Yorkshire Almanac 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:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

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.

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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.

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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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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23 January 1643: Thomas Fairfax, the Rider of the White Horse, captures Leeds from the Beast with the help of Psalm 68

7 January 1397: On the longest of the 42 days of his carnivalesque reign, boy-bishop John de Cave of York goes on a 200-mile begging spree

8 February 1745: Pioneering but pennyless philologist Eugene Aram murders a wealthy Knaresborough wastrel

30 September 1859: A popular village brass band contest at the Golden Lion, Loftus (near Saltburn)

21 July 1666: A white ghost army is seen by the Don near Sheffield

31 August 1651: John Wilks (Thompson, Smith…), of Knaresborough gives a York court a glimpse of the life of a Catholic hedge priest

14 May 1760: Bishop Pococke finds Richmondshire’s Kirklevington shorthorns in better condition than its fish and farmers

28 January 1847: Edward Stillingfleet recounts finding a “British” chariot burial during excavation of 100 Iron Age tumuli at Arras and Hessleskew on the Wolds 30 years ago

21 September 1874: The young of Nidderdale and Wharfedale celebrate Craven Lass’s victory amid urban railway tourists in the Pateley Bridge Races

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Comment

Although a brief search didn’t throw up the date for 1874, other mentions in the period suggest that the Pateley races were held on the penultimate Monday of September – the 21st in 1874 – and in corroboration the first (rugby) football match in Nidderdale was held on this day at Pateley Bridge between Harrogate and Pateley and district. Re the 1877 feast:

The weather was fine, and though threatening clouds hung about during the morning, the country people turned out in strong force. There was a large contingent of pleasure seekers from Harrogate and other towns within easy reach of Pateley Bridge, which is approached by a single line from Harrogate, and the trains were crowded to excess. Hence the one narrow street which gives the appellation of Town to Pateley Bridge was thronged long before the sports were to commence, but the people who flocked in from the surrounding villages found plenty of amusement. Bands of music paraded the town, and an itinerant nigger band excited the greatest admiration of their rural audience. The races, which were the chief item in the afternoon’s programme, were held in a field on the side of the river Nidd, and close to the town, and there was a very large company present. The entries for the various events were larger than on any previous occasion. Each event was run in heats, and though the proceedings can hardly be dignified by the name of sport, yet the contests produced much amusement. There were several gentlemen who might by way of compliment be called bookmakers present, but their offers were of the most illiberal description. The betting is, of course, not quotable, though there was a good deal of wagering for small money on the various races.
(York Herald 1877/09/25)

In 1863 a connecting train from Leeds to Pateley Bridge via Harrogate cost 5s. return 1st class or 2s. in covered carriages.

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