I don’t have much time left in England, and there’s still plenty to see…Last Sunday, I woke up, looked out the window, and though it looked a bit frosty, the sunshine suggested that it could be the ideal day to go after those famous white horses. After a quick account and route planning, I was already driving south-west, towards Wiltshire.
Some interesting numbers about the horses: there were at least 24 in Great Britain, 13 of them in Wiltshire, out of which, 8 are still visible today. I targeted 7 of them, and I finally found 6. The oldest is 240 years old (from 1778), the youngest is from 1999, a horse from the millennium. Of course we don’t talk about real horses but ones that are carved into chalk, which rest on the slopes of the Wiltshire hills, and were “stood” for commemorating historical victories.
Starting from Oxford, I did the following circle:
- Marlborough – 1804; unaccomplished mission, after going a few rounds in the city, I gave up. It’s said to be small and surrounded by trees…
- Pewsey – 1937; I almost missed this one too, even though my blue dot on Google maps was close to it. It’s about 1 mile from Pewsey to the south, along Everleigh Road, and you’ll see it while driving up the hill, it’s not too big. It’s a bit difficult by car, because there is no place to stop or pull over, but as the road is not too busy, you can shoot some quick photos from there (stopping!).
- Alton Barnes – 1812; if we go back through Pewsey and head towards west, then just before turning towards Alton Barnes, you’ll spot the next horse, which is bigger than the previous one, from the road on your right. It lies in white on the Milk Hill, to the north from the village.
- Devizes – 1999; continuing to the west, before taking the turn towards Devizes, on your right, you can see the youngest of the horses, which was carved for the millennium. It might be better to target Roundway instead of Devizes, as the horse is on the slope of the Roundway Hill.
- Westbury – 1778; the oldest, which falls a bit farther out of the circle of the others, an over-half-an-hour drive from Devizes to southwest. There are signs leading there, but it can already be spotted from quite a distance, it’s massive (55 m tall and 52 m wide) and blinding white, especially compared to the others. You just follow the signs to “Bratton Camp & White Horse”, which take you up on the hill, to the top of the horse on a narrow road (B3098). There is a parking area, and a footpath leads you around on the hilltop, above the head of the horse. The horse is covered by concrete painted in white, and framed by stones to preserve its shape and visibility. It’s also an ideal place for paragliding, and surely has a beautiful view.
- Cherhill – 1780; back to northeast, it’s perfectly visible from road A4 on the right. To be honest, I saw the obelisk first on the top of the hill, which then recalled the pictures from the Internet, and I knew that the horse must also be there somewhere. I don’t know if it was because the sun wasn’t shining anymore or because chalk is not white in winter anyway, but this horse was particularly grayed into the hillside. There are parking bays along the road, from where you can admire it, and there are also footpaths leading up to the horse as well as to the earthworks of Oldbury castle on the other side of the hill.
- Hackpen – 1838; continuing on the A4 to the east, crossing Avebury, where there are standing stones similarly to Stonehenge, you have to head towards Broad Hinton. But before getting into the village, you need to turn to the right onto Summers Road, towards Hackpen Hill. Then the last horse of our tour will appear in front of us.
My way home touched Marlborough again, and though I was dauntless, I still couldn’t find this horse. Probably I should have parked in the city, and walk to a spot from where it’s visible, but it was muddy and already dusk, so I headed home with 6 horses in my pocket, and I was happy that I could find at least those. By the way, the 8th is at Broad Town (not far from the Hackpen one).
If you have a closer look at the pictures of the horses, there is an odd one out. Which one, and why?