White Horse Hill Oxfordshire

White Horse Hill And Wayland  Smithy Walk (5 Miles)

I was on a mission to find a good walk in Oxfordshire and decided that I would give White horse hill a go as I thought it would involve so dramatic scenery and some local history. On the17th of June, amazingly the skies cleared and the arduous wind we have been having dropped down to a breeze. I had the pleasure of having Lucy for company, a very good friend and one who could put up with my incessant babbling on as I am usually walking on my own and daresay talk to myself.

We paid for 4 hours parking at the pay and display and set off.

The first part of the route lead us towards the White Horse, The views over Oxfordshire stretched out for miles and miles through farmland, villages and Didcot Power station which in a sense has its own charm chugging out it's exhausts over the county

White Horse Hill

We found it quite hard to get a great vantage point of the White Horse as it was so large and at an angle, only a plane or hot air balloon could give the full effect of this ancient monument.

The figure itself dates back 3000 years to the bronze age and is 110 meters long and formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The horse is thought to represent  a tribal symbol and connected to the builders of Uffington Castle.

White Horse, Dragon Hill and the Crop Circle

From the top of the horses head you can see various features, one being a crop circle in the field below.

Crop Circle

In front of the crop circle is Dragon hill which is a natural chalk hill with an artificial flat top which as legend suggest and Lucy also at the time was that on its summit St George slew a dragon and the bare patch of chalk on top where no grass grows was apparently where the dragon spilt it's blood.

Dragon Hill

From the top we headed towards Uffington Castle, a very strange place as there is a sign for the castle, but the castle has since disappeared.

Where Is It??

I'm not too clear how you can deface it as is no longer here, back to the historical info, the castle was built in the early  Iron age and is surrounded by two earth banks which is the only thing left to see there probably due to it being made of timber as post holes have been found. Today however sheep rule the castle. The local farmer had been busy, all of them were shawn and looking less than majestic in their new rough haircuts.

Shawn Sheep Admiring the view of Didcot Power Station.

Passing the castle we then joined the Ridgeway and headed towards Wayland Smithy. The path was long and straight, not the excitement I was trying to pursue, never the less some of the views were lovely and there was a plethora of wild birds, insects and thousands of snails, a good year for them I think, especially the ones in my garden who have a party with my runner beans every night.

The Rich Green Fields of Oxfordshire.

We followed the path for roughly a mile then headed to a small copse which house Wayland Smithy, a Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb

Wayland Smithy.

The oval barrow has been dated to 3700BC and the chambered long barrow dated to 3400BC. There was a single burial at one end and a further 14 individuals were scattered in front of it, analysis saying that the subjects were excarnated prior to burial which means de-fleshed, pretty gruesome.

Another legend of Wayland is that if a traveller's horse lost its shoe, they should leave the horse and a silver coin there over night and in the morning they would find their horse re-shod and the money gone. The Saxons thought there was an invisible smith called Wayland hence the modern name for the site.

After a little rest, water and banana, we turned back along the long straight path, Lucy noticed  a path leading into a wooded area running parallel to the path so decided to explore that avenue. this was a beautiful little coppice with the sun flickering through the canopy, a good little detour off the normal route.

The Hidden Path.

After going through the coppice it lead us back to the Ridgeway path and then back to Uffington Castle. We then diverted round the side of the field and challenged ourselves to go down the steep embankment to dragon hill for a welcome rest and just to sit and take in the expansive panorama over Oxfordshire and take in the local wildlife. Watching a Kestrel hover below where we were sitting was quite hypnotic and an unusual aspect to see it. the place was alive with beetles too, we had to go for a closer inspection.

A Chaffer Beetle.

No idea what this one was

We then took the trail leading to the car park, this was busy with kite flyers and children playing football, a fry cry from the peace we had on the path prior. As for any walk we yearned for some refreshments and decided to go to the White Horse pub in Woolstone, unfortunately the kitchen is being refurbished but their pork pies look amazing. We decided to go to Uffington driving past some amazing old picture postcard houses and stopped at the Fox and Hounds pub, the food here was lovely and a good place to look back on the walk we had just embarked on.

I'm not too sure how I would rate this walk, the views were brilliant but the hype of the White Horse and Wayland made the result a bit flat, the walk itself was very easy and needed a bit more excitement. If you are in the vicinity I would recommend a look but I would not travel too far to walk this.

Just a quick thank you to Lucy, you made the walk most enjoyable and was great company.