![Alton Barnes White Horse - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Alton_Barnes_White_Horse_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1744619.jpg)
Alton Barnes White Horse is a chalk
hill figure
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and ...
of a white horse located on
Milk Hill some 1,000 metres north of the village of
Alton, Wiltshire
Alton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the adjacent villages of Alton Barnes and Alton Priors, and the nearby hamlet of Honeystreet on the Kennet and Avon Canal. It lies in the Vale of Pewsey about east of Devizes. ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The horse is approximately 180 feet high and 160 feet long, and was cut in 1812 under the commission of local farmer Robert Pile. Pile instructed
inn sign
Inn signs have a history that extends beyond the Middle Ages, when many houses were identified by a sign, often a heraldic charge, which signified that the premises were under the special care of a nobleman, or a vivid image that impressed itself ...
painter John Thorne to design and cut the horse, although Thorne conned Pile by leaving with his advance sum while employing local resident John Harvey to cut the horse instead. It is based on another white horse hill figure in Wiltshire, the
Cherhill White Horse
Cherhill White Horse is a hill figure on Cherhill Down, 3.5 miles east of Calne in Wiltshire, England. Dating from the late 18th century, it is the third oldest of several such white horses in Great Britain, with only the Uffington White Horse ...
, and is the second-biggest of nine white horses in Wiltshire.
One of the county's best-loved and most iconic white horses, it remains a tourist attraction and has been regularly maintained, with numerous groups or individuals scouring the horse throughout its life. More recently, the horse was illuminated by candles every
winter solstice
The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter ...
for over ten years, as well as in a
lantern parade to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2012. The horse has also been transformed into a
zebra
Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...
on
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...
on two occasions.
Description and location
Alton Barnes White Horse is located on the southern, 35° slope of
Milk Hill, also known locally as "Old Adam," the tallest hill in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
with a 295 metre high peak. The horse is sited on the ridge which connects Milk Hill to Walker's Hill,
overlooking
Pewsey Vale
Pewsey Vale vineyard was founded in Eden Valley, South Australia during 1847 by Englishman, Joseph Gilbert. It is currently part of S.Smith and son. It was the first vineyard established in what is now the Eden Valley wine region ;
the land is part of the Pewsey Down Nature Reserve.
The figure is visible for 22 miles,
but particularly good road views of it can be seen from the Honey Street canal bridge,
the Alton Priors road,
and the Lockeridge road which approaches the white horse itself.
One of the furthest views of the horse on a clear day is said to be from
Old Sarum
Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the now ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest r ...
near
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
.
The horse can be reached via a footpath from a nearby parking space and from atop the hill.
A fence is erected around the horse to prevent damage from wild animals and tourists.
The figure is near two
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
s, located atop Milk Hill and the nearby Walker's Hill,
and the
Adam's Grave long barrow.
The chalk horse is 166 feet (51 metres) tall and 160 feet (49 metres) wide,
and, to prevent foreshortening, is disproportionately tall.
It is based on and is said to resemble the nearby
Cherhill White Horse
Cherhill White Horse is a hill figure on Cherhill Down, 3.5 miles east of Calne in Wiltshire, England. Dating from the late 18th century, it is the third oldest of several such white horses in Great Britain, with only the Uffington White Horse ...
,
cut in 1780,
although the Alton Barnes horse is slightly larger.
It is possible the horse was bigger in the past, as Revd E.H.M. Sladen, measuring the horse in 1868 when he was the village's incumbent, claimed the horse was 180 feet high and 165 feet wide.
Author Paul Newman describes the horse's appearance as distinctive, "with its docked tail and trotting stance."
1920s poet and essayist
E.V. Lucas described the horse as having "a swan-like neck and penetrating eye."
Over the years, the shape of the horse has been altered considerably,
with its eye becoming larger, its neck becoming more thinned, the shape of its legs being improved and the addition of lips and ears,
despite only an outline of ears being present in the horse's originally proposed design.
