'Massive team effort' as White Horse gets refresh

An much-loved hillside landmark is being revitalised with up to 30 tonnes of chalk thanks to a group of volunteers.

The Millennium White Horse on Roundway Hill near Devizes, created in 1999 for the millennium, is in the process of being re-chalked by the National Grid and local people as part of a bigger project in the area.

The power company's project manager Amardeep Malhi said the work had been a "real challenge," but had been made easier through teamwork and collaboration with local organisations.

Expected to be finished by early October, Devizes mayor Vanessa Tanner said locals had noticed the "iconic" horse needed a clean.

"We're really happy that it's being re-chalked because it's been a bit green recently," she added.

The Devizes white horse is "unusual because it faces the wrong way", explained Tanner.

Wiltshire has eight white horses - this one faces to the right, but the others all face the left.

The National Grid is running a scheme in the area that aims to remove 13 pylons and replace almost three miles of overhead line with underground cables to enhance the local landscape, while also maintaining the chalk outline.

Malhi said they had worked with the local community to plan the restoration, which will involve between 25 and 30 tonnes of chalk.

"It's been a fantastic example of people coming together to care for a much-loved local landmark," he said.

Due to how steep it is, one of the challenges has been getting the chalk up and then having volunteers manually taking it from the pile to the horse.

"We decided to clean the existing chalk bed as best as we could and then to import some local chalk and add a new layer on top of that," Malhi added.

Vernon Few went along to see progress - he was one of the machine operators involved in creating the horse in 1999, which included working through a lot of wet weather.

"I'm glad they're cleaning it again. It's not everybody [that's] got a white horse on the hill, is it?", he said.

Tanner added that the horse was "a wonderful thing for the town and you can see it from almost everywhere in the town because it's on such a high area".

Additional reporting by Ben Prater, Sophie Parker and Anthony Ward

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