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The White Horse

By admin on June 1, 2025

Letcombe Mill Stream .
There is a myth around the White horse, that with the imminence of war, the Mill stream in Letcombe Regis ( I believe) would boil as though a hundred horses were pounding the waters like it was boiling, a prelude to a war. The myth is, that this is the White Horse from the north facing escarpment above Uffington,
The last time this was seen was WW1, and before that, 2nd Boer war, and Waterloo before that. But no one can remember the water boiling for WW2.

The White Horse of Uffington.

Through most of my childhood I was told that the White Horse was carved into the hillside by King Alfred as a remembrance of his victory over the Danes in 871 AD. Almost everyone who has seen this stylised horse believe it to be more of a racing grey hound or even a deer and everything in between.
Instead of arguing the toss over which animal it represents the question on every ones lips should be, how old is this monument?
Anyone with a modicum of historic education will tell straight away that the white Horse is a styalised horse dating back to at least the Celts or even possibly the late bronze age, i.e 1300 BC to 800 BC

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wayland the smith

Wayland the Smith is one of the oldest and most enigmatic figures in European myth — a name whispered across time in fragments of poetry, carved into ancient stone, and remembered in the very bones of the land.

He is the eternal maker: known as Wēland in Anglo-Saxon, Völundr in Norse, and Wieland in High German. A solitary craftsman of immense skill, bound by betrayal, scarred by exile, and yet never broken. From the chilling verses of the Poetic Edda to the weathered panels of the Franks Casket, Wayland’s story flickers between vengeance and vision – forging weapons, wings, and legend alike.

In Oxfordshire, his presence still lingers at Wayland’s Smithy, a prehistoric tomb reimagined by folklore as his workshop. It is said that if you leave a coin there, unseen hands will mend your blade by morning. The forge may be silent, but the myth endures.

Wayland is more than a character from legend. He is the voice of the hidden maker, the outsider with fire in his hands. His tale was never softened for comfort – it was hammered, hard and bright, into the heart of Northern storytelling.

PreviousWayland Early Years
NextThe Many Names of Wayland the Smith

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