Unique to the rolling chalk hills of Southern England is the chalk hill figure. Vast pictograms carved out of the chalk hillsides. Some of these are ancient, dating back to our Celtic past. Others are more modern folly's, created by wealthy landowners during a craze, which spanned the eighteen and nineteenth centuries. Some of the older figures were re-cut in this period to modern taste
Unfortunately, there is no sure way of dating these figures. Proof of their age come from accounts in historical documents, careful comparison with early Art or circumstantial evidence such as local folklore. Often, these hill figures are located close to Celtic hill forts or enclosures, lending credence to the theory that they are tribal totems. However, the proliferation of these forts in the English hills, suggests that the association could be just coincidental.
They are created by removing the topsoil and turf to reveal the chalk beneath. They require "scouring" or re-cutting regularly to prevent them becoming overgrown and lost. It is thought that many of these figures have disappeared over the years in this way.
Most of the figures cut into the landscape are for some reason, horses. Although many of these were cut in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they appeared to carry on a tradition. Most of the horses are cut into the chalk downland of Wiltshire. Maybe this area has a strong tradition of worshipping the Celtic horse Goddess Epona. her name means "mare" in Gaulish and can it be a coincidence that the vast majority of these horses are mares?
The purpose of the ancient figures is unknown, but fertility rites were very important to the early British. Rites would sometimes take the form of rubbing against or sitting on ritual stones. The Cerne Abbas Giant would certainly seem a good candidate for a fertility symbol, as other sexually explicit figures, such as the Sheela-Na-Gig, feature on some early British Churches, which often incorporate local pagan symbols in order to draw in still suppositious congregations. . Whatever these figure mean it seems likely that there are many reasons that they were cut, but which are ancient and which are not?
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