Osmington White Horse
Encyclopedia
The Osmington White Horse is a hill figure
Hill figure
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and rubble made from material brighter than the natural...

 sculpted in 1808 into the limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 Osmington hill just north of Weymouth called the South Dorset Downs
Dorset Downs
The Dorset Downs are an area of Chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. The downs are the most western part of a larger Chalk Formation which also includes Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, Hampshire Downs, Chiltern Hills, North Downs and South Downs.The Dorset...

, within the parish of Osmington
Osmington
Osmington is a village and civil parish in the District of West Dorset within Dorset, England, situated on the Jurassic Coast northeast of Weymouth. The village has a population of 609.To the east is Osmington Hill.-History:...

.

The figure is of King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

, who regularly visited Weymouth, and made it 'the first resort', riding on his horse, and can be seen for miles around. It is 280 feet long and 323 feet high in size and is best viewed from the A353 road.

There is a legend that King George was offended that the figure was riding out of Weymouth — a sign that he was not welcome — and never returned.

The television show Challenge Anneka
Challenge Anneka
Challenge Anneka is a British television programme, produced by the independent production company Mentorn for the BBC, which aired on Friday, later Saturday evenings on BBC One between 8 September 1989 and 15 October 1995. It was announced in 2006 that the series is returning, but this time on...

restored the horse in 1989. However, the project was undertaken too quickly and some errors were made. A project to restore the white horse is underway.

In August 2011 pranksters added a 'horn' made from plastic sheeting to make the horse resemble a Unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...

.

The Osmington White Horse is the only figure that is a case of both leucippotomy
Leucippotomy
Leucippotomy is the art of carving white horses in chalk upland areas, particularly as practised in southern England. The practice is apparently of prehistoric origin; the Uffington White Horse, near The Ridgeway, has been dated to between 1400 and 600 BC. The Uffington White Horse is the most...

 and gigantotomy
Gigantotomy
Gigantotomy is the art of carving human-shaped hill figures, gigantic figures visible in chalk or other light-coloured material.Bergamar, Kate . Discovering Hill Figures. Pub. Shire. ISBN 0-7478-0345-5...


See also

  • Chalk figures in the United Kingdom
  • Leucippotomy
    Leucippotomy
    Leucippotomy is the art of carving white horses in chalk upland areas, particularly as practised in southern England. The practice is apparently of prehistoric origin; the Uffington White Horse, near The Ridgeway, has been dated to between 1400 and 600 BC. The Uffington White Horse is the most...

  • Cherhill White Horse
    Cherhill White Horse
    The Cherhill White Horse is a hill figure on Cherhill Down, 3.5 miles east of Calne in Wiltshire, England. Dating from the late 18th century, it is the third oldest of several such white horses in Great Britain, with only the Uffington White Horse and the Westbury White Horse being older...

  • Westbury White Horse
    Westbury White Horse
    The Westbury or Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately east of Westbury in England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest of several white horses carved in Wiltshire...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK