This is the most northerly of
all the chalk figures, the
underlying surface is a
greyish limey sandstone rock
(Jurrassic.) This is covered
with a thin overlay of this
rock and this in turn is
covered with chalk which turn
grey and break up. which has
led to the greyish colouration
sometimes seen. It was
finished on 4th Novemb
more

This is the most northerly of
all the chalk figures, the
underlying surface is a
greyish limey sandstone rock
(Jurrassic.) This is covered
with a thin overlay of this
rock and this in turn is
covered with chalk which turn
grey and break up. which has
led to the greyish colouration
sometimes seen. It was
finished on 4th November 1857
by local volunteers. School
master John Hodgson (A friend
of Thomas Taylor) and his
pupils marked the horse.
Thomas Taylor who was
obviously influenced by the
Wiltshire horses on his
business travels south
organised and paid for the
construction of the horse. The
original drawing was drawn by
the artist Harrison Weir, and
a copy with Hodgson's notes
and measurements can be seen
below, 31 men cleared the
horse, the exposed scree was
then whitewashed. There was no
endowment to scour the horse
and public funds were used to
renew the horse after his
death. The horse was badly
damaged by a hail storm in
1896 and fell into disrepair
after the first world war. It
was renewed in 1925 following
a campaign in the Yorkshire
Evening Post which is
commemorated by the memorial
in the car park. The horse was
kept in reasonable condition
until it was covered in 1939.
It was uncovered and whitened
in 1946, a storm in 1949
almost destroyed the horse yet
again. Local mouse furniture
maker Robert Thompson was
prominent in keeping the horse
well groomed until his death
in 1955. A white horse
restoration fund was setup and
later this became the White
Horse Association, which looks
after the horse today in
conjunction with local
farmers. The future of this
horse has been secured but
during its life it has nearly
been lost many times like so
many of the other figures. See
it during the walk described
in www.walkingenglishman.com

Category Travel & Places

Tags kilburn, white, horse, chalk, figure, sutton, bank, north, yorkshire, moors, walking, englishman