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The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long (374 feet), formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of White Horse Hill in the English civil parish of Uffington (in the county of Oxfordshire, historically Berkshire), some south of the town of Faringdon and a similar distance west of the town of Wantage; or 2.5 km south of Uffington. The hill forms a part of the scarp of the Berkshire Downs and overlooks the Vale of White Horse to the north. Best views of the figure are obtained from the air, or from directly across the Vale, particularly around the villages of Great Coxwell, Longcot and Fernham. The site is owned and managed by the National Trust and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. ''The Guardian'' stated in 2003 that "for more than 3,000 years, the Uffington White Horse has been jealously guarded as a masterpiece of minimalist art," and also inspired the creation of other white horse hill figures.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Uffington White Horse )〕 ==History== The figure presumably dates to "the later prehistory", i.e. the Iron Age (800 BC–AD 100) or the late Bronze Age (1000–700 BC). This view was generally held by scholars even before the 1990s, based on the similarity of the horse's design to comparable figures in Celtic art, and it was confirmed following a 1990 excavation led by Simon Palmer and David Miles of the Oxford Archaeological Unit, following which deposits of fine silt removed from the horse's 'beak' were scientifically dated to the late Bronze Age.〔Darvill, ''Prehistoric Britain from the Air'' (1996), p. 223.〕 Iron Age coins that bear a representation comparable to the Uffington White Horse have been found, supporting the early dating of this artefact; it has also been suggested that the horse had been fashioned in the Anglo-Saxon period, more particularly during Alfred's reign, but there is no positive evidence to support this and the view is classified as "folklore" by Darvill (1996). Numerous other prominent prehistoric sites are located nearby, notably Wayland's Smithy, a long barrow less than to the west. The Uffington is by far the oldest of the white horse figures in Britain, and is of an entirely different design from the others. It has long been debated whether the chalk figure was intended to represent a horse or some other animal. However, it has been called a horse since the 11th century at least. A cartulary of Abingdon Abbey, compiled between 1072 and 1084, refers to ''"mons albi equi"'' at Uffington ("the White Horse Hill").〔Plenderleath, Rev. W. C., ''The White Horses of the West of England'' (London: Allen & Storr, 1892), (page 8 )〕 The medieval Welsh book, ''Llyfr Coch Hergest'' (Red Book of Hergest ) (1375-1425), states: "''Gerllaw tref Abinton y mae mynydd ac eilun march arno a gwyn ydiw. Ni thyf dim arno.''" which translates as "Near to the town of Abinton there is a mountain with a figure of a stallion upon it and it is white. Nothing grows upon it."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Red Book of Hergest )〕 The horse is thought to represent a tribal symbol perhaps connected with the builders of Uffington Castle. It is quite similar to horses depicted on Celtic coinage, the currency of the pre-Roman-British population, and the Marlborough, Wiltshire bucket. Until the late 19th century the horse was scoured every seven years as part of a more general local fair held on the hill. When regular cleaning is halted the figure quickly becomes obscured; it has always needed frequent work for the figure to remain visible. In August 2002 the figure was defaced with the addition of a rider and three dogs by members of the "Real Countryside Alliance" (Real CA). The act was denounced by the Countryside Alliance. Soon afterwards for a couple of days in May 2003, a temporary hill figure advertisement for the fourth series of Channel 4's series ''Big Brother'' was controversially placed near the figure.〔 In March 2012, as part of a pre-Cheltenham Festival publicity stunt, a bookmaker added a large jockey to the figure.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bookmaker adds jockey to Uffington Horse )〕 The Folkestone White Horse, Kent, is based on this horse. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Uffington White Horse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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