Next to the Stonehenge, the Uffington Horse is probably one of the best known Tourist attractions of England. A strange, graceful figure that stands out markedly white against the backdrop of the rolling green hills of the Berkshire Downs, it is the oldest of the strange and unexplained white chalk figures found in Merrie England. Unlike the famous Wiltshire horse figures which are more or less fairly realistic and straighforward representations and moreover all face towards the left, the Uffington Horse is right-facing and is composed of stylistic curves which give it an appearance of being in motion. It does not actually look like a horse though – it has only been assumed to be so over the centuries – it might have been meant to be any other creature really.
Found about 30 miles from the city of Oxford, the Uffington Horse is carved near the top of an impressively steep escarpment that rises to the height of 856 feet. The hills are made of chalk, but in this case the Uffington Horse hasn't been carved deep enough to reveal the chalk. What the designers did instead was dig ditches that were 3 feet deep and 10 feet wide and then filled these up with chalk. The figure is 374 feet long.
The Uffington Horse is one of those interesting man-made monuments that somehow seem to have been perpetually around. It has been known to the nearby villages since time immemorial. The origins are mysterious and although various theories have been put forward regarding it, nothing definite is known about who made it and for what purpose. There is a reference to it - "the place commonly known as the White Horse Hill" - in a cartulary of the Abbey of Abingdon from between 1072 and 1084.
The Uffington Horse was originally thought to have been from the Saxon Age or the Iron Age. But more recent, more technologically advanced studies that can measure when the chalk was last exposed to light date its origins to the Bronze Age. There are some theories now that perhaps it even dated way back to the Neolithic Age, but that hasn't yet been corroborated.
There are a lot of theories about who made it. Since, like the faces and figures found in America, it is seen best when viewed from the air and can be seen only fairly or not well from the ground, there are theories about a UFO connection. Perhaps it was a signal for them or something. Why else would the ancients carve such a figure?
Other less fantastic and perhaps more plausible theories point towards its being a tribal symbol or a territory marker. Some people accord it with religious significance – as a symbol of the horse goddess who was worshipped as Epona by the Celtic Tribes of Gaul and as Rhiannon by the tribes in England. It may also have had something to do with the Sun God Belinos or Belenus, as he was also known – this might explain why it was carved so high up on the hill. Perhaps it is a fertility symbol.
Still others say that the Uffington Horse is in fact the dragon slayed by St. George on the nearby Dragon Hill. This is a small, flat-topped hill on which no grass grows – supposedly because the blood of the dragon was spilt on it and dragon blood, it is well known, offers no incentive for the growth of life forms. The Uffington Horse might also be a depiction of St. George's steed. Still other stories link the Horse to King Alfred – he may have had it carved in the hillside to commemorate his victory over the Danes in 871. Still other claims link it to the leader of the Fifth Century A.D. Anglo-Saxon hordes, Hengist. There are even some wags who claim it was just somebody prehistoric being abstractly expressive.
The White Horse was over the centuries cared for by the nearby villagers. This was known as Scouring and they turned that into a three day festive occasion in which many other fun and sporting activities also took place – rolling wheels of cheese down the hill, wrestling, and so on. Now the Uffington Horse is cared for by the English Heritage Foundation. Every seven years the chalk outlines are divested of the overgrown and the borders are smoothed. These days it seems the chalk is getting spoiled due to pollution.
The Uffington Horse can be visited anytime and there is no charge. Also worth visiting are the Uffington Castle, Wayland's Smithy, the Manger, and the Ridgeway. The Uffington Castle, excavated in 1850, is a really grand name for what is in actuality a grassy knoll with raised mounds and ditches around it. In the Iron Age, when it was built, it was bolstered by timber and sarcen stones. It is probable that it was the Tribe that lived here that carved the Uffington Horse – probably the Dobunni Tribe, going by the Iron Age coin that was found here. Wayland's Smithy, first a megalithic burial place and later an elaborate, chambered tomb, is named after the Scandinavian God Wodin. According to folklore if an unshod horse is tethered outside it and fetched a few hours later, it is found to have been newly shod. The Manger is the hillside down which the Cheese was rolled – it is thought to have been formed in the Ice Age and certainly has strange fold shapes. It is of special importance to the Uffington Horse, who supposedly goes to feed there on moonlit nights. The nearby Ridgeway is one of the most ancient routes of the world and stretches across the crest of the hills to join with the Icknield Way and the Wessex Ridgeway and form an almost continuous path all the way to East Anglia.
