Uffington White Horse and Castle

The Uffington White Horse is a prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long, formed from deep trenches
filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of White Horse Hill in
the English civil parish of Uffington. It lies 51º degrees north of the equator and longitude 1º
degree west of the Prime Meridian.
The date of the figure’s appearance was confirmed by excavations. It was in the late Bronze Age,
roughly between 1380 and 550 BC. The horse is thought to represent a tribal symbol perhaps
connected with the builders of Uffington Castle. It is similar to horses depicted on Celtic
coinage, the currency of the pre-Roman-British population. Another theory points to the horse's
alignment with the sun, particularly in midwinter when the sun appears to overtake the horse, to
indicate that it was created as a depiction of a "solar horse", reflecting mythological beliefs that
the sun was carried across the sky on a horse or in a chariot.
In 1990 Simon Palmer and David Miles of the Oxford Archaeological Unit found that deposits of
fine silt removed from the horse's 'beak' were scientifically dated to the late Bronze Age,
sometime between 1380 and 550 BC. They also discovered the figure was cut into the hill up to a
metre deep, not simply scratched into the chalk surface. Iron Age coins that bear a representation
comparable to the Uffington White Horse have been found, supporting the early dating of this
artefact.
The Uffington Castle is a hillfort. It covers about 32,000 square meters and is surrounded by two
earth banks separated by a ditch with an entrance in the western end. It is very close to the
Uffington White Horse on White Horse Hill. The Castle lies 51º degrees north of the equator and
longitude 1º degree west of the Prime Meridian.
Excavations have indicated that it was probably built in the 7th or 8th century BC. Isolated
postholes were found inside the fort but no evidence of buildings. Pottery, loom weights and
animal bone finds suggest some form of occupation however. The most activity appears to have
been during the Roman period as the artifacts recovered from the upper fills of the ditch attest.
The ramparts were remodeled to provide more entrances, and a shrine seems to have been built
in the early 4th century AD. Two oblong mounds, one containing 46 Romano-British burials and
one containing eight Saxon burials, lie nearby.
It covers about 32,000 square meters and is surrounded by two earth banks separated by a ditch
with an entrance in the western end. A second entrance in the eastern end was apparently
blocked up a few centuries after it was built. The original defensive ditch was V-shaped with a
small box rampart in front and a larger one behind it. Timber posts stood on the ramparts. Later
the ditch was deepened and the extra material dumped on top of the ramparts to increase their
size.
When you want to visit Uffington White Horse and Castle, entry is free. It is open any
reasonable time during daylight hours.