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Alton Barnes White Horse |
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Alton, Wiltshire (SU10166372) |
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Alton Barnes White Horse from Honeystreet Bridge; the horse design is
said to have been sketched from this bridge.
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Alton Barnes White Horse, from the road to the south, at sunset.
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Alton Barnes White Horse is one of 10, or so, white horses that
decorate Wiltshire hills. It is a stocky sort of horse with a docked
tail, standing with one forefoot raised. It is said to have been cut
in 1812, at the expense of Robert Pile, Manor Farm, Alton Barnes.
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Robert Pile commissioned a journeyman painter, John Thorpe, Jack the
Painter, to create the horse, paying him £20. Jack made a preliminary
sketch from Honeystreet Bridge on the Kennet and Avon Canal, and
engaged John Harvey of Stanton St Bernard to do the hard work. Before
the horse was finished Jack absconded with the fee, which he'd had in
advance ...
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These horses change, as time defaces them and local people recut them.
This horse is 166ft long and 160ft high; a disproportionate height
compensates for the slope of the hillside and viewing angle.
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The white horse seen from Woodway Bridge on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
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Marples, Morris: 1981: White Horses and other Hill Figures: Sutton,
Alan:: ISBN 0 964387 59 3
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Kennet and Avon Scrapbook 2000
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