Osmington White Horse is a figure sculpted into the chalk hills just north of Weymouth called the South Dorset Downs. The Needles, part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation Chalk is a soft, white, porous form of limestone composed of the mineral calcium carbonate. ... Location within the British Isles Weymouth is a town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. ... The Dorset Downs shown within Dorset The Dorset Downs are an area of Chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. ...
The figure is of King George III, who regularly visited Weymouth, and made it 'the first resort', riding on his horse, and can be seen for miles around. George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738–29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ...
There is a legend that King George was offended that the figure was riding out of Weymouth - a sign that he was not welcome - and never retured, although this can't be true as the King died before the White Horse was carved.
It is also the largest of the horses being some 374 feet in length and 110 feet in height, constructed of trenches which are 5 to 10 feet in width and 2 to 3 feet deep and filled with chalk, this is a few feet above the natural chalk of the hill.
The horse is unique in its features, the horse being a very long sleek disjointed figure and this leads some to believe it represents the mythical dragon that St. George slain on the adjacent Dragon hill or even his horse.
The earliest record of the whitehorse is from Abingdon Abbey in the late 12th century, although whitehorse hill was mentioned a century earlier.
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