{25} We next come to the Cherhill Horse (fig. 9, p. 26), and for this, we think, no possible claim to antiquity can be set up. It does, indeed, lie, like each of the other two, in close proximity to a reputed Danish Camp—that of Oldborough—and near the scene of a great battle, which is stated to have taken place here between Egbert, King of the West Saxons, and Ceolwulph, King of the Mercians, in a.d. 821, but there is no record, so far as we are aware, of the existence of any horse anterior to the date at which the present figure was cut; and as it is only about a quarter of a mile from the great London high road, and in full view of that road for several miles, it would seem scarcely possible that there can have been any ancient horse here without some mention of it being to be found. Moreover, there is no local tradition of any earlier horse,—a fact which, in a matter of so recent date, may, perhaps, be held to be conclusive.
This horse then was cut in the year 1780, only two years later than the re-modelling of the Westbury Horse, which very likely suggested it. The maker was one Dr. Christopher Allsop, who was then living in the High Street, Calne, and the horse is so cut as to be seen in best proportions from that part of the town which is known as “The Quarry.”
{26}{Figs. 8–9}{27} Dr. Allsop is reported to have first marked out the outline with small stakes bearing white flags. Then he took his position at a spot exactly on a line between the Downs and Calne, about 200 yards above the top of Labour-in-vain Hill, and from thence, by means of a speaking-trumpet, directed the removal of the stakes one way or the other, until he was satisfied with the result. The turf was then pared off, and the hollow levelled up with chalk, obtained by quarrying the downs just over the brow of the hill above. The inner circle of the eye, which is four feet in diameter, is stated to have been filled with glass bottles furnished by Farmer Angell, of Studley. No trace of these now remains, but considering the well-known propensities of English tourists, this fact by no means diminishes the credibility of the story.
The point at which Dr. Allsop stood to direct the work was pointed out to the writer of these pages by a very intelligent old man, who was born in the year 1786—only six years after its completion—and he said that he had often heard the whole circumstances of the cutting related by men who had taken part in it.
The principal dimensions of the horse are as follows: extreme length, 129 feet; extreme height, 142 feet; length of barrel, 78 feet ; depth of ditto, 41 feet.
The sketch on the opposite page gives the horse in its actual plane projection. The foreshortening arising from the slope of the hill, which is 31 degrees, and also from the fall of the ground to Calne, brings the figure, when viewed from the latter place, to as nearly as possible its true proportion.
{28} The scouring of this horse, which takes place at no fixed interval, but whenever it appears to want it, is done by the Lord of the Manor. The manner of doing it is as follows: a windlass is erected on the top of the hill, immediately over the horse, and from thence chalk is let down in small trucks and spread evenly over the figure. The only disadvantage of this plan is that the first shower of rain that comes on brings down a copious white stream, which extends from the ends of the legs right down to the valley below, and the tracks of the trenches also shew for some time. The result is that until these marks have become obliterated, the horse looks as if he were suspended in a sling and mounted upon stilts 300 feet long! The re-chalking is an operation of some labour and not unattended with risk. In 1876 it occupied three men for a fortnight, and one of the workmen employed was very nearly killed through the giving way of a rope by which a truckful of chalk was being let down from above. The truck, of course, rushed on with fearful velocity, and the man had barely time to step aside when it dashed past him and buried itself deeply in the ground at the foot of the hill. An elliptical trench was dug some years ago, a short way above the horse, with a view of carrying off the surface drainage. This being perfectly grassed over does not show from a distance, but whether it is of any great use may, perhaps, be subject to question.
