History of our White Horse

[Clevercat]

The Westbury white horse is the oldest of the Wiltshire horses. It is also one of the best situated, being high on a very steep slope and overlooking a panoramic view. It is on Westbury Hill, on the edge of the Bratton Downs, immediately below the Iron Age hillfort called Bratton Camp, north-east of Westbury and near to the villages of Bratton and Edington. There is a car park with a viewing point on the B3098 just east of Westbury, and a car park above the horse on Westbury Hill. Note that the lanes up onto the hill are steep and narrow, and are used by horse riders.

There has been a white horse on the site for at least three hundred years or so. The earliest mention of it is in "Further Observations on the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire" by the Reverend Wise, published in 1742. The white horse of the title is the Uffington horse, but the author also refers to the Westbury horse. He relates that he was told by local people that it had first been cut in the memory of persons still living or who had recently died, which suggests a date in the late sixteen hundreds. That horse was very different in design to the present one, and is perhaps Saxon or earlier in appearance. However, it could well have been a deliberate "mock-Saxon" pseudo-antique folly; there are no earlier references to a horse on the site, even by authors who mention the Uffington horse.

In 1778, a Mr. George Gee, who was steward to Lord Abingdon, had the horse re-cut to a design nearer to its present day appearance. He apparently felt that the older version was not a sufficiently good representation of a horse. One cannot help but wonder if the name G Gee had made him overly sensitive about horses.

A century later the horse had become somewhat misshapen, and in 1873 it was restored according to the directions of a committee appointed for the purpose, and edging stones were added to help hold the chalk in place. The shape of the present horse dates from this restoration. In the early twentieth century, concrete was added to hold the edging stones in place. In the late nineteen-fifties, it was decided that it would considerably reduce the maintenance costs if the horse were covered in concrete then painted white. The concreting was repeated in 1995. Given that the horse is now concrete, it is perhaps ironic that the marvellous panoramic view from the site of the horse is spoilt only by being bisected by the massive chimney of the local cement works.

 taken from A History of Wiltshire White Horses

[Bazza]

And one day soon we'll be able to show our children what it looks like 

[memento mori]

I understood that the White Horse was carved to comemerate the battle of Edington in 678AD (I think that was the date)

This is when King Alfred defeated the invading Danes.

[John GL]

It's not known exactly where the battle of Ethandun was fought.  "Our" Edington is easily the favourite claimant, however, and fits the logic of the situation; Alfred mustered his army from a base in Athelney and the Danes were based at Chippenham, so the Westbury area would be a logical meeting place. 

Given that the battle was probably fought somewhere near Edington, the next question is whether it took place on the heights around Bratton Camp or down on the plain.  Either is possible but I think the plain is more likely.  Various historians have different theories about the kind of battle it was - could have been just a skirmish convincing ghe Danes that Wessex wasn't going to be conquered easily, or could have been a major stand-up fight between two powerful armies.  The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle suggests the latter.

There's also lots of argument about the size of the armies.  The contenders were half of the Danish "Great Army" and the full levy of Wessex (roughly, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon), so I think about 5,000 men on each side is a reasonable guess.  No more than that, though! 

There was plenty happening in the area in 678, too, though I realise that was just a slip!  The West Saxons had recently conquered this area from the British (Welsh); they reached the River Parrett in 658 and pressed into Somerset, capturing Taunton in 710.  The Anglo-Saxon conquest of England was a long drawn out process, taking from some time in the 5th century until 838 (final conquest of Cornwall).

Stop me if I'm boring you...

[H]

Anyone know when the white horse is going to be spruced up? 
When we first moved here (2000) it looked pretty good and I was quite proud showing it to family and friends...not any more though
They've obviously done that paint trial last year because there's a bit of a clean stripe through it but that's it!

[flowers]

It's slated for September, provided English Nature pull their finger out and approve the paint!

Pete

I watched a challenge Anica programme a decade or so ago and they used tonnes and tonnes of white stones to make a horse white again. I think they should come up with a coating that can be cleaned so it dosent need repainting so often.

[Jayday]

I think they should come up with a coating that can be cleaned so it dosent need repainting so often.

They had one before...it's called chalk. 

[H]

LOL nice one Jayday! 
I suppose we're all assuming they're going to paint it white...
 

[thatmanfez]

I did some research on these topics for my website www.thisiswestbury.co.uk. Here are my pages for both the original and modern white horse along with my page about the battle of Ethandun.

[John GL]

Good stuff!  But of course a lot of the detail about the battle of Ethandun is highly conjectural. 

[thatmanfez]

As is a large proportion of documented history (only ever written by the victor – if written at all). I tried to let the reader know that other versions of the truth were available…

[John GL]

Sure, and I wasn't implying any criticism of your excellent site - but Ethandun is less well documented than many other battles.  Tewkesbury, for instance: we have a very good idea of what happened there, from two contemporary accounts with quite a lot of detail.  For Ethandun we don't know whether it was a skirmish, a running fight or a stand-up pitched battle, or even where it was fought.

Other battles in this general area: Deorham or Dyrham, north of Bath, 577 (even vaguer than Ethandun, but possibly even more important), Lansdown, near Bath (1643), Roundway Down, just outside Devizes (also 1643), Langport (1645).  Anyone think of any others?

[thatmanfez]

I’ve just dug out my research notes. I’d made a note that Westbury residents were mobilised just prior to the battle – unfortunately I didn’t document where I’d found the reference (probably why I didn’t mention it on the site) and can’t remember where I’d originally found the reference (I was careful to keep a detailed bibliography for the site – I guess I was a bit more lax with my original note taking!!!).

It would have made sense for Guthum to use an easily defendable position (Bratton Camp) to make his stand but I agree that there are several similar camps in the area. However, the direction of travel of Alfred’s ‘army’, travel time, and bloody great horses on the side of hills would point to the battle taking place here!

[pucouajio]

The article quoted in the first post can be found here http://wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/ along with information about other White Horses in Wiltshire.

[Angelina]

i was born in black Wantage as it was known , for the rogues and crooks that came down from london to live there !! there were more than a few thugs its true , it was also the birth place of king Alfred the great.
 Uffington white horse is also  very close to there, the oldest known white horse in Britain , and the remains of a huge moat from a huge castle are visible from the ridgeway, all the horses are along the ridgeway ,arent they all conjoined where the armies used to walk along |??