hill figure

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In Britain, any of a number of figures, usually of animals, cut from the turf to reveal the underlying chalk. Their origins are variously attributed to Celts, Romans, Saxons, Druids, or Benedictine monks, although most are of modern rather than ancient construction. Examples include 17 White Horses, and giants such as the Cerne Abbas Giant, near Dorchester, Dorset, associated with a prehistoric fertility cult.

Nearly 50 hill figures are known in Britain, of which all but four are on the southern chalk downs of England. Some are landmarks or memorials; others have a religious or ritual purpose. It is possible that the current figures are on the site of, or reinforce, previous ones. There may have been large numbers of figures dotted on the landscape in the Iron Age, which were not maintained. The White Horse at Uffington, on the Berkshire Downs, used to be annually ‘scoured’ in a folk ceremony.

Other hill-figure designs include the Long Man of Wilmington on Windover Hill, East Sussex; crosses, such as the Bledlow and Whiteleaf crosses on the Chiltern Hills; a collection of military badges made at Fovant Down, Wiltshire (1916); an aeroplane, and a crown. A stag at Mormond Hill, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is cut into white quartz.

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