Uffington White Horse & Nearby Prehistoric Sites
A Visitors' Guide to the White Horse, Wayland's Smithy and More
Apr 6, 2009
Neighbouring Wiltshire might boast the Britain’s most famous prehistoric landmark in Stonehenge (not to mention the arguably more impressive structures at Avebury) but Oxfordshire has its own impressive, historically important sites, including the Uffington White Horse and Wayland’s Smithy.
Prehistoric Hill Figure The Uffington White Horse
At a length of around 110 metres (374 feet), the Uffington White Horse is a huge hill figure located on White Horse Hill a few miles south of the town of Faringdon in Oxfordshire. The figure itself can be reached from a car-park located at the nearby Woolstone Hill, just off the B4507. From here it’s a reasonably steep and often windy walk of around 700m. From such close proximity it’s impossible to make out the whole shape of the ‘horse’ but the scale is certainly impressive. More complete views of the figure can be found elsewhere in the surrounding Vale of White Horse or from the adjacent Dragon Hill.
The figure of the Horse is cut into the turf of the hillside and picked out in locally occurring chalk. Originally thought to be of Iron Age origin, the Horse was more recently dated back to the Bronze Age at around 1000BC by the Oxford Archaeological Unit.
Dragon Hill Near the Uffington White Horse
Debate has long raged abut the Uffington White Horse and whether it actually represents a horse at all. While many claim that it was a tribal or religious symbol, local tradition has it that the figure is that of the legendary dragon slain by Saint George. A natural chalk hill with a man-made flattened top facing the Uffington Horse, Dragon Hill is the place where the beast was allegedly slain, with a bare patch of chalk upon which no plants will grow purported to be the exact spot where the dragon’s blood was spilled.
Neolithic Burial Chamber Wayland’s Smithy
Located at Ashbury, close to the Uffington White Horse, Wayland’s Smithy is a stone burial chamber dating back as far 3700BC. Although the site significantly pre-dates the Saxon colonisation of Britain, the site’s name comes from Wayland or Völundr, a smith from Germanic mythology. Legend has it that a horse left overnight with a coin will be magically re-shod by the following morning.
Bronze and Iron Age Fort Uffington Castle
At the very top of White Horse Hill sits the remains of a double walled hill fort. Like the White Horse itself the fort was originally categorised as an Iron Age structure but recent excavations have shown that it was originally built in the late Bronze Age and occupied throughout the Iron Age. Two mounds containing Saxon and Romano-British burials are nearby.
Click here for a guide to prehistoric sites in nearby Wiltshire, including Stonehenge, Woodhenge and Avebury.
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