britain s oldest chalk figure. leaping across the head of the ridgeway slope, it s thought to date back to the late bronze age, around 3,000 years old. and it s thanks to the annual work of volunteers on the ground that means we can still see this ancient animal marking. yes, a bitjust over there. using around 15 tonnes of chalk extracted from a local quarry, volunteers have travelled from near and far to help with the weeding and re chalking. my wife grew up in a village just down there and i grew up on the other side of the world, but i remember reading books about the white horse and it s amazing to be able to add something to it. i m researching a book on british art and this is 3,000 years old. so i thought what better way to get hands on with british art than to come and do a bit of weeding, as it turns out. and i saw you pounding away.
er, you feel powerful, like thor. over the centuries, the annual re chalking became a well known large scale public event so much so that, in 1857, it had to be banned because 30,000 visitors showed up, many reluctant to go. well, now, it s carefully managed by the national trust so that people can take part whilst also protecting this figure. and preserving the figure is going to require more than just re chalking. since the 1980s, archaeologists have been noticing the white horse become thinner and now there are plans to restore its original outline. in particular, the neck of the horse was starting to narrow quite a lot. so the project involved a drone survey comparing the imagery taken from that to an image taken in 1939, aerial photograph, overlaid one on the other and that said to us that in 80 years, the figure had diminished by almost 50%.
it s been sitting on a hillside in oxfordshire for 3,000 years and can be seen for miles around, but it seems the uffington white horse has actually been shrinking since the 1980s. geeta pendse is there. in the beautiful sunshine there. how come it is shrinking? there are lots of reasons of which i will tell you shortly. as you mentioned, this is the uffington white horse. i am standing at the head, and the reason why there are people behind me is because they are part of the annual re chalking. where they come to make sure it stays white. it has been shrinking and archaeologists are trying to do something about that. i have taken a look at why it is so special. you can only fully appreciate it from a
encroachment, but we have used archaeological techniques to identify the true size of the horse so that next year we can work to that outline and preserve the outline better than we do at the moment. ~ , ., , outline better than we do at the moment. ~ , ., . ., moment. why was it created in the first place? moment. why was it created in the first place? this moment. why was it created in the first place? this is moment. why was it created in the first place? this is a moment. why was it created in the first place? this is a dramatic - first place? this is a dramatic prehistoric first place? this is a dramatic prehistoric landscape - first place? this is a dramatic prehistoric landscape and - first place? this is a dramatic i prehistoric landscape and people will have buried their dead here for thousands of years even before it was created but the bronze age people decided to make an emblem across the landscape. perhaps a totem of their ownership of the land and horses were spe
it looks beautiful where you are, geeta, tell us where you are and what is behind you. it’s geeta, tell us where you are and what is behind you. it s stunning, not a bad place what is behind you. it s stunning, not a bad place to what is behind you. it s stunning, not a bad place to be what is behind you. it s stunning, not a bad place to be first - what is behind you. it s stunning, not a bad place to be first thing l what is behind you. it s stunning, | not a bad place to be first thing on a bank holiday monday. this is the uffington white horse in oxfordshire, considered to be the oldest chalk figure in britain, dating back to the bronze age, almost 3000 years old. what are they doing behind me? they are part of a tradition which dates back centuries. every year, people flock here to help with the annual re chalking of the white horse. it has been shrinking, losing weight. i will be telling you why that has been happening and saying why that is so special. first, the news, t