Cherhill White Horse
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Cherhill_White_Horse_Juli_2015%2C3.jpg/220px-Cherhill_White_Horse_Juli_2015%2C3.jpg)
Cherhill White Horse is a
Location
Facing towards the north-east, Cherhill White Horse lies on a steep slope of Cherhill Down, a little below the
Near the horse is an obelisk called the Lansdowne Monument, visible in some photographs of the White Horse.[2]
![Cherhill White Horse and Landsdowne Monument](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Cherhill_white_horse.jpg/700px-Cherhill_white_horse.jpg)
Inspiration
The Cherhill horse may have been inspired by the first such Wiltshire horse, that at Westbury, which had just been remodelled.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Cherhill-white-horse-1892-plenderleath.svg/220px-Cherhill-white-horse-1892-plenderleath.svg.png)
The figure at Cherhill was first cut in 1780 by a Dr Christopher Alsop, of Calne, and was created by stripping away the turf to expose the chalk hillside beneath. Its original size was 165 feet (50 m) by 220 feet (67 m).[3][6] Dr Alsop, who was Guild Steward of the Borough of Calne, has been called "the mad doctor", and is reported to have directed the making of the horse from a distance, shouting through a megaphone from below Labour-in-Vain Hill.[6][7] His design may have been influenced by the work of his artist friend George Stubbs, notable for his paintings of horses.[2]
Since 1780, the horse has been 'scoured' several times. In 1935, it was dressed with a mixture of concrete and chalk, and it was cleaned up in 1994.
In the 19th century, the horse had a glittering glass eye, formed from bottles pressed neck-first into the ground. The bottles had been added by a Farmer Angell and his wife, but by the late 19th century they had disappeared. During the 1970s, a local youth centre project added a new eye made of glass bottles, but these also disappeared.[2][7] The eye now consists of stone and concrete and sits at a higher level than that of the chalk surface around it.[3]
In 1922, M. Oldfield Howey noted that "At the time of writing (1922) this horse is sadly in need of scouring, as due to the
In the week of the
The hill above the horse belongs to the National Trust.[9]
Thirteen such white horses are known to have existed in Wiltshire. Of these, eight can still be seen, while the others have grown over.[5] The Alton Barnes White Horse, at Alton Barnes, is known to be based on Cherhill White Horse.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Cherhill_White_Horse_04.jpg/220px-Cherhill_White_Horse_04.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Cherhill_White_Horse_02.jpg/220px-Cherhill_White_Horse_02.jpg)
See also
References
- ^ Marples, Morris, White Horses & Other Hill Figures (London: Country Life Ltd, 1949; New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949)
- ^ a b c d e f The Cherhill or Oldbury white horse at wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk, accessed 18 July 2008
- ^ a b c d e Cherhill White Horse at hows.org.uk, accessed 18 July 2008
- ^ Wise, Francis, Further Observations on the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire (1742)
- ^ a b Home page: An introduction to the white horses at wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk, accessed 18 July 2008
- ^ a b c d Bowcott, Owen (9 September 2002). "Historic horse turns a whiter shade of pale". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ a b Cherhill – 1780 Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at weirdwiltshire.co.uk, accessed 18 July 2008
- ^ Howey, M. Oldfield, Horse in Magic and Myth (1923, reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, 2003), page 70
- ^ "Calstone and Cherhill Downs". National Trust. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
Bibliography
- Plenderleath, Rev. W. C., On the White Horses of Wiltshire and Its Neighbourhood (Wilts Archaeological Magazine, vol. 14 for the year 1872, pp. 12–30)
- Plenderleath, Rev. W. C., White Horses of the West of England (London: Alfred Russell Smith, & Calne: Alfred Heath, 1885; 2nd edition, London, Allen & Storr, 1892)
- Marples, Morris, White Horses & Other Hill Figures (London: Country Life Ltd, 1949; New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949)
- Bergamar, Kate, Discovering Hill Figures (London: Shire Publications, 1968, 4th revised edition 1997, ISBN 0-7478-0345-5)
- Clensy, David, Walking the White Horses: Wiltshire's White Horse Trail on Foot (2023)
External pictures and videos
- A Drone Video of Cherhill White Horse and Landsdowne Monument at vimeo.com
- Panorama of Cherhill White Horse and Landsdowne Monument at flickr.com
- Cherhill White Horse Archived 12 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine at bbc.co.uk
- Postcard of the Cherhill White Horse, c. 1910 at hows.org.uk
- Cherhill White Horse, close up at flickr.com
- Cherhill White Horse, very close up at hows.org.uk
External links
- Cherhill White Horse location map from maps.yahoo.com
- Interactive map of Oldbury Castle and Cherhill White Horse, Wiltshire, from pagemost.com