Origins
Alton Barnes White Horse was cut in 1812 on the instructions of one Robert Pile or Pyle, a tenant of Manor Farm, in the village of Alton Barnes.
This may be the same Robert Pile who cut the original version of the nearby
Pewsey White Horse
Pewsey White Horse is a hill figure of a white horse near the village of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Cut of chalk in 1937, it replaces an earlier horse that had disappeared under the grass and is one of eight remaining white horses in Wiltshire ...
in 1785, or perhaps his son, given that the Alton Barnes horse was created 27 years later.
Selecting the southern slope of Milk Hill for the horse, Pile contacted a
journeyman
A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...
inn sign
Inn signs have a history that extends beyond the Middle Ages, when many houses were identified by a sign, often a heraldic charge, which signified that the premises were under the special care of a nobleman, or a vivid image that impressed itself ...
painter, John Thorne, also known as Jack the Painter,
to design and cut the horse, and paid him an advance sum of £20.
Pile and Thorne agreed that the white horse would be excavated to a depth of and subsequently packed with chalk rubble.
Thorne provided Pile with a sketch of the proposed horse, sketched from the Honey Street canal bridge; it resembled Cherhill White Horse and its walking pose, except with ears which were only outlined with chalk.
However, although Thorne was supposed to create the horse himself, he discreetly employed another man,
Stanton St Bernard
Stanton St Bernard is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Its nearest town is Devizes, about away to the west.
The parish is tall and narrow, extending north onto the Marlborough Downs where it includes Milk Hi ...
resident John Harvey, to do the turf-stripping and digging, and after Harvey had gone about his task and the horse's outline was clearly visible, Thorne ran away, taking his £20 advance with him.
According to contrasting accounts, Pile either had to pay Harvey a similar sum to finish the work,
or was left to complete the horse himself.
Thorne was later caught and hanged for a series of crimes.
According to Paul Newman, author of ''Lost Gods of Albion'', Thorne's
Bohemian background and mischievous intent when asked to cut the horse has cemented him as a unique figure within the history of hill figures: "Although one cannot applaud John Thorne for his less than scrupulous attitude towards the duties he had undertaken, he has enlivened the annals of turf-cutting by bringing to this eccentric art a low, Bohemian shiftiness, pleasantly at variance with the solid trustworthiness of the
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a ...
s and local worthies so often encountered in the histories of these figures."
Maintenance and scouring
![Alton Barnes white horse - from the air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Alton_Barnes_white_horse_-_from_the_air.jpg)
Having been scoured regularly since it was cut, Alton Barnes White Horse has been well looked after.
According to author Esther Smith, "at times, this horse has fallen into disrepair but it has always had just enough attention to keep it from disappearing altogether."
Those responsible for scouring the horse have changed over time, as some work in the mid-19th century was paid for by subscription,
and
Scouts
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...
,
Guides
A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom.
Travel and recreation
Exp ...
and local organizations have also scoured the horse.
On one occasion in 1866, a chalk pit was dug above the horse's head by the scourers, presumably so that they did not need to transport the chalk from further afield.
According to Smith, writing in 2004, "this was a mistake as the pit never really grew over again properly and can still be seen quite clearly."
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the horse was successfully concealed to hide it from the German air force.
The horse was scoured in 1987 with the aid of
army helicopter
A military helicopter is a helicopter that is either specifically built or converted for use by military forces. A military helicopter's mission is a function of its design or conversion. The most common use of military helicopters is transport ...
s helping to fly in fresh chalk.
By 2009, the horse was losing its shape and had browned slightly, so at an estimated cost of £21,000, the Alton Barnes Parish Council and landowner Tim Carson gave the horse a full restoration in September and October 2009, where a helicopter ferried 150 tonnes of fresh chalk, quarried in south Wiltshire, to the horse, giving it a fresh coat in time for its 2012 bicentenary.
As parish councillor Steve Hepworth, who worked on the project, explained, the helicopter was necessary as lorries were not allowed to transport chalk, because the horse stands "in the middle of a
Site of Special Scientific Interest on a national nature reserve with European protection.
