The Hill Figures of England.

SIR FLINDERS PETRIE, F.R.S., F.B.A.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY THE
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
52 UPPER BEDFORD PLACE, LONDON, W.C.

1926

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CONTENTS.

	page.
Introduction	viRead v
The Long Man of Wilmington	7
The Giant of Cerne	9
The White Horse of Uffington	11
The Crosses of Whiteleaf and Bledlow	13

PLATES.

I.	The Long Man of Wilmington.
II.	The Site of the Long Man.
III.	The Giant of Cerne.
IV.	The Maypole Earthwork.
V.	The Earthworks around the Giant.
VI.	The White Horse of Uffington.
VII.	The Earthworks of the White Horse.
VIII.	The Crosses of Whiteleaf and Bledlow.
IX.	Wayland Smith’s Cave, Smacam Earthworks.

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INTRODUCTION.

The hill-side figures of England are the most striking of our undated antiquities, yet they have never received any adequate attention. Beyond one passable plan of the Uffington Horse, there is nowhere any accurate copy of these works. Their surroundings have never been examined, and scarcely anything has been written about them, except a variety of historical guesses on insufficient evidence. In order to put the facts on record, I have, in recent years, made the plans which are here published. All of the sites need careful excavation in their neighbourhood, in order to trace evidences of the period of work.

There has been confusion between the few ancient figures and the score of imitations made in modern times. A useful list of such figures is that of The White Horses, by Rev. W. C. Plenderleath, published about 1890 (n.d.). With some additions, the following are the known hill figures:—

	0.	Horse,	Dorset,
	1.	Long Man, Sussex, Wilmington.
	2.	Giant, Dorset, Cerne Abbas.
	3.	White Horse, Berks, Uffington.
	4.	Cross, Bucks, Whiteleaf.
	5.	Cross, Bucks, Bledlow.
		(The above, all ancient, are here described.)
	6.	Red Horse, Warwickshire, Tysoe, 1461 ?
	7.	Horse,	Wilts,	Westbury, cut within living memory, 1742. (See Colt Hoare, South Wilts, p. 54; remodelled in 1778.)
	8.	„	„	Colne, Cherhill, cut in 1780.
	9.	„	„	Marlborough, cut in 1804.
	10.	„	„	Alton Barnes, cut in 1812.
	11.	„	„	Winterbourne Bassett, cut in 1835.
	12.	„	„	Devizes, cut in 1845, vanished.
	13.	„	„	Pewsey, modern, vanished.
	14.	„	„	Wootton Bassett, cut in 1864.
	15.	„	Dorset,	Osmington, with George III riding.
{vi}	16.	Horse,	Yorkshire,		Northwaite, modern.
	17.	„	„		Thirsk, cut 1857.
	18.	„	Sussex, Cuckmere Valley; modern.
	19.	Dragon, Kent, Canterbury, on rifle butts; recent.
	20.	Cross, between Maidstone and Chilham; War memorial, 1920.
	21.	Two giants holding clubs. Devon, Plymouth Hoe; probably ancient, but now destroyed.
	22.	Horse ? Dartmoor, bare granite, accidentally cleared.
	23.	Stag ? east of Aberystwith, by falls; only natural screes.
	24.	Horse, Aberdeenshire, Mormond, cut 1775 (Pratt’s Buchan, p. 199).
	25.	Stag, Aberdeenshire, Mormond, cut 1870 (Pratt’s Buchan, p. 199).

It is needful to have a list of all supposed figures, as such are often named without any indication of their age, and time may be wasted in fruitless inquiries.