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All the United Kingdom England Cherhill Cherhill White Horse

Cherhill White Horse

The geoglyph once sported a glass bottle eye.

Cherhill, England

Added By
Kerry Wolfe
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Cherhill White Horse, Wiltshire.   Mike Gentry/CC BY-SA 2.0
Panorama of Cherhill White Horse and Landsdowne Monument.   MacFodder/CC BY-SA 3.0
The Cherill White Horse.   Nick/CC BY-SA 2.0
An illustration of the Cherhill White Horse, showcasing its unique eye.   William Charles Plenderleath/Public Domain
Cherhill White Horse.   Immanuel Giel/Public Domain
The Cherhill White Horse and the Landsdowne Monument.   Janine Forbes/CC BY-SA 2.0
  mocchiatto / Atlas Obscura User
Another view with the pretty yellow fields - definitely the time to visit (May).   petrahudson / Atlas Obscura User
White Horse with ripe rape fields.   petrahudson / Atlas Obscura User
White Hose as seen from Well Cottage B&B and the nearby village.   petrahudson / Atlas Obscura User
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The Cherhill White Horse is England’s third oldest equine geoglyph. The giant chalk carving shares its hill with the Lansdowne Monument, which was erected in honor of Sir William Petty, a noted English philosopher, economist, and scientist.

The enormous equine was cut into a hillside in Calne, England in 1780 under the supervision of Doctor Christopher Alsop, a "mad doctor" who reportedly dictated his directions from a distance via megaphone. The nearby Westbury Horse most likely spurred its creation. The two geogylphs have since inspired the addition of other nearby chalk horses.

At some point in the 19th century, the horse acquired a gleaming glass eye made from upside down bottles shoved into the ground. However, these eventually disappeared after people in search of souvenirs began snatching them. A local youth center replaced the bottles in the 1970s, but those too eventually vanished. The geoglyph now sports an eye of stone.

The Cherhill White Horse made an appearance in The Timelord’s 1988 music video for their song "Doctorin’ the Tardis." But that isn’t its only connection to extraterrestrial oddities—the horse’s hillside home is known for the occasional onset of crop circles.

Related Tags

Horses Geoglyphs Monuments Animals 18th Century Giant Animals Seen From Space Aliens History Geographic Markers

Community Contributors

Added By

Kerry Wolfe

Edited By

petrahudson, mocchiatto

  • petrahudson
  • mocchiatto

Published

July 13, 2017

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Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherhill_White_Horse
  • http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/cherhil/cherhill.htm
  • http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/7671/cherhill_down_and_oldbury.html
  • http://travellingdreams.com/the-white-horse-geoglyphs-of-wiltshire/
  • https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calstone-and-cherhill-downs/features/cherhill-white-horse
  • http://britainexplorer.com/listing/cherhill-white-horse/
Cherhill White Horse
Cherhill, England
United Kingdom
51.425183, -1.931952

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England’s Centuries-Old Fascination With Carving Giant Horses Into Hillsides

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By Kerry Wolfe

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Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
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