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Hill figure

The Watlington White Mark

Watlington, Oxfordshire

A chalk spike carved so a church would look as if it had a spire.

In 1764 a local squire, Edward Horne, thought the church in Watlington looked dull without a spire. So he had a tall, thin triangle cut into the chalk hillside behind it.

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When
Cut 1764
Where
51.6400, -1.0000
Group
Hill figures & giants

Visiting

Watlington Hill is National Trust land with a car park and walks.

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.

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