The next figure in our cavalcade is that which is seen upon the slope of the hill, to the right of the high road, entering Marlborough from the west. This horse {29} is 62 feet in length and 47 feet in height, and was cut in 1804 by the pupils of one Mr. Gresley, who kept a school in Marlborough at that time. The designer and architect was William Canning, a son of Mr. Thomas Canning, of the Manor House, Ogbourne St. George. He marked out the figure with wooden pegs, after which the rest of the boys set to work, and in a very short time cleared away the turf and filled up the vacant space with chalk broken to the size of a couple of fists. So long as Mr. Gresley lived and the school was carried on, so long did each succeeding generation of pupils accept the charge of keeping their predecessors’ work in order; and the annual scouring of the horse was one of the most honoured traditions of the school. Mr. Gresley, however, died about the year 1830, and the scourings then fell into desuetude and the figure became gradually overgrown with weeds. But in the year 1873, the late Captain Reed, of Marlborough, who was one of the original makers of the horse, undertook to have it repaired, and the outline is now again very fairly defined. The Marlborough Horse is represented as walking, and faces to dexter. The slope of the hill is very moderate, being only about 32 degrees, and this fact having apparently not been taken into consideration by the artists, the outline, when seen from the Bath road (which is the only possible point of view), does not look nearly so well proportioned as it really is.
Eight years after the cutting of this horse, it occurred to one Mr. Robert Pile, who was at that time tenant of the Manor Farm, Alton Barnes, that the Valley of Pewsey possessed equal claims to the ownership of a {30} White Horse as did those of Calne or Marlborough. And accordingly he determined upon the formation of one, and chose for his purpose the southern slope of the hill known as “Old Adam.” Being, however, distrustful of his own powers of delineation, he employed a journeyman painter named John Thorne, who was at the time working in the neighbourhood, to carry his wishes into effect. Thorne undertook the job, for £20, but after having completed the sketch, and set men to work at the cutting and chalking, he disappeared from the scene, leaving his fellow-helpers to whistle for their share of the reward. The horse, like the rest of the modern figures, faces to dexter, and bears a considerable resemblance to that at Cherhill. It is, however, somewhat larger, being 180 feet in height and 167 feet in length. The point of view from which it was sketched is the place where the Honeystreet road crosses the canal, which is exactly a mile and a quarter off. It is said to be visible from Old Sarum—a distance of about twenty miles as the crow flies. It is kept in fair repair, the cost of scouring it, when required, being defrayed by subscription.
Besides the above-named figures, all of which have more or less of a history attaching to them, there are traces on a good many other Wiltshire hill-sides of the imitative faculty having been exercised, and some leisure hours harmlessly occupied, by attempts at smaller White Horses, most of which, after having been once cut, have been suffered to be again grown over, without any attempt to keep them up. An exception, however, to this rule is the Broad Hinton Horse, which {31} is in an admirable state of preservation. This figure may be seen upon the downs east of Winterbourne Bassett, on the right-hand side of the road leading from Wootten Bassett to Marlborough, and just within the boundary of the parish of Broad Hinton. It was cut out by Henry Eatwell, parish clerk of the last-named village, in the year 1835, and measures 90 feet square, the extreme length and extreme height being equal. It appears in fair proportion when viewed from the Devizes road, and is not unlike the Marlborough Horse in outline, but differenced from it by the possession of two ears, whereas the former shows only one. The tail, however, with its very short upstanding dock, more resembles the Cherhill and Alton Horses.
A horse is stated to have been cut out upon Round-way Hill, near Devizes, in the year 1845, but no marks of it are now discernible. And of another small horse, placed upon what is called “The Slopes,” near Pewsey, the traces are almost, if not entirely, obliterated.
On Roulston Hill, near Northwaite, in Yorkshire, is a White Horse, measuring about 30 feet by 40 feet, and in very good proportion. This is stated to have been cut by a journeyman mason, who had been working in the neighbourhood, as a memento of his stay.
On the Hambledon Hills also, near Thirsk, in the same county, is a White Horse, said to have been cut by a man of the name of Taylor about the year 1857. He was a native of the neighbouring village of Kilburn, who had settled in a distant town, and cut out the horse in the course of a visit to his native place.
