Westbury White Horse
Westbury White Horse or Bratton White Horse is a
The horse is 180 ft (55 m) tall and 170 ft (52 m) wide and has been adopted as a symbol for the town of Westbury, appearing on welcome signs and the logo of its tourist information centre. It is also considered a symbol for Wiltshire as a whole.
Origins
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2018) |
Although it is the oldest of the Wiltshire white horses, the origin of Westbury White Horse is obscure.
Historians have generally located the battle of Ethandun or Edington on the high ground, somewhere within a few kilometres of the white horse, which would have been a strong defensive position for Alfred and the Saxons of Wessex, marching north-east from Egbert's Stone (popularly believed to be located at Kingston Deverill or King Alfred's Tower nearby), whilst facing the Danes led by Guthram, advancing south-west from their stronghold in Chippenham. It is popularly believed that Bratton Castle, the Iron Age hillfort immediately adjacent to the white horse may have played some part in the battle, but there is no evidence of this, and the 'fortress' referenced in Medieval texts is much more likely to have been the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Chippenham, which had been occupied by Guthram's Danes as their headquarters. Local legend asserts that the defeated Danes fled down the slopes to the springs that rise between the villages of Bratton and Edington (after which the battle was named), and the slopes on which the white horse is located. Again, according to local legend, many exhausted Danes were massacred in the woods and boggy ground there by pursuing Saxons, the survivors fleeing north-eastwards, pursued by Alfred's men all the way to Chippenham. However, there are some who dispute this account and believe this key battle was fought elsewhere, as there is very little real evidence either way, it remains contested, although the majority agree the vicinity of Edington is the most likely, and logical site.
A local site, just to the north-east of the white horse is Luccombe Vale, which has a locally famed 'bloodstone' said to be connected with the massacre of Danish prisoners after the battle.[2]
According to local tradition,[3] the current white horse was cut in 1778 by a Mr Gee, who overlaid a smaller, older chalk figure, believed to also have been a horse, the only surviving image of which dates to 1772, and shows a figure facing the other way with a long tail. During the 19th and early 20th Centuries the figure was periodically reshaped and repaired.[3]
Another hillside chalk figure, the Uffington White Horse, featured in King Alfred's early life. He was born in the Vale of White Horse, not far from Uffington in Oxfordshire. Unlike the recorded history of Westbury, documents as early as the eleventh century refer to the "White Horse Hill" at Uffington ("mons albi equi"), and archaeological work has dated the Uffington White Horse to the Bronze Age, although it is not certain that it was originally intended to represent a horse.
A white horse war standard was associated with the
During the 18th century,
In Alfred and the Great White Horse of Wiltshire (1939), the
Wiltshire folklore has it that when the nearby Bratton church clock strikes midnight, the white horse goes down to the Bridewell Springs,[note 1] below the hill, to drink.[5]
Modern history
By 1872 the horse was considered to have lost its shape, by the chalk repeatedly growing over and being re-cut. In 1873 it was remodelled by a committee, and at the same time substantial edging-stones were added all around the perimeter, to prevent the shape from changing again.[6]
During the Second World War, the chalk of the horse was turfed over to prevent German pilots from using it for navigation.[7] Nearby Westbury was considered to be a potential target as a railway hub.
The horse was illuminated at night in 1900 and again in 1950, both times using army equipment. For the 1950 event, which used World War Two searchlights, traffic in Westbury and Bratton came almost to a standstill as drivers slowed down to look.[8]
In 1928, the horse was used as inspiration for the design of the Litlington White Horse in East Sussex, which until 1983, when it was changed from a standing position to a prancing position, was visually similar to the Westbury horse.[9]
In 1957 the horse was concreted over and painted white by Westbury Urban District Council, in an attempt to save on long-term maintenance costs, as the chalk of the face was eroding and unstable, due to the steepness of the slope.[3] Since then, the concrete has tended to turn grey and deteriorate over time, requiring regular cleaning, as well as periodic repairs and repainting. It was thoroughly cleaned in 1993[10] and in 1995, the concrete facing from 1957 was replaced and repainted.[3]
In 2003, the horse was vandalised when "Stop This War" was written in yellow across the horse in capital letters in protest of the Iraq War. After the words were removed, the horse was noticeably grey with a white horizontal strip where the message had been. In November 2006, the horse was repaired and repainted again. The newly whitened horse was illuminated on the night the repairs were finished, by Second World War searchlights, as in 1950.[citation needed]
In July 2010, the neck of the horse was vandalised when the word "wonkey" was written across it.[11] This part of the neck had to be re-whitened in 2010, leading to the horse having a whiter neck than the rest of the body.
The BBC reported that the horse was to be cleaned again in 2012.
Two visitor information signs, on the hill above the horse and in the viewing area car park, were placed in 1999 following the completion of
BBC News had a video in June 2018 showing the horse being cleaned with high pressure water jets by up to 18 volunteer abseilers.[18] The cost was given as £3,000, paid for by Westbury Town Council. It stated that the previous clean was in 2016. In July 2023 the horse was cleaned, repainted and repaired again, with water used to clean off algae and dirt in a project funded by English Heritage.[19][20] The cost was not made public, but the paint alone cost £25,000.[20]
Views
The Horse can be viewed from up to 16–17 miles (26–27 km) in all directions. From the horse,
A
In 1961 a 400-foot-tall (122 m) chimney was built at the
The landscape of the horse was threatened in 2013 when Wiltshire Council revealed plans for a potential three-lane bypass that would run within half a mile of the horse, with a 35-acre (14 ha) business park and 550 new homes on green belt land.[25] Some local residents, together with many from outside the town, were against the "Swindonisation" of their corner of West Wiltshire,[citation needed] although many residents felt that Westbury, as the only town on the A350 without a bypass and whose medieval heart was blighted by pollution and HGVs needed a bypass.[citation needed]
Battle of Ethandun memorial
Although the horse is only presumed to commemorate
King Alfred's Tower, near Stourhead, is the best known monument that was definitely built to celebrate King Alfred and his victory. The folly tower was erected in 1772, six years before the white horse was redesigned.
