hill}}
* {{cite web |title=The White Horse |website=Ancient Britain |url=http://www.pegasusarchive.org/ancientbritain/white_horse.htm}}
* {{cite web |title=Uffington Whitehorse and Dragon Hill |website=Mysterious Britain & Ireland |date=August 2008 |url=http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/oxfordshire/featured-sites/uffington-white-horse-and-dragon-hill.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122074558/http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/oxfordshire/featured-sites/uffington-white-horse-and-dragon-hill.html |archive-date=2009-01-22 }}
* {{cite web |title=The Uffington White Horse |website=Royal Berkshire History |url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/archaeology/white_horse.html }}
* {{cite web |title=The White Horse of Uffington |website=brian-haughton.com |url=http://brian-haughton.com/white-horse-uffington/}}

{{Hill figure}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Berkshire]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:White horses (hill figures) in England]]
[[Category:History of Berkshire]]
[[Category:History of Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:National Trust properties in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Vale of White Horse]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Bronze Age art]]
[[Category:Berkshire folklore]]
[[Category:Oxfordshire folklore]]
[[Category:Scheduled monuments in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Bronze Age sites in Oxfordshire]]