Uffington White Horse

The Uffington horse is the oldest chalk hill figure in Britain, dated by optically stimulated luminescence, after an excavation in 1990, to the late Bronze Age, roughly three thousand years ago, which made it far older than anyone had assumed. It is 110 metres long, drawn in a stylised, almost abstract line that resembles horses on Iron Age coins, and it is cut as trenches packed with chalk rather than scraped turf. Grass grows over chalk in a few decades, so the figure has survived only because it has been scoured and repacked continuously for three millennia, historically at a community festival with games held every seven years. It sits below an Iron Age hillfort, beside a flat-topped mound called Dragon Hill where St George is said to have killed the dragon, and above a dry valley called the Manger.

The main sights

• The chalk figure - a 110-metre stylised horse in cut trenches.
• Dragon Hill - a flat-topped mound below, tied to the St George legend.
• The hillfort - Uffington Castle, an Iron Age enclosure above the horse.
• The Ridgeway - Britain's oldest road running along the crest.

When to go

April to October for the walking; the figure is best understood from a distance and from the air, since on the hill itself it is foreshortened into disconnected white bands. Clear days show it from the vale below.

What to expect

Standing on the horse shows very little; the shape only reads from the valley or the air, which surprises most visitors. Walking on the figure damages it and is asked against. The hilltop is exposed and there are no facilities beyond the car park.

Nearby

Wayland's Smithy, a Neolithic long barrow, is a walk along the Ridgeway; Oxford lies northeast.

Key facts