In popular culture
The White Horse was referenced in G. K. Chesterton's epic poem The Ballad of the White Horse (1911) and the books The Tontine (1955) by Thomas B. Costain, The Emigrants (1980) by Caribbean author George Lamming, and in the novel The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje, as the place where the sapper Kip learned how to deactivate bombs. Michael Morpurgo mentioned it as one of the inspirations for The Butterfly Lion.
The figure can be seen in the music video for Scottish guitarist Midge Ure's 1996 single "Breathe", and is featured in the current opening titles of the regional television news programme ITV News West Country. Furthermore, it featured in a 2015 Visit England tourist advertisement produced in association with the England rugby team.
The horse lends its name to White Horse Business Park outside Trowbridge and White Horse Country Park outside Westbury. The horse overlooks both parks. White Horse Way is also a name of a street in Westbury, and the town's visitor centre features the horse in its logo, as does its golf club.[27]
The horse was depicted by artist Eric Ravilious (1903–1942) in his watercolour paintings "Train Landscape" and "The Westbury Horse" 1939.[citation needed]
See also
- List of hill figures in Wiltshire
- Cherhill White Horse
- Marlborough White Horse
- Litlington White Horse
References
- ^ a b "Wiltshire White Horses: The Westbury or Bratton white horse". www.wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk.
- ^ "Folk horror from Wiltshire: The Blood Stone at Luccombe Spring, starving out the Vikings at Bratton Camp, the White Horse of Westbury and the nature of folklore". The Wytchery. 18 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Westbury White Horse". www.hows.org.uk.
- ^ Illtyd Trethowan, 'Alfred and the Great White Horse of Wiltshire', in Downside Review vol. LVII (1939)
- ^ "Wiltshire White Horses". wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk.
- ^ The Westbury or Bratton white horse at wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk, accessed 10 October 2016
- ^ "Westbury White Horse". Wiltshire Hill Figures.
- ^ Wiltshire White Horses: lighting up the horses at wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk, accessed 10 October 2016
- ^ Marsden, Fiona (1986). "The White Horse near Litlington: A Further Note" (PDF). Sussex Archaeological Collections. 124 (1): 251–252.
- ^ "BBC – Wiltshire – In Pictures: Westbury White Horse Lit". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Graffiti on Westbury White Horse | Westbury People". www.westburypeople.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "Westbury white horse to be cleaned for Queen's Jubilee". BBC News. 7 March 2012.
- ^ a b "Westbury's greying hillside white horse to be repainted". BBC News. 5 May 2012.
- ^ Gittins, Roger (19 May 2009), Westbury White Horse. The construction in the foreground is a signpost erected by pupils of Adcroft School of Building in 1968., retrieved 18 September 2016
- ^ Caroline Davies (22 May 2002). "World to light beacons to honour Queen". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ "Beacons blaze across UK". BBC News. 31 December 1999.
- ^ "Westbury's White Horse to mark 70th anniversary of VE Day with beacon lighting". Wiltshire Times.
- ^ "Westbury giant white hillside horse gets a scrub". BBC News. 24 June 2018.
- ^ "Abseilers start work on cleaning Westbury White Horse". BBC News. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
- ^ a b https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-07-08/wiltshires-oldest-white-horse-gets-a-belated-spring-clean
- ^ "Country parks and open spaces". Wiltshire Council.
- ^ Mackley, Stefan (18 September 2016). "Westbury chimney: Emotions run high following demolition". Wiltshire Times. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
- ^ "BBC Wiltshire – Matthew Smith, Westbury cement works chimney: eyesore or icon?". BBC. 6 September 2011.
- ^ "Wiltshire White Horses". wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk.
- ^ James Fielding (4 August 2013). "Council planners want to ruin Westbury White Horse with bypass". Express.co.uk.
- ^ "War Memorial: Battle Of Ethandun (45340)". Imperial War Museums.
- ^ "WESTBURY GOLF CLUB HOME". WESTBURY GOLF CLUB.
Works cited
- Reverend Francis Wise, Further Observations on the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire (1742)
- William Plenderleath, White Horses of the West of England (1885, 2nd edition 1892)
- Morris Marples, White Horses and Other Hill Figures (1949)
- Westbury White Horse at Wiltshire White Horses
- The White (ish) Horse at ThisisWestbury.co.uk, Westbury's history website
- Wiltshire Web information
Notes
- ^ Bridewell is pronounced locally as if it is spelt "Briddle", and as such, the springs are also known as the Briddle Springs.
Bibliography
- Plenderleath, Rev. W. C., The White Horses of the West of England (London: Allen & Storr, 1892)
- Clensy, David, Walking the White Horses: Wiltshire's White Horse Trail on Foot (2023)