There are or were at least eleven white horses in Britain outside the county of Wiltshire. The
Uffington white horse in Oxfordshire has its own page on this site, and the others are described briefly below. There are or were at least five white horses elsewhere in the world, and they can be found on the
Foreign horses page.
Cleadon Hills white horse, Tyne and Wear
OS grid reference: NZ 393 645
This small horse, 2 metres high by 3 metres wide, painted on a rock face with tar and limewash, is one of only four white horses in Britain to face right. It is on Cleadon Hills south of South Shields, and until post-war housing estates were built could be seen from much of South Shields. There are at least five conflicting accounts of its origin, one of which suggests it might have been created in the 1840s. The first reference to it dates from 1887.
Folkestone white horse, Kent
OS grid reference: TR 198 382
A proposal to cut a white horse on Cheriton Hill, Folkestone to mark the millennium proved controversial. Planning permission was granted, but the matter was then called in for a Public Enquiry. Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions Stephen Byers announced in March 2002 that the cutting of the horse would be allowed to go ahead. Work began in autumn 2002 and the horse was completed in 2003. The horse, conceived by the artist Charles Newington, is an outline figure rather than the solid shape that most white horses have. It is constructed of cut chalk slabs, pinned together and pinned to the ground.
Heeley Millennium Park white horse, Sheffield
OS grid reference: SK 354 851
There is a horse constructed from concrete and painted white on The Mound in Heeley Millennium Park in Sheffield. Designed by Mandy Burton, it was created in April 2000 by park staff and volunteers to commemorate Barney, a horse which died as a result of an arson attack at neighbouring Heeley City Farm in 1995. Like most white horses, this one faces to the left. In May every year there is a repainting festival, and the appearance of the horse changes from year to year as a result of this. My thanks to Jeremy Iles for bringing the existence of this horse to my attention.
Hindhead white horse, Surrey
OS grid reference: SU 90 35
There was once a white horse near Hindhead in Surrey, on Combe Head. There is a postcard of a white horse with the caption "Hindhead; The White Horse", posted on 21 August 1923. The date of the photo itself is not known, but Michael Holden, who has a copy of the same postcard, tells me that it was published in 1909, so the photo is from that year or earlier. A different postcard bearing the same photo gives the location as Gibbet Hill, Hindhead, though someone who remembered the horse said that it was on Sugar Loaf Hill.
But now Nigel Mee has sent me a transcript of an article which appeared in the Haslemere Herald in 1995. The article quotes from a letter sent to the Herald in 1975 by Mrs Marjorie Gray, who said that the horse was on the common at the top of Bunch Lane at Combe Head and had been designed to be viewed in perspective from Gibbet Hill. She said that it was designed by her brother-in-law Mr E A Walton, an Edinburgh artist, and was constructed from stones collected on the hillside by her husband, his brother and others. Apparently the stones were painted white. Mrs Gray and her husband returned to live in the Hindhead area in 1927, and found the horse to be in poor condition. They restored it, and kept it in good condition until 1939, but by 1975 the site was covered by pine trees.
Brian Parks and Nigel Mee have both provided me with photographs of Combe Head taken from Gibbet Hill, which seem to match the postcard photo.
The ridge where the horse seems to have been has been searched recently by Nigel Mee together with the local National Trust head warden, and by Brian Parks, but no remaining evidence has yet been found on the ground.
My thanks to Hazelle Jackson who drew my attention to the existence of the horse, sent me a scan of the postcard, and made enquiries about the horse, to Brian Parks for making field trips and providing photographs, and to Nigel Mee for the transcript of the Herald article, photographs, making enquiries, and field trips.
Kilburn white horse, Yorkshire
OS grid reference: SE 514 813
Cut in 1857 on the instructions of a Thomas Taylor, this large horse is on Roulston Scar in the Hambleton Hills, north of Kilburn village. It can be clearly seen from the A1 near Kilburn. It is known by various local placenames, and this has caused some confusion, leading to claims that there is more than one white horse in the area. A cliff nearby known as White Mare Cliff may have contributed to this confusion. The horse was created by removing the turf to reveal limestone, which was then whitewashed with lime. It is maintained today by the Kilburn White Horse Association.
Litlington white horse, Sussex (old)
OS grid reference: TQ 510 009
This horse was cut around 1838, high on a good steep slope on Hindover or High and Over Hill overlooking the Cuckmere valley, perhaps to mark the coronation of Queen Victoria. It was lost around the time the new Litlington horse was cut about a hundred yards to the south east; presumably it had already disappeared and the new horse was a replacement for it.
Litlington white horse, Sussex (new)
OS grid reference: TQ 510 009
A sturdy horse in a standing position, not unlike the Westbury horse, it was cut around 1924 or 1925, and is about a hundred yards from the site of the earlier Litlington horse. In 1983 its design was altered slightly by raising one foreleg to give better definition to the legs. This horse was last scoured in 1993.
Mormond or Strichen white horse, Aberdeenshire
OS grid reference: NJ 961 566
The only white horse in Scotland, the Mormond white horse was probably cut on the instructions of a Captain Fraser of Strichen around 1800 on Mormond Hill north-east of the village. Mormond Hill also has another hill figure, a stag cut in 1870. The figures are filled not with chalk, but with native white quartz.
Osmington white horse, Dorset
OS grid reference: SY 716 841
This huge horse was cut in 1808, or possibly a little earlier. A report in The Universal Magazine in 1808 said "An equestrian figure of His Majesty has lately been formed in the chalk on Osmington Hill...". It is the only horse with a rider, representing King George III, and it is one of the only four horses to face right. It is near the village of Osmington, east of Weymouth, and looks out over Weymouth Bay. It was cut into limestone, but is whitened with chalk. Well-maintained, it was last scoured in July 2001.
Parc Penallta Pit Pony, South Wales
OS grid reference: ST 132 954
Not actually a white horse, but a 200 metre long earth sculpture in the form of a pit pony, this was created in the late 1990s by artist Mick Petts on the site of a former colliery. It is named Sultan after a prize-winning pony from Penallta Pit, and symbolises the final release of the pit ponies onto the mountainside when the colliery closed in 1991.
Pitstone Hill white horse, Buckinghamshire
OS grid reference: SP 948 142
Local historian Jean Davis has suggested that there may once have been a horse on the northwest side of Pitstone Hill, southeast of the village of Pitstone, near Tring. A parish map from 1809/1810 shows three adjacent closes, or small parcels of land, called first, second, and third White Horse pieces. Legal documents from 1580/1 and 1630 also suggest a white horse. The closes were on the lower slope of the hill; the horse would perhaps have been above them. If this horse existed it would date from before 1580.
Whittlesford white horse, Cambridgeshire?
OS grid reference:
September 2004: Whilst aerial photographs of the area were being taken by the Whittlesford Society Archive Project, a crop-mark was noticed which has a shape similar to that of the Uffington white horse. It is not yet known whether this is the remains of a white horse at the spot or whether the shape is the random result of peculiar growth patterns in the crop. Further investigation on the ground is to take place.
Woolbury white horse, Hampshire
OS grid reference: SU 381 351
This small horse is not chalk, but is formed from whitewashed flints embedded in the soil. It is on Woolbury Camp, two miles east of Stockbridge. Its origin is unknown, but the earliest reference to it dates from 1859. There once was a cross nearby, constructed by the same method.
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