The Historical Uffington White Horse

With perhaps the exception of Stonehenge and the Neolithic stone circle in Avebury, Wiltshire, there can be few other places in England that are as rich in history and mythology as the Oxfordshire village of Uffington, and the adjacent Berkshire Downs.

Above the chalk-built village, on the windswept summit of ‘White Horse Hill’, are the substantial prehistoric earthworks of Uffington Castle. Constructed in the late Bronze Age, the hill fort, covering an area of approximately eight acres, once contained double-ditch defensive earthworks on top of which were erected substantial wooden ramparts with massive gates.

Excavated pits within the enclosure have highlighted evidence of animal husbandry, weaving, spinning and various other domestic activities. However, habitation seems to have stopped around the third to second century BC and for several hundreds years thereafter.

In the latter half of the Roman period, occupation of the site emerges once again as the discovery of coins and pottery from that period confirms.

It is believed by some historians that the castle was the location for the famous Battle of Badon – King Arthur’s victory over the Saxons. However, no evidence of this has ever been discovered.

Near to Uffington Castle is the immense “White Horse of Uffington”.

First cut into the chalk of the Downs around 3,000 years ago, it is Britain’s most impressive hill-figure and believed to be the oldest. The 114 metre-long carving is thought by many to be that of Epona, the horse goddess of the local Belgae Tribe and worshipped throughout the lands of the Celts.

To survive as long as it has, the horse must have been cleared of encroaching vegetation on a regular basis, although there was no written evidence to support this theory until 1677 when the “Scouring of the White Horse” was first recorded.

The horse was scoured every seven years and became a three-day festival for the villagers of Uffington; the whole event being funded by a local Lord of the Manor.

As well as the strenuous manual work involved in the scouring, games and pastimes such as wrestling, find the silver bullet in the flour, climbing a greasy pole, a pipe-smoking marathon and cheese-rolling took place. It is interesting to note that the cheese-rolling contest was held on the slopes of the nearby deep sided valley known as “The Manger” where, it was claimed by local villagers, on moonlit nights the huge White Horse came down to graze.