The Way Up To the White Horse
Walking up the trail, I’m fully aware of the thousands of people who have walked this footpath, before me.
Ancient Britons, Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Normans, Plantagenet knights, Hanoverian sightseers…… and of course, the local people who live in the shadow of Cherhill White Horse, today.
The rapeseed is in full bloom and birds hum gently in the trees that surround this part of the trail. I start to ascend a steep ridge and I can now look across to the scars that are very deeply cut into the side of the hill…. They are the remains of great banks and ditches. When cut into the hillside and ridge, twenty foot high banks afforded the residents of an Iron Age community, protection. Multiple layers of banks, with a stockade wall on top of each and gorse or thorn filling the ditch itself, would have been formidable obstructions to any unfriendly visitor. 2500 years later, they are still immense.
I’m about to crest the ridge now, and amongst the trees, where I stand, is a Neolithic burial mound. Someone was buried here, 5000 years ago…….someone who wished for a splendid view. It is one of many in the area, and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting them all, over the years.
Standing on top of the mound, I look down upon the banks of an ancient camp….. certainly an Iron Age village and associated with the banks on the ridge…. This community may have begun in the Bronze Age….. imagine that!…… people have lived here continually, for nearly 5000 years.
Looking to the other side of the burial mound, I’m looking down onto the head of the white horse.
Cut into the turf on the side of the ridge, in the late 18thC, it was likely created by the local estate owner as a sign of his loyalty to the new Hanoverian/German King…. Very visible it’s become a popular landmark and one of many in the area.
Walking another hundred yards to the south, I stand in the shadow of a huge memorial obelisk. Standing 125’ foot high, it commemorates the life of Sir William Petty…. A great man of the 1600s.
I look forward to bringing people here again in 2024.
And all this on one small ridge, set amongst the golden yellow fields, outside of Calne in Wiltshire.
Jeez, I love England!!