Date Published: 25th September 2023

Westbury White Horse glimpsed from the train

On the recent No.1 – 25th anniversary promotional tour of the South and South West of England, Alexander saw the famous Westbury White Horse from the train. You can catch a glimpse of it here.

The early train was rolling through the countryside between Paddington Station, London and Tiverton Parkway, Devon, en route to the Appledore festival. Out of the window, a giant white horse carved into the chalky grassland could be seen clearly. It is thought to have been cut in the late 1600s. The White Horse is a magnificent sight and a famous local landmark. It is thought to commemorate an earlier battle on the site, the Battle of Ethandun, AD 878. You can read about England’s most intriguing chalk figures on the Wanderlust website. They include the Long Man in East Sussex, a white horse and rider in Dorset, a white horse in Yorkshire, and an intriguing Kiwi bird. There is one white horse in Scotland. The Mormond Hill Horse, in Aberdeenshire, is thought to have been created in the 1800s.