The Kilburn White Horse is a hill figure cut into the hillside in the North York Moors National Park. The figure is 97 m long by 67 m high and covers about 6,475 sq m and is said to be the largest and most northerly hill figure in England. On a clear day, the horse is visible from north Leeds, 45 km away!
Sutton Bank, geologically, is formed of sandstone and the horse was created by removing the topsoil and exposing the underlying rock and covering it with white limestone chips. It was created in November 1857 and is thought to have been made by John Hodgson and his pupils, together with local volunteers. A tablet erected at the car park below reads, 'The Kilburn White Horse - this figure was cut in 1857 on the initiative of Thomas Taylor, a native of Kilburn.
During WW II, the horse was covered over to prevent it from becoming a conspicuous navigation landmark for enemy bombers. Also of note in Kilburn - the Mouseman's Visitor Centre. Robert (Mouseman) Thompson (1876 - 1955) was a British furniture maker. He lived in Kilburn where he set up a business, manufacturing oak furniture, which featured a carved mouse on almost every piece. (The alter rail in Kilburn Parish Church features a mouse). It is claimed that the mouse motif came about accidentally in 1919 following a conversation about "being as poor as a church mouse," between Thompson and his colleagues.