Kilburn White Horse

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 & Events

Tags:

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

[2008Sameoldfitup]

roy west

[james2322]

I've been there just this week and it was bloomin massive! the stairs are hard to climb :D

[idasynco]

This is amazing! Thanks for the nice view. 5*

[shela2]

Can be seen from the top of my road. The whole area around Sutton Bank and the little villages is lovely......