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

The Whipsnade Lion

Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire

A giant chalk lion advertising Whipsnade Zoo.

When Whipsnade Zoo opened in the 1930s, a giant lion was cut into the chalk hillside below it as an advertisement. It is about 147 metres long.

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 The Whipsnade Lion on the mapReport a sighting here
When
Cut 1933
Where
51.8500, -0.5400
Group
Hill figures & giants

Visiting

Best seen from the B489 near Totternhoe, or from the Dunstable Downs footpaths.

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