Strange things happen on Whitehorse Hill, which is situated on the chalk of southern England. In the nineteenth century, large numbers of people gathered there to chase a wheel down a precipitous slope, watch exuberant sporting contests and consume large quantities of drink. Centuries earlier it was where King Alfred defeated a Danish army, summoning his warriors by blowing into a hollow rock. It was where St George despatched the Dragon, and before the Christian era, the image of a strangely stylised horse was cut into the hillside. Although there are similar figures in other places, this is the only one known to be of prehistoric origin. It dates from the later Bronze or Iron Age and may have been contemporary with a nearby hillfort. The image of a galloping horse survives because its shape was refreshed by scouring its outline over more than two thousand years. That is another sign of its uniqueness.
It has seen a long history of investigation from the time of early antiquarians to one of the first publications of the youthful Stuart Piggott (Reference Piggott1931), whose family lived nearby. It was concealed during the Second World War when its outline was covered so that it could not be seen by bomber pilots. It was equally effectively concealed by W.F. Grimes who excavated there in 1952 but never referred to his project in print. Even more surprising, when a nineteenth-century landowner excavated a barrow not far from the White Horse, he left an unusual memento in the filling of his trench: a copy of a book by Sir Walter Scott called Letters on demonology and witchcraft. It was not until 1980 that David Miles and colleagues undertook a new project on the hill and reduced much of the evidence to order. Now he tells the story.
The title and subtitle could not be more appropriate. The land of the White Horse is located on the northern margin of Wessex. Although the monuments themselves are on high ground, they overlook a fertile area extending to the Upper Thames. The book traces their history from the time of the first farmers to the agricultural reorganisation of the historical period, making excellent use of air photographs, place names, Anglo-Saxon charters and excavated evidence (some of it from the period when the author ran the Oxford Archaeological Unit). The result is a fluent and well-informed account of a history that could be matched elsewhere. The distinctive features that set it apart from other regions are the creation and maintenance of the White Horse, the presence of an apparently empty hillfort on the ridge above it, and the distinctive form of Dragon Hill, which is situated farther down the slope. Although it appears to be a geological feature, its distinctive profile suggests that at some time this was reshaped so that it resembled that of Silbury Hill. While the hillfort and the White Horse date from the later prehistoric period, Dragon Hill has never been investigated. Three years ago Joshua Pollard (Reference Pollard2017) wrote about it in this journal. Viewed from the lower ground, the midwinter sun rises above this distinctive landmark and follows the same course as the White Horse, which seems to emerge from underground.
The visions of England of the title raise issues that are less concerned with archaeology, but they make compelling reading. David Miles traces the way in which the White Horse became associated with King Alfred and his victory over the Danes. He was adopted as the ideal monarch, and the chalk figure was considered his emblem. It became a symbol of English identity. Statues of Alfred were erected in neighbouring towns, and sometimes his achievements were compared with St George's defeat of the Dragon. The hill figure was no longer thought of as a puzzling antiquity; now it was a patriotic statement. The change was clearly documented in poems and novels. At the same time, the visual qualities of the White Horse and its surroundings did not go unrecognised and provided an important source of inspiration for artists such as John Piper, Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious and David Jones. Their work did much to create a romantic image of the downland landscape.
The book ranges widely, but there are times when it covers almost too much ground. The accounts of Palaeolithic art and the domestication of the horse seem to be digressions. Although they are interesting and well informed, they distract the reader from the main narrative. But this is a minor point in a book that is unusually well written. The illustrations are of uniformly high quality and ensure that it will attract the wide audience it deserves.
In fact the text is so evocative that I went back to Whitehorse Hill before I began to write this review. On the road leading down to Dragon Hill I was overtaken by a woman riding a large white horse. As I said before, this is a place where strange things happen.
