Vet's dog theory over ancient Uffington White Horse

[Neil]

Courtesy of BBC Online - 14th October 2010
The Uffington White Horse has been caught up in an identity battle after it was suggested it could be a dog. Retired vet Olaf Swarbrick has said the ancient carving in the Oxfordshire hillside is not anatomically correct and has more canine-like features. But the National Trust, which said soil samples indicated that the figure dated back 3,000 years to the Bronze Age, has rejected Mr Swarbrick's ideas.

However it admitted there were many theories about the carving.Written records date back to the 12th Century but do not give proof of its exact age or why it was created. It used to be thought that the figure was constructed by the Saxons to celebrate a victorious battle of King Alfred's. This view is now mainly discredited.

Mr Swarbrick wrote a letter to scientific journal the Veterinary Record appealing for his fellow professionals to cast their opinion on his claim.  He said he believed the figure looked like a hunting hound at full stretch.

"Anatomically it's not a horse at all," Mr Swarbrick said.

It's not a complete figure of a horse, it's a suggestion”
 
 "It's too long and too lean and it has a long tail - horses don't have a tail the length of that stylised creature at Uffington."

Mr Swarbrick joked that its name might have to be changed.

"If I'm correct, it needs to have its horse removed - maybe the wolf hound of Uffington.

"The other thing about short-carved figures is that over the years they have had to be cleaned and refurbished and they do change in their shape over periods."

Keith Blaxhall, from the National Trust, said he thought its shape suggested the figure was supposed to be a horse.

"What you have to remember it's a stylised horse, almost like a stencil on the hillside, so it's not a complete figure of a horse, it's a suggestion.

"I would like to think it's frozen in perpetual canter across the downs.

"Visibility wise you can't see the entire figure, my theory is it's meant to be revered by the living and by the gods and the ancestors - a view from above and below."

[Val Beechey]

Hi Neil

Interesting theory. Reminded me of a story I read about the Prince who killed his faithful hunting hound when he returned home and thought it had killed his baby son. The Price held a funeral for him and there is a grave stone for him somewhere but I can't remember where. Have you heard the story, can you remember where. it could give some creadance to the Vets idea.

Val

[Neil]

I know the story well Val - its a Welsh Folk Lore story and goes like this:

Gelert is the name of a legendary dog associated with the village of Beddgelert (whose name means "Gelert's Grave") in Gwynedd, northwest Wales. The story of Gelert is a variation on the well-worn "Faithful Hound" folk-tale motif, which lives on as an urban legend.

Here, the dog is alleged to have belonged to Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd, and to have been a gift from King John of England. In this legend, Llywelyn returns from hunting to find his baby's cradle overturned, the baby missing and the dog with blood around its mouth. Imagining that it has savaged the child, Llywelyn draws his sword and kills the dog, which lets out a final dying yelp. He then hears the cries of the baby and finds it unharmed under the cradle, along with a dead wolf which had attacked the child and been killed by Gelert. Llywelyn is then overcome with remorse and he buries the dog with great ceremony, yet can still hear the dying yelp. After that day Llywelyn never smiles again.



Neil

[dances with badgers]

bethgelert is a couple miles up the road from porthmadog.beutiful place and not far from port meirion where they filmed the prisoner.

[Val Beechey]

Thanks Neil for reminding me of the story. I knew I'd read it but couldn't remember where it was s'posed to have taken place.
Makes you wonder how far spread a story like this was. If the Romans could introduce the Dragon from Europe then who knows. It does look more like an Irish Woolf hound than a horse anyway.

Val

[JRD]

I spent 5 days in Snowdonia in August this year.

I went to Bethgelert purposely to visit Gelerts grave. A boyhood ambition ever since I learnt of this story whilst at school.

The grave is little more than large rock with a plaque under a tree, and a little further up in an old dwelling ruin is also a statue of Gelert. Both lovely to see and helps instill this story to the visitor.

Bethgelert is a lovely little tourist town, and the legend of Gelert is a lovely Welsh folklore story that still chokes me (even though some people maintain it's untrue), and fills me with Welsh pride.

Well worth a visit if anyone is up that way.