Goodness Grays!

I was born in Oxford but brought up in the nearby market town of Wantage. At that time Wantage was in the county of Berkshire and we were proud to be in a royal country. Then the boundaries were redrawn in 1974 and we found ourselves in the county of Oxfordshire. Regardless of these bureaucratic changes, Wantage remained in the Vale of White Horse district. The Bronze Age 110 metre long white horse was carved into the chalk downs sometime between 1380 and 550 BC. And one of the most surprising things about this white horse is that it is best viewed from the air! So, I have included here a photo of a kitchen tile purchased years ago in the Wantage Museum. You will soon see how I failed to get an image of this majestic creature from the ground. White Horse Hill is in the parish of Uffington and, up until the late 19th century, every seven years the horse was scoured clean to keep it visible. This scouring event was part of a village celebration which has since ceased, and now the horse is maintained by the National Trust. Only during WW2 was it covered by turf to reduce visibility that might have helped guide enemy bombers to their targets.

For me, White Horse Hill has always been a magical place. It was a treat for Dad to drive the family there and we'd walk all over the hill tops, explore Uffington Castle, and if adventurous, take the longer walk along the Ridgeway to Wayland's Smithy. When we visited as children, Wayland's Smithy was just a pile of large stones surrounded by trees. Today it is better known as an Early Neolithic chambered long barrow believed to have been constructed in 3,600 BC. And, just a few miles away from White Horse Hill is the Blowing Stone, a perforated sarsen stone which can produce a booming sound if you blow in the right hole! Legend has it that this was how King Alfred the Great summoned his troops for a battle against the Danes in AD 871. As you can see, this area of the Berkshire Downs is full of ancient history still told by its landscape. I did not have time on this day to visit all these sights, besides the rain clouds were coming our way and we just returned to our car before a downpour. As you can see in the next photo, being on the Ridgeway gives a spectacular view across the Thames Valley and it becomes obvious why troops and traders used this high ground as their main (safer) road across the south of England.

In the photo above, you might just see part of the White Horse on the hill to the right, and I think we used to call the ridged hills to the left (beyond the black figure of Lawrence), the Manger. More importantly, if you follow the small grey road below the White Horse, you should see a small mound with a white patch on top? This is Dragon Hill and legend has it that this is where St George stayed the dragon! And the white patch is where the dragons blood flowed and stopped anything from growing there.

In the photo below you can see Lawrence looking out over the emence landscape and admiring a kestrel (bird of pray) circling on the thermals and looking for its lunch. The only sound on the hills today were the skylarks darting around above the grassland. It is amazing how much noise can come out of such a small bird.

Behind where Lawrence is standing in the photo above is Uffington Castle (see below). Uffington Castle is a typical Iron Age hill fort as found on the high chalklands of southern England. Today we see a large roundish enclosure (220 metres by 160 metres) surrounded by a wide chalk bank to make an inner rampart. In its day, the bank would have been lined with large sarsen stones, and in the Middle Ages the land inside the enclosure would have been cultivated.

Because it had been raining the night before we visited White Horse Hill, the ground grasses were covered in water drops and the slugs and snails were out in force. And, I just had to take some photos!

Next it was time to drive to my home town of Wantage to catch up with an old friend. Wantage's main claim to fame is as the birth place of King Alfred the Great. Alfred was born in AD 849, becoming King of the West Saxons in 871 and then King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886 until his death in 899. He was an advocate for learning and promoted the use of Old English in primary schools, rather than Latin. But most people would know him as the King who burnt the cakes (while hiding from the enemy). He is memorialised by this statue raised in 1877 which sits proudly in the centre of the town square.

King Alfred looks out towards the parish church where my sister was married. I believe there are still regular markets in the town square, but I do not know if the fair still visits. The market square is surrounded by 17th and 18th century buildings which have always given Wantage a special charm.

To the left of The Bear Hotel (see below) is a former Corn Exchange which was converted in 1890 into the Victoria Cross Gallery (today it is a shopping arcade). The inner walls of the gallery were lined with paintings of Victoria Cross heroes curated by Colonel Sir Robert Loyd-Lindsay V.C. (Lord Wantage). My twin sister and I used to belong to the St. John's Ambulance Brigade and we would hold our annual fair inside this building. I remember it as so large and grand but I have no photos from those days. The battles of the Crimean War were recorded in these paintings and the formation of troops in major battles is reportedly mirrored in the planting of groups of trees up by the war memorial on the Ridgeway above Wantage. This was another favourite haunt as children because we would go up to the monument to fly our kites.

The photo of the Lamb Inn (above right) is just a reminder that Wantage has many pubs! I even used to catch my school bus outside a pub (The Lord Nelson). As even younger children, or if we had visitors, a walk along the mill stream to feed the ducks was compulsory. The clear chalk filtered waters of Letcombe Brook provided a perfect base for the growth of watercress which was transported daily by train up to the markets in London. And the mill itself is still in action and makes superb bread flour under the label of Wessex Flour Mill.

The Letcombe Brook runs alongside the land were Sir John Betjeman lived. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984. In his days, the position of Poet Laureate was for life, but now it has a fixed shorter duration of ten years. A Betjeman Millennium Park has been constructed providing a peaceful park with some of his poetry carved into sculptural pieces.

Once again, we were surrounded by the sound of bird song and the smell of damp vegetation, and there were even more insects and flowers to view!

All in all, despite the weather, it had been a lovely day revisiting my spiritual homeland!