New coat for Westbury White Horse

The Westbury White Horse, one of the best-known monuments in the West of England, should be back to its glorious best this year.

The chalky Wiltshire landmark has become more of a grey nag over recent months but specialist cleaners are now being drafted in by English Heritage to put a gloss back on its coat.

Elspeth Henderson, spokesperson for English Heritage said: “Although originally the chalk wasconcreted over in the early part of the last century, it has been repaired on several occasions, most recently in 1993. However, the concrete hasdeteriorated and the horse is very discoloured and grey. It is an important local landmark and the locals are concerned by the appearance of the horseand we sympathise with them.

“It has been decided that when the horse has dried out in the summer time, as it is very saturated at the moment, it will be cleaned. The cleaning should be sufficient to restore it, but if not it will be painted.

“Those are short-term solutions. In the long-term we would like to discusswith other interested parties the long-term management of the horse.”

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