Now! Then! Completion of the White Horse of Kilburn (Hambleton Hills)

4 November 1857: Completion of the White Horse of Kilburn (Hambleton Hills)

Royston Scar with Kilburn White Horse from near Coxwold (Beecroft 2010).

William Grainger. 1887. The White Horses of the Hambleton Hills. The Monthly Chronicle of North-country Lore and Legend. Ed. Newcastle Weekly Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne: Walter Scott. Get it:

Excerpt

The Kilburn White Horse is situate only a few hundred yards south-east of Roulston Scar, the most south-western part of the Hambleton range. Here the precipice has become a steep slope, covered with turf, and on this slope the figure of an equine monster, whose profile can be seen at a distance of thirty miles, is cut. The length of the horse is 180 feet, and the height 80 feet; his one great green eye is three yards in diameter; the quantity of land he covers is three roods; and to make a fence around him would enclose two acres. This figure was first formed in November, 1857, by Mr Thomas Taylor, a native of the village of Kilburn. The land on which the horse stands is, or was, the property of Mr Dresser, of Kilburn Hall. Six tons of lime were used to give his skin the requisite whiteness, and thirty-three men at work upon him on the 4th of November, the day on which he was completed. The figure was cut merely to gratify the whim of the projector, not to commemorate any remarkable event. The ground covered by the horse requires to be carefully cleared of bracken at least once a year, or all traces of his existence would soon be obliterated.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

WP:

Morris Marples in his 1949 book[2] gives Thomas Taylor the credit for being the prime mover: a native of Kilburn, he was a buyer for a London provision merchant. He seems to have attended celebrations at the Uffington White Horse in 1857, and he was inspired to give his home village a similar example.

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Original

In the north-eastern side of the great vale of York are the Hambleton Hills, a long mountain range, presenting a bold elevation to the valley at its foot. On the face of this range of hills are two remarkable objects, severally named The White Horse of Kilburn, and The White Mare of Whitstonecliff, the first being the figure of a horse cut on the steep hill side, the second a rocky precipice, so named, on the face of the hill. These two objects can be seen at a great distance from the plain below, from the higher country towards the west and south-west, and from the North-Eastern Railway for several miles of its course…

The Kilburn White Horse is situate only a few hundred yards south-east of Roulston Scar, the most south-western part of the Hambleton range. Here the precipice has become a steep slope, covered with turf, and on this slope the figure of an equine monster, whose profile can be seen at a distance of thirty miles, is cut. The length of the horse is 180 feet, and the height 80 feet; his one great green eye is three yards in diameter; the quantity of land he covers is three roods; and to make a fence around him would enclose two acres. This figure was first formed in November, 1857, by Mr. Thomas Taylor, a native of the village of Kilburn. The land on which the horse stands is, or was, the property of Mr. Dresser, of Kilburn Hall. Six tons of lime were used to give his skin the requisite whiteness, and thirty-three men at work upon him on the 4th of November, the day on which he was completed. The figure was cut merely to gratify the whim of the projector, not to commemorate any remarkable event. The ground covered by the horse requires to be carefully cleared of bracken at least once a year, or all traces of his existence would soon be obliterated.

330 words.