But, there are many ways to see the horse around the area
KINGDOM NEW LANDS WHITE HORSE FREE
Uffington White Horse is FREE to visit and open 24 hours a day. This is around 5 miles from Faringdon and Wantage, 10 miles from Swindon, and 23 miles from the city of Oxford. It’s near the civil parish and village of Uffington. It’s in a very remote part of the countryside and buses don’t run here. The white horse is located in Oxfordshire on the aptly named White Horse Hill which is elevated around 860 feet above sea level! It just goes to show what an amazing imagination Tolkien had when creating his legendary world.Ĭlick here to read my Lord of the Rings guide to the CotswoldsĬould this be Weathertop? Where is the Uffington White Horse? This is where Frodo and the hobbits encounter the evil Barrow-Wights.Īlthough many of these places are a far cry from how they are represented in the book and movies. Many say that Tolkien used this spot to inspire the Barrow-Downs in Lord of the Rings. Nearby, you have Wayland’s Smithy which is a Neolithic burial chamber on the Ridgeway Trail.
This is where Frodo is stabbed by a Ringwraith.Īlso, many say that the white horse represents the sigil for the Kingdom of Rohan. Tolkien’s son, Christopher, believed that Dragon Hill was used as inspiration for Weathertop. It is said that he used much of Uffington to inspire places in his legendarium both in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. While Tolkien was an academic at Oxford, he was known for going on long walks and tours across the Berkshire Downs (as it was known then). In later years, there have been many connections made to this area and J. Is Uffington connected to Tolkien’s Middle Earth? It’s the oldest white horse figure we have here in Britain and has inspired many more similar creations around the country. But, recent excavations in the 1990s proved, without a doubt, it was made in the Bronze Age.
There were many theories about the horse being made during the Saxon era after King Alfred the Great won his victory against the Danes.
This is so that Luftwaffe pilots wouldn’t recognise it from the air and use it as a target practice for raid bombings. Anyone who would like to help is welcome!ĭuring World War II, the white horse was completely covered with turf and hedge trimmings. Now that it’s been gifted to the National Trust, it’s a slightly quieter affair that is carried out by a handful of volunteers. He reported that it was an annual event since time immemorial where thousands of villagers from all over the Vale of the White Horse would relish in the task. It’s a custom that was noted by famous antiquarians like Francis Wise in 1736. Then, they will kneel down to smash the chalk into a paste and colour between the lines. People will gather with hammers and buckets of chalk and spread out all over the horse. This tradition has taken place here for the last three millennia. The reason why this horse survived through the centuries was due to the cleaning rituals of “chalking” or “scouring” days.
KINGDOM NEW LANDS WHITE HORSE FULL
Uffington White Horse The full history & excavations The Uffington White Horse can be seen from over 20 miles away and it’s almost miraculous that it has survived all these years! The shape drastically changed over the centuries just like the land around it. In fact, they predict it was 3 metres deep. What we see today on the hillside is actually a lot different from what the horse would have originally looked like all those years ago. Some say it may have been a territorial marker relating to the ancient Uffington Castle just nearby and others say it’s a fertility symbol. Studies have not been able to prove the reason why this figure was made. Recent excavations have placed the horse being made between 1740 and 210 BC. It measures around 110 metres long and is made of deep trenches of chalk. Uffington White Horse is a pre-historic Bronze Age Hill figure that has been carved into the hillside of Oxfordshire.
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