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A recent initiative has been working to restore the profile of the Uffington White Horse, a Bronze Age hill-figure in the care of the National Trust. When a drone survey (fundraised by David Miles and Simon Palmer, and undertaken by Oxford Archaeology) was compared to images from previous surveys in 2022, the Oxfordshire landmark was found to have gradually narrowed as a result of grass creeping into the outlines and slippage of the topsoil. Ground-testing confirmed this last year, and it was therefore decided that the 3,000-year-old figure was in need of some deserved TLC; David and Simon again raised the necessary funds, and the recent work was carried out with the agreement of the National Trust, English Heritage, and Historic England.
Directed by David Miles, Simon Palmer, and Oxford Archaeology, the team set to work trimming back the turf that was narrowing the horse’s linework. Particular attention was paid to the head and neck area, where the environmental conditions had reduced the outlines of the figure to less than half of their original width. Finally, areas of the chalk layer were also redistributed in order to return the horse to its former glory.
This restoration of the 111m figure has provided a further opportunity to investigate the dating of the horse, which was revealed to be the oldest chalk figure in Britain when samples of soil from its lowest layers were analysed in the 1990s (see CA 142). New samples have now been taken, and it is hoped that they will provide a refined date using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analysis.
Text: Rebecca Preedy / Images: NTI James Dobson
