The Uffington White Horse is a prehistoric hill figure, 110 m (360 ft) long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of Whitehorse Hill in the English civil parish of Uffington in Oxfordshire, some 16 km (10 mi) east of Swindon, 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the town of Faringdon and a similar distance west of the town of Wantage; or 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south of Uffington. The hill forms a part of the scarp of the Berkshire Downs and overlooks the Vale of White Horse to the north. The best views of the figure are obtained from the air, or from directly across the Vale, particularly around the villages of Great Coxwell, Longcot, and Fernham.
Aerial view of the White Horse
Uffington White Horse, sketched by William Plenderleath in The White Horses of the West of England (1892)
The head of the horse, with sheep grazing around it.
White Horse Hill (left) and Dragon Hill (right)
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and rubble made from material brighter than the natural bedrock is placed into them. The new material is often chalk, a soft and white form of limestone, leading to the alternative name of chalk figure for this form of art.
The Cerne Abbas Giant chalk figure, near the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England, is made by a turf-cut.
The Uffington White Horse at Uffington, Oxfordshire
The 18th-century Westbury White Horse near Westbury, Wiltshire
The Long Man of Wilmington seen from a distance
