Hidden Britain AtlasOpen the map
All places › Hill figures & giants
Hill figure

Kilburn White Horse

Near Thirsk, North Yorkshire

Britain's most northerly white horse, cut by a schoolmaster and his pupils.

Kilburn's horse was cut in 1857 by the village schoolmaster, John Hodgson, with his pupils and local volunteers, inspired by the horses of the south. The hill is sandstone, not chalk, so the horse is kept white with chalk chippings brought in by the tonne.

Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.

Open Kilburn White Horse on the mapReport a sighting here
When
Cut 1857
Where
54.2240, -1.2120
Group
Hill figures & giants

Visiting

A car park below Sutton Bank, with a path up beside the horse.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

Buy on AmazonAll books by Cale Mills

Nearby mysteries