Also worth visiting are the Great Coxwell and the town of Wantage. The first is the best preserved and most grandly constructed example of the Medieval English Tithe Barn, and the latter, a wonderfully old-fashioned town, is the birthplace of Alfred the Great.
People less interested in history are sure to be enthralled by the magnificent scenery and the exhilarating local pursuit of kite flying on breezy, windy days.
Found about 30 miles from the city of Oxford, the Uffington Horse is carved near the top of an impressively steep escarpment that rises to the height of 856 feet. The hills are made of chalk, but in this case the Uffington Horse hasn't been carved deep enough to reveal the chalk. What the designers did instead was dig ditches that were 3 feet deep and 10 feet wide and then filled these up with chalk. The figure is 374 feet long.
The Uffington Horse is one of those interesting man-made monuments that somehow seem to have been perpetually around. It has been known to the nearby villages since time immemorial. The origins are mysterious and although various theories have been put forward regarding it, nothing definite is known about who made it and for what purpose. There is a reference to it - "the place commonly known as the White Horse Hill" - in a cartulary of the Abbey of Abingdon from between 1072 and 1084.
The Uffington Horse was originally thought to have been from the Saxon Age or the Iron Age. But more recent, more technologically advanced studies that can measure when the chalk was last exposed to light date its origins to the Bronze Age. There are some theories now that perhaps it even dated way back to the Neolithic Age, but that hasn't yet been corroborated.
There are a lot of theories about who made it. Since, like the faces and figures found in America, it is seen best when viewed from the air and can be seen only fairly or not well from the ground, there are theories about a UFO connection. Perhaps it was a signal for them or something. Why else would the ancients carve such a figure?
Other less fantastic and perhaps more plausible theories point towards its being a tribal symbol or a territory marker. Some people accord it with religious significance – as a symbol of the horse goddess who was worshipped as Epona by the Celtic Tribes of Gaul and as Rhiannon by the tribes in England. It may also have had something to do with the Sun God Belinos or Belenus, as he was also known – this might explain why it was carved so high up on the hill. Perhaps it is a fertility symbol.
Still others say that the Uffington Horse is in fact the dragon slayed by St. George on the nearby Dragon Hill. This is a small, flat-topped hill on which no grass grows – supposedly because the blood of the dragon was spilt on it and dragon blood, it is well known, offers no incentive for the growth of life forms. The Uffington Horse might also be a depiction of St. George's steed. Still other stories link the Horse to King Alfred – he may have had it carved in the hillside to commemorate his victory over the Danes in 871. Still other claims link it to the leader of the Fifth Century A.D. Anglo-Saxon hordes, Hengist. There are even some wags who claim it was just somebody prehistoric being abstractly expressive.
The White Horse was over the centuries cared for by the nearby villagers. This was known as Scouring and they turned that into a three day festive occasion in which many other fun and sporting activities also took place – rolling wheels of cheese down the hill, wrestling, and so on. Now the Uffington Horse is cared for by the English Heritage Foundation. Every seven years the chalk outlines are divested of the overgrown and the borders are smoothed. These days it seems the chalk is getting spoiled due to pollution.
The Uffington Horse can be visited anytime and there is no charge. Also worth visiting are the Uffington Castle, Wayland's Smithy, the Manger, and the Ridgeway. The Uffington Castle, excavated in 1850, is a really grand name for what is in actuality a grassy knoll with raised mounds and ditches around it. In the Iron Age, when it was built, it was bolstered by timber and sarcen stones. It is probable that it was the Tribe that lived here that carved the Uffington Horse – probably the Dobunni Tribe, going by the Iron Age coin that was found here. Wayland's Smithy, first a megalithic burial place and later an elaborate, chambered tomb, is named after the Scandinavian God Wodin. According to folklore if an unshod horse is tethered outside it and fetched a few hours later, it is found to have been newly shod. The Manger is the hillside down which the Cheese was rolled – it is thought to have been formed in the Ice Age and certainly has strange fold shapes. It is of special importance to the Uffington Horse, who supposedly goes to feed there on moonlit nights. The nearby Ridgeway is one of the most ancient routes of the world and stretches across the crest of the hills to join with the Icknield Way and the Wessex Ridgeway and form an almost continuous path all the way to East Anglia.
Also worth visiting are the Great Coxwell and the town of Wantage. The first is the best preserved and most grandly constructed example of the Medieval English Tithe Barn, and the latter, a wonderfully old-fashioned town, is the birthplace of Alfred the Great.
People less interested in history are sure to be enthralled by the magnificent scenery and the exhilarating local pursuit of kite flying on breezy, windy days.
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