The Westbury White Horse Wiltshire England UK
The Westbury or Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately km ( mi) east of Westbury in England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest of several white horses carved in Wiltshire. It was restored in 1778, an action which may have obliterated a previous horse which had occupied the same slope. A contemporary engraving of the 1760s appears to show a horse facing in the opposite direction, and also rather smaller than the present figure. However, there is at present no documentary or other evidence for the existence of a chalk horse at Westbury before the year 1742. The origin of the Westbury White Horse is obscure. It is often claimed to commemorate King Alfred's victory at the Battle of Eðandun in 878, and while this is not impossible, there is no trace of such a legend before the second half of the eighteenth century. It should also be noted that the battle of Eðandun has only tentatively been identified with Edington in Wiltshire. Another white horse, that of Uffington, featured in King Alfred's earlier life. He was born in the Vale of White Horse, not far from Uffington. Unlike Westbury, documents as early as the eleventh century refer to the "White Horse Hill" at Uffington ("mons albi equi"), and archaeological evidence 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 continental Saxons in the Dark Ages, and the figures of Hengest and Horsa who, according to legend, led the first Anglo-Saxon invaders into England, are said to have fought under a white horse standard (a claim recalled in the heraldic badge of the county of Kent).
Size: 3744px × 5616px
Location: Westbury Wiltshire England UK
Photo credit: © Neil Setchfield / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: art, artwork, bratton, britain, british, chalk, countryside, day, england, english, figurative, figure, great, heritage, hill, hills, hillside, historic, horse, icon, kingdom, land, landmark, lanscape, painted, summer, sunny, trail, uk, united, westbury, white, wiltshire