{32} Returning again to Wiltshire, we find that at Broad-town, near Wootton Bassett, a horse was cut out as late as 1864 by Mr. William Simmonds, the then occupier of Littleton Farm. Broadtown lies under the range of high land which, beginning from Compton Bassett, stretches right away into Berkshire, and forms the southern boundary of the Vale of White of Horse itself. This figure has, therefore, the honour of following—at a long interval, in more senses than one—the original sire and prototype of the whole breed, whose place is at the eastern extremity of this same range of cliff. It measures 86 feet in extreme length by 61 feet in height. These were not, however, intended to be its ultimate porportions, as its maker says that he proposed to “enlarge it by degrees, which was the way that all White Horses were made!” Unhappily for the interests of art, however, Mr. William Simmonds gave up his farm many years ago, so that the application of his ingenious theory of growth remains still unaccomplished.
We have now come to the end of the White Horses of England; unless, indeed, we are to reckon amongst them a figure which bears some sort of resemblance to a horse upon the higher part of Dartmoor, in Devonshire. It is produced by the baring of the granite, which is here but thinly covered with turf; but whether this has been done intentionally, or whether it has taken place from natural causes, and the resemblance is a mere accidental one, seems very doubtful. No local tradition exists to guide us in the matter, save such as is afforded by the fact of the place being known {33} as “White Horse Hill.” And it would seem scarcely likely that if the figure had been the work of human hands, its outlines would have become so utterly confused as they have done.
We will only mention, in passing, a figure of George III. on horseback, upon the hills between Preston and Osmington, in Dorsetshire. This was cut out about the beginning of the present century by a soldier whose regiment happened to be quartered near, and was intended to commemorate the stay of the king at the adjoining town of Weymouth. It shows best from the sea, and is in very good proportion. As the quadruped is, however, in this case, a mere addition to the biped, it can scarcely be reckoned amongst the White Horses of England.
Our country possesses, however, a Red Horse of no small fame, situate in the lordship of Tysoe, in Warwickshire, and giving its name to the Vale of Red Horse beneath. This is traditionally reported to have been cut in 1461, in memory of the exploits of Richard, Earl of Warwick, who was for many years one of the most prominent figures in the Wars of the Roses. The Earl had in the early part of the year found himself, with a force of forty thousand men, opposed to Queen Margaret, with sixty thousand, at a place called Towton, near Tadcaster. Overborne by numbers, the battle was going against him, when, dismounting from his horse, he plunged his sword up to the hilt in the animal’s side, crying aloud that he would henceforth fight shoulder to shoulder with his men. Thereupon the soldiers, animated by their leader’s example, rushed {34} forward with such impetuosity that the enemy gave way and flew precipitately. No less than twenty-eight thousand Lancastrians are said to have fallen in this battle and in the pursuit which followed, for the commands of Prince Edward were to give no quarter. It was to this victory that the latter owed his elevation to the throne which took place immediately afterwards.
The Red Horse used to be scoured every year upon Palm Sunday, at the expense of certain neighbouring landowners who held their land by that tenure, and the scouring is said to have been as largely attended, and to have been the occasion of as great festivity, as that of the older horse in the adjoining county of Berks. The figure is about 54 feet in extreme length, by about 31 in extreme height.
In Ireland there are, so far as we are aware, no turf-horses whatever, and in Scotland only one, that of Mormond, in the county of Aberdeen. Mormond is a conical hill, in the north-easterrn corner of the county, and from the flatness of the surrounding country forms a conspicuous object whether viewed from the land or the sea. The horse, which covers about half-an-acre of ground, was cut out in the early part of the last century by the laird of the village of Strichen, and was intended as a memorial of a favourite riding-horse of his own. It is said that he got so interested in the progress of the work as to have died of grief at not being able to get it to appear in good proportion from all points of view! The figure was cut in the turf and the outline filled up with white quartz quarried close by.