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
controls the management of the land and as part of that management there is no vehicular access."
In July and August 2019, the horse was scoured by a group of hundreds of people from many nations, using some 46 tonnes of pristine chalk flown in by an
RAF Chinook helicopter.
Led by Rob Sutherland, the work was initially hampered by driving rain and high winds, but the scouring was completed with help from local school students and their parents.
Modern history
One of the best known white horse hill figures in Wiltshire, Alton Barnes White Horse "remains a prominent landmark visible from the
Pewsey Vale
Pewsey Vale vineyard was founded in Eden Valley, South Australia during 1847 by Englishman, Joseph Gilbert. It is currently part of S.Smith and son. It was the first vineyard established in what is now the Eden Valley wine region ," and has been described as being "well-loved."
It features in the 1995 music video for "Staying Out for the Summer" by British band
Dodgy
Dodgy is an English rock band formed in Hounslow in 1990. The band rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s. They are best known for their hits "Staying Out for the Summer", "If You're Thinking of Me", and " Good Enough". Good ...
, and in numerous artworks, including one by landscape artist Anna Dillon and another painted in 1996 by Graham Arnold which is housed in
Wiltshire Museum
The Wiltshire Museum, formerly known as Wiltshire Heritage Museum and Devizes Museum, is a museum, archive and library and art gallery in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The museum was established and is run by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natu ...
. In the neighbouring village of
Alton Priors, there is a sarsen stone with the design of Alton Barnes White Horse carved into it.
The white horse is part of several tours, including the 90-mile walking tour 'Wiltshire's White Horse Trail',
better known as simply the White Horse Trail,
which visits all eight of the canonical white horses in Wiltshire.
On 10 May 2011, the hill became the starting point for the record-breaking longest hand-gliding flight recorded in the UK.
Celebrations
From 2001 to 2012, the white horse was annually illuminated every
Winter Solstice
The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter ...
by the Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group, typically on the actual day of the solstice (21 December), except in 2003 when it was not lit at all.
This was achieved by a small group of people placing tea lights in jars and arranging them around the outline of the white horse.
For example, over 400 candles and jars were used in 2009.
Melanie Gambrill, one of the events' organisers, said "it must be amazing to watch the horse being lit from a distance, as the lighting progresses up to the horse's head, along the tail until its completely aglow."
In 2001, the jars were placed on their sides to provide protection from the wind and rain, and the effect was described as "dramatic" as the horse continued to be lit late into the evening despite the wind extinguishing a few of the lights.
In 2009, the horse was covered in snow when it was illuminated, leading to a "quite spectacular" effect.
On 30 June 2012, in a temporary art installation by Dave Chadwick and Yorkshire-based art group pa-BOOM,
the white horse was lit up in a
lantern parade to celebrate the horse's 200th anniversary, and also as part of the Ageas
Salisbury International Arts Festival
Salisbury International Arts Festival (founded in 1974) is an annual multi-arts festival that delivers over 150 arts events each year in and around the city of Salisbury, England. Events include concerts, comedy, poetry, dance, exhibitions, outdo ...
; the nearby
Devizes White Horse
Devizes White Horse, officially known as the Devizes Millennium White Horse, is a chalk hill figure of a horse located on Bank Field, an escarpment at Roundway Hill, on the outskirts of the town of Devizes above the hamlet of Roundway, Wiltshir ...
was also lit in a lantern parade at the same time.
Maria Bota, the organiser of the event, said "I came to the county four years ago and discovered these white horses scattered around the landscape - often in beautiful settings. What we want to do is put a bit of a spotlight on them and enable people to discover them and discover the landscape they're set in."
Approximately 100 spectators watched from Mark Hill as the horse was illuminated in several different fashions, "first its body in swirling patterns of brilliant white lights, and then its outline in the warm glow of yellow flame," before finishing in a firework display.
