Pewsey White Horse
Coordinates: 51°19′16.4″N 1°45′23.5″W / 51.321222°N 1.756528°W Pewsey White Horse is a hill figure of a white horse near the village of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Cut of chalk in 1937, it replaces an earlier horse that had disappeared under the grass and is one of eight remaining white horses in Wiltshire. It measures 66’ by 45’, making it the smallest of the eight canonical white horse in Wiltshire.
When Pewsey White Horse was cut it was the seventh or eighth White Horse in Wiltshire (the confusion arising as Rockley White Horse was unknown until 1948) and the first of the 20th century. It was also one of the smallest. George Marples designed the white horse commemorating the Coronation of George VI, and was inspired by other white horses in Wiltshire.
The horse is the most well known landmark in Pewsey, and today it is maintained and scoured by the Pewsey 6X Club, who work under the name Pewsey Horse Restoration Group. Wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk consider it to be a "well-proportioned representation of the real animal." The white horse also features on the Town Flag of Pewsey, whose official registration notes describe the horse as "iconic". Barry Leighton of the Swindon Advertiser describes the horse as standing in a "care-free trotting stance."
A previous white horse was cut on the same hill, probably in 1785. It was cut by, or on the instructions of, Robert Pile of Manor Farm, Alton Barnes. The nearby Alton Barnes White Horse was cut 27 years later by a Robert Pile of the same address, but is unknown if this is the same man. The horse received a scouring in 1789, believed to be the first and last scouring, as the landowner objected to the festivities which had accompanied the scouring and thus refused to allow it to happen again. Thus, it fell into neglect, and by the mid-1800s was in a bad state of repair. By the mid-1930s, the chalk of the horse was no longer visible. Nonetheless, the outline of the head and body could still vaguely be seen, both as raised contours revealed by both the light of the rising sun and as a discolouration of the grass.
...
Wikipedia