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Westbury White Horse.

The Westbury White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain in England. It is the oldest of several white horses carved in Wiltshire. It was restored in 1778, an action which may have obliterated a previous horse which had occupied the same slope. A contemporary engraving of the 1760s appears to show a horse facing in the opposite direction, and also rather smaller than the present figure. However, there is at present no documentary or other evidence for the existence of a chalk horse at Westbury before the year 1742.

The origin of the Westbury White Horse is obscure. It is often claimed to commemorate King Alfred's victory at the Battle of Eðandun in 878, and while this is not impossible, there is no trace of such a legend before the second half of the eighteenth century. It should also be noted that the battle of Eðandun has only tentatively been identified with Edington in Wiltshire.

Another white horse, that of Uffington, featured in King Alfred's earlier life. He was born in the Vale of the White Horse, not far from Uffington. Unlike Westbury, documents as early as the 11th century refer to the "White Horse Hill" at Uffington ("mons albi equi"), and archaeological evidence has dated the Uffington White Horse to the Bronze Age, although it is not certain that it was originally intended to represent a horse.

A White Horse war standard was associated with the contintental Saxons in the dark ages, and the figures of Hengist and Horsa who, according to legend, led the first Anglo-Saxon invaders into England, are said to have fought under a white horse standard (a claim recalled in the heraldic badge of the county of Kent).

During the 18th century, the white horse was also a symbol closely associated with the new English Royal family, the House of Hanover, and it is argued by some scholars that the Westbury White Horse may have first been carved in the early 18th century as a symbol of loyalty to the new Protestant reigning house.

In the 1950s the horse was vandalised. It was repaired, but the remains of what the vandals did to it could still be seen a few years ago. Due to this it is now once again undergoing restoration.

A debate on the origins of the horse continues.

• Chalk figures in England
• Westbury, Wiltshire

• Further Observations on the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire by the Reverend Francis Wise (1742)
• White Horses and Other Hill Figures by Morris Marples (1949)
• Wiltshire White Horses
• ThisisWestbury.co.uk, Westbury's history website
• Wiltshire Web information