Pranks and vandalism
For
April Fool's Day
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which ma ...
in 2003 and 2014, the horse was temporarily transformed into a
zebra
Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...
by pranksters,
which in the latter case was achieved by pinning black stripes, made from plastic sheeting, across the horse, and giving the figure a black nose.
Many people took photos of the 2014 zebra transformation before the pranksters returned to the hill that evening and removed the additions, unlike in 2003 when the pranksters left landowner Tim Carson to remove the additions.
The horse was vandalised in March 2008 when pranksters added a penis to the horse, which, although amusing passing motorists, worried the landowner Tim Carson who scours the horse who was unsure if the damage would be permanent.
A local newspaper described the vandalism as turning the horse "into a stallion," and described the horse as "having gained an extra 'limb'."
In October 2019,
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
activist group
Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk o ...
created a piece of "flash art" by placing an
extinction symbol
The extinction symbol represents the threat of holocene extinction on Earth; a circle represents the planet and a stylised hourglass is a warning that time is running out for many species. The symbol dates to at least 2012 and has been attr ...
made from old T-shirts on the horse. Critics felt the stunt was "disrespectful" to the horse, with
Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...
leader Philip Whitehead criticising it on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, while others defended it and spoke of its temporary nature. The group said they intended to remove the symbol without trace by daybreak, saying in a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
post: "Let’s be clear, this was by no means an illegal act. We did not vandalise nor deface what is a beautiful chalk monument on the soil of our local community. We too love the White Horse, and it is because of that love that we chose to do it."
See also
*
Alton Barnes
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
*Alton (surname)
Places Australia
* Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
* Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zealan ...
*
Hill figure
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and ...
*
List of hill figures in Wiltshire
This is a list of hill figures in Wiltshire.
White horse figures
Military figures
Others
Former figures
See also
*Bloemfontein, a city in South Africa where Wiltshire troops are believed to have cut the Bloemontein White Horse around 190 ...
;Wiltshire White Horses
*
Broad Town White Horse
Broad Town White Horse is a hill figure of a white horse located in the village of Broad Town, Wiltshire, England. One of eight canonical hill figures in Wiltshire depicting a white horse, it is carved into a 45° slope above Little Town Nursery ...
*
Cherhill White Horse
Cherhill White Horse is a hill figure on Cherhill Down, 3.5 miles east of Calne in Wiltshire, England. Dating from the late 18th century, it is the third oldest of several such white horses in Great Britain, with only the Uffington White Horse ...
*
Devizes White Horse
Devizes White Horse, officially known as the Devizes Millennium White Horse, is a chalk hill figure of a horse located on Bank Field, an escarpment at Roundway Hill, on the outskirts of the town of Devizes above the hamlet of Roundway, Wiltshir ...
*
Hackpen White Horse
''Hackpen White Horse'' is a chalk hill figure of a white horse on Hackpen Hill, located below The Ridgeway on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, two miles south east of Broad Hinton, Wiltshire, England. It is one of nine white horse hill figures ...
*
Marlborough White Horse
Marlborough White Horse, also called the Preshute White Horse, is a hill figure on Granham Hill, a fairly shallow slope of the downland above the hamlet of Preshute, southwest of Marlborough in the county of Wiltshire, England. Dating from 1804 ...
*
Pewsey White Horse
Pewsey White Horse is a hill figure of a white horse near the village of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Cut of chalk in 1937, it replaces an earlier horse that had disappeared under the grass and is one of eight remaining white horses in Wiltshire ...
*
Westbury White Horse
Westbury or Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately east of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest ...
;Other White Horses
*
Litlington White Horse
The Litlington White Horse is a chalk hill figure depicting a horse, situated on Hindover Hill (known locally as High-and-Over) in the South Downs, looking over the River Cuckmere to the west of the village of Litlington and north of East Bla ...
References
{{Authority control
1812 establishments in England
White horses (hill figures) in England
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire
Tourist attractions in Wiltshire
Buildings and structures completed in 1812
History of Wiltshire
Protected areas of Wiltshire
Winter solstice