Most hill figures are large carvings in the turf on hillsides,
forming the outline or the solid shape of a horse, a giant or some
other creature or object by revealing the underlying bedrock, which
is usually chalk. They are generally designed to be seen from below
and from afar, and some can be seen from many miles away.
Perhaps the best known of all hill figures are the Uffington
White Horse, in Oxfordshire and the Cerne Abbas Giant, in Dorset,
both in southern England where most of the hill figures are to be
found, probably because the chalk downs of the area make a superb
canvas for such figures. They are not confined to southern England,
though, with others dotted around the rest of Britain and the
world. Not all are chalk, either, other mediums have been used to
form them, including quartz, limestone and even whitewash painted
onto rock.
By way of example, I'm giving the Westbury White Horse in
Wiltshire, England, which is at N 51 15.828 W 2 08.803 and there's
a link to a photo of it below. This one, incidentally, has had the
chalk replaced with concrete for ease of maintenance!
You can find more information about hill figures generally
here and about white horses,
which are the commonest figures, here.
This cache is intended only for hill figures as described above,
and is not intended for pictographs or petroglyphs, which have
their own locationless cache, "A Picture Says a Thousand Words"
(GCB1BB)
here. These are paintings or carvings on rock or other
material, often made by original native inhabitants, for example
American Indians, and are intended to be viewed close-up and not
from afar.
The rules are:
1. Hill figures only. If you're in doubt as to whether a
particular example would be allowed, email me before you visit
it.
2. Visit the figure, note the co-ords at the figure, and post them
here.
3. Take a photo including the figure or part of it, and your GPSr,
at those co-ords, and post it here.
4. If that photo doesn't show enough of the figure for it to be
recognisable, take another photo, perhaps from below, showing the
whole figure or as much of it as possible, and post it here too. No
stolen web images!
5. This rule has been changed as locationless caches are being
archived at the end of 2005: You can log a hill figure even if
it has been logged by another team, and you can log as many as you
like.
6. If you don't have a digital camera and have to wait for
processing, you can post your log as a note (including the co-ords)
when you've visited the figure, in order to claim it, then change
your log to a find when you upload the photos (within ten days). If
you might need more than ten days (e.g. away on holiday) then email
me.
7. Any log that doesn't meet the rules will be deleted.
I've made the terrain level 3, as although some are easy strolls
from a convenient parking place, some involve steep climbs, long
walks or both. The difficulty is 1, as they're not usually hard to
find, just to get to. Enjoy those marvellous places where most of
the hill figures are to be found!
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If you are in the UK and
would like to have a say in the future of caching here, please
visit the Geocaching Association
of Great Britain
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