The Uffington White Horse and my holiday tree

The Uffington White Horse and my holiday tree

At Uffington, in a corner of Oxfordshire, is a gigantic white chalk horse that was etched in the landscape sometime around 500BC. It spans an area of about 110 meters across. And, thanks to the care of many generations, the Uffington White Horse has survived the ebb and flow of several eras and peoples.

At the time of its creation, the area around the white horse was occupied by the Atrebates. They were a tribe of Britons, a Celtic people and they may have created this work of art. But, the reverence for horses is prehistoric, certainly dating back before 3000BC. Horses featured prominently in the cultures of early peoples such as the Yamnaya and Sintashta in the eastern reaches of Europe and in Central Asia. This is also the region from which some of the early Germanic tribes may have originated.

In time, the Celtic tribes in the area of Oxfordshire and Berkshire fell under Roman rule. The Romans’ polytheism managed to easily accommodate the local Briton reverence for the Uffington White Horse. The locals continued to maintain it during the Roman occupation from 43AD to the 400s AD.

Uffington White Horse

Saxons, Angles and Britons had faith in trees and horses

The germanic Saxons and Angles launched their gradual conquest of southern England starting in the 400s AD. The Saxons arrived at Ebbsfleet in Kent, reputedly led by Hengist and Horsa, names meaning stallion and horse. They brought with them a similar reverence for the horse and also for trees. This included a sacred myth of a divinity, Irmisul, a tree that held up the sky. Likewise, Danish invaders in East England revered a giant mythological ash tree. Known as Yggdrasil, their religious leaders claimed that it “grows from the underworld and supports the sky”. Such ideas found fertile ground in England, where the Celts had long revered trees. The word “druid” may even be interpreted to mean “oak men”.

Already in Roman times, Christians had arrived in England. Yet, the Christian faith did not take hold widely in an exclusive manner. Even after the Emperor Constantine legalised the faith in 313AD, Romans only gradually accepted it. But Roman rule did not uniformly blanket and transform England. And with the departure of the Roman legions in 410AD, locals broadly continued to practice pagan beliefs well into the first centuries of Anglo-Saxon or, in some areas, Danish rule. The specifics of the theology varied across England. But, often their faith blended a reverence for horses (including in burials), the sun, and trees. Scholars can trace some of these features back to Nordic and Central Asian cultural roots.

Christians and sacred trees

In 597AD, Pope Gregory sent Augustine to England as his missionary. His objective was to re-establish the primacy of Christianity, as its practice had diminished on the isle of Great Britain. We have documentation in the form of a letter from Pope Gregory suggesting use of diplomacy and toleration of pre-existing traditions. The pope advised that “the temples of the idols in that country should on no account be destroyed”, but rather Christianised. Gradually, Saxon leaders came around and embraced the new faith, though the population continued to practice mixed beliefs. The White Horse of Uffington was maintained.

In the 700s AD, Charlemagne waged war on the Saxon homeland in what is now Germany. He destroyed their sacred trees and pagan ways. However, the now dominant Saxons in England (somewhat counterintuitively meaning “land of the Angles”) continued to show reverence for horses and trees as evidenced in more recent times by archeological discovery of their grave goods. In the upper Thames area, the Saxons viewed the site around the White Horse of Uffington as a prime burial site, underscoring the continued deep respect for the horse.

Thus, as I set up my tree (and my yule horse) this holiday season, I had an eye on my family roots (so to speak). The tree provides a link for me to some of those who have come before, be they Saxons, Angles, Danes or Celts.

Sources (and great references for further reading):

  1. David Miles (2019), The Land of the White Horse: Visions of England, Thames & Hudson
  2. Jean Favier (1999), Charlemagne, Fayard (in French)
  3. Arboriculture Blog, Trees and Religion – Paganism, 16 October 2016