Old Hillside Art
During visits to England I learned about
and saw several large white horses carved into hillsides. A school teacher carved the first horse in
1856 in southern England. Such carvings
are quite common throughout the
countryside. Because the soil is chalky
and relatively soft in southern England, many horses can be found in this area.
There are 16-17 hillside carved horses around the country.
On the way to Bath, just before leaving
the chalk region and shortly before arriving in Bath, the guide called our
attention to a horse carving, saying, “This horse is over 80-feet long and is
known as the Westbury horse. About 200
years ago the horse was recarved and enlarged, but the sad thing is it
encompassed a horse carving that was 1000-years old, and the original carving
is now lost forever.”
One exception to the chalk horses is the
1857 Kilburn white horse. The huge horse located in the North York Moors
National Park in Yorkshire measures
206-feet by 320-feet long. It is said to be the largest and northern most of
England’s horses. A steeply graded road
leads to a car park and a foot path that leads one along the cliff over the
horse.
During WW II the horse was covered to
avoid it being a target for enemy bombers. It is carved out of granite and periodically
has to be painted white by men hanging over the cliff by rope and using paint
rollers. (I’m not sure if this is a folk-tale
or not.) Apparently there are some chalk
chips imbedded in the horse.
However, I mused that it must be quite a
sight to see grown men hanging over a cliff painting the hillside.
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