54 IN THE VALE OF 



horses dug out of the sides of mountains, but 

 this is the oldest of the family, and is supposed 

 to have been carved out to commemorate a 

 victory over the Danes in the year 871. It con- 

 sists of a trench, two feet deep, cut in the side 

 of a steep hill, and I am told that it is now 

 partly obliterated, and stands much in need of 

 another scouring out, such as that so graphic- 

 ally described by Mr. Tom Hughes in his work, 

 " The Scouring of the White Horse." Here is 

 a brief epitome of the origin of " The White 

 Horse." 



In the year 866 a great army of pagan 

 Danes came over to Britain and landed in Nor- 

 folk. The cause of their coming was to avenge 

 the murder of a man of royal birth named 

 Lodbroc, who had two sons, Hinguar and 

 Hubba. Their father had gone out one day 

 in a small boat to catch ducks. He was caught 

 in a storm and eventually cast upon the coast 

 of Norfolk, where he was found with his hawk 

 on his wrist, and taken to King Edmund, who, 

 finding him to be a man of great skill in all 

 kinds of sport, appointed him to a place in his 

 service, which caused great jealousy in the heart 

 of Berne the huntsman, who murdered him. 



