Location: On the edge of the downs between Westbury and
Bratton, and 42 miles south-east of 'Frowbridge.
(ST 900516)
I'he present white horse of Westbury is only just over 200 years old, having been cut in 1778 as described earlier. 'Fhe date of origin of the earlier horse has always been uncertain. Its first published mention appears in a book of 1742 by the Reverend Francis Wise who was told that the horse was cut recently within the memory of those living. The horse Wise saw w'as an odd-looking creature, judging by a drawing of 1772. F'aeing to the right, as does the Uffington horse, but unlike other later white horses, it had a long, dog-like body, a thin tail with a barbed end, and spindly legs. This unhorselike appearance must have offended Mr Gee who obliterated it by incorporating it into a much larger animal which, with a few alterations over the years, is essentially what we can sec today. Antiquarians of the eighteenth century thought that the cutting of the horse was done to commemorate a victory of King Alfred over the Danes in 878, a similar story being attached to the Uffington White Horse, but there is no evidence for these beliefs. By 1872 the horse was neglected and falling into disrepair, and in 1873 a local committee repaired it and edged the figure with large slabs of stone set on edge. Later gratings were fitted to carry off the rain-water which flowed down the steep slope and washed away much of the chalk surface, and in 1936 concrete was added to combat this erosion.
White Horse.
D'he horse lies on a steep slope of Salisbury Plain below the Iron. Age earthwork of Bratton Castle, from whose heights may be seen, in favourable weather, two other Wiltshire white horses, at Cherhill and. Alton Barnes some 20 miles awav.
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World History
