Uffington White Horse

The Wiltshire White Horses are some of my favorite parts of historical Britain. It’s not just me who is captured by them, they are so unique that several other cultures have created their own white horses as well.

There is a long list of white chalk horses, some of which are located in Wiltshire & collectively known as the Wiltshire horses, while others are located in different areas of Britain (& a few outside the country altogether). Uffington white horse is one of the former and located within Wiltshire.

Uffington is the by far the oldest of the Wiltshire horses & one of only four that face right.

Uffington Basics

Use the latitude & longitude coordinates to find it on Google earth yourself.

Where – This horse can be found a mile and a half south of Uffington on an escarpment of Berkshire Downs below Whitehorse Hill.

Size – 374 feet wide by 110 feet high.

Year Created – Bronze Age, Between 1400 – 800 BC

Latitude & Longitude – 51.577460N 1.565589W

The Story

Until 1995 the Uffington horse was thought to date back to the Iron Age. However, technology developed late in the 20th century allowed for more accurate dating techniques. This more recent testing has dated the horse in the Bronze Age closer to 800 – 1200 BC.

While most of the Wiltshire horses are somewhat lifelike, the Uffington horse is a highly stylized version of the animal.

While they have a pretty good idea when the horse was created, no one knows why. It could be a land marker, a tribal emblem or could have had religious significance. The latter option being the most supported, as it appears that scouring the surface later became a ceremonial task.

More Information

Here are a couple of sources for information about the Uffington White Horse.
Uffington White Horse
Uffington White Horses – Westbury

More Huge White Horses

There are plenty more where that came from, this is just the second in a long list of huge horses on this planet of ours. Be sure to check out the list of white horses and stay tuned for more to come.