Tundra
April 18th, 2010, 10:45 AM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/Livinginthepast/NiH/longman.jpg
Sussex by the Sea
I live on the border of Kent and Sussex in England. It should be possible to find the places I write about on Google (http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/1269/google.html) Earth.
Recently we drove over to the Long Man at Wilmington, he is cut in the chalk of the South Downs above the tiny village of Wilmington, near Eastbourne. He is tall and stick like, drawn in lines cut in the chalk. He holds two tall upright things, these seem to have changed over the years, they might be spears, they might be agricultural instruments like a rake and a pitchfork. We know about this because local kings put him on coins way back, and the Romans were struck enough by him to leave a description. He is very old.
Apparently it is possible to date such figures, something to do with exposure to light of the turned earth, I don't know about the Long Man but a white horse has been dated to 3,000 years ago, a thousand years before the Romans came. Even more remarkably, the figures only remain if they are regularly cleaned, otherwise grass would grow over them. So through all the famines and pestilence, wars and invasions of the last three thousand years or so, local people regularly went up the hill and cleaned them.
It's a steep hill and there is a wonderful view from the top across the Cuckmere valley. We met cows in the lower, fenced pastures and sheep roaming on the open Downs, men and sheep have made this landscape over millennia.
There were unfamiliar butterflies and we saw flowers that do not grow in our wooded Weald where the soil is acid and heavy clay, up here the chalk drains quickly and makes the soil alkaline so the thick turf is filled with aromatic plants.
When we had finished our walk on the hill we drove down to Afriston, the next village, and had a cream tea in an olde worlde tea shop, served by a waitress in her black dress white apron uniform.
After our tea we walked around the village briefly, it is old in parts and ancient in others and seemed strange after the open Downs. With its narrow street, flint studded walls and peg tile houses, all orange and gold in the afternoon sun, everything seemed cosy and close.
We did not visit the historic clergy house mentioned on the tourist information signs, but in a low beamed building in the centre of the village we discovered a record shop (C.D. shop might be more accurate) that sells music of the 50's and 60's. They have everything from Tom Lehrer to Bebop collections, via Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas.
By Olly Buckle (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/323686/olly_buckle.html)
Long Man Photo By adactio (http://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/106028046/)
Sussex by the Sea
I live on the border of Kent and Sussex in England. It should be possible to find the places I write about on Google (http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/1269/google.html) Earth.
Recently we drove over to the Long Man at Wilmington, he is cut in the chalk of the South Downs above the tiny village of Wilmington, near Eastbourne. He is tall and stick like, drawn in lines cut in the chalk. He holds two tall upright things, these seem to have changed over the years, they might be spears, they might be agricultural instruments like a rake and a pitchfork. We know about this because local kings put him on coins way back, and the Romans were struck enough by him to leave a description. He is very old.
Apparently it is possible to date such figures, something to do with exposure to light of the turned earth, I don't know about the Long Man but a white horse has been dated to 3,000 years ago, a thousand years before the Romans came. Even more remarkably, the figures only remain if they are regularly cleaned, otherwise grass would grow over them. So through all the famines and pestilence, wars and invasions of the last three thousand years or so, local people regularly went up the hill and cleaned them.
It's a steep hill and there is a wonderful view from the top across the Cuckmere valley. We met cows in the lower, fenced pastures and sheep roaming on the open Downs, men and sheep have made this landscape over millennia.
There were unfamiliar butterflies and we saw flowers that do not grow in our wooded Weald where the soil is acid and heavy clay, up here the chalk drains quickly and makes the soil alkaline so the thick turf is filled with aromatic plants.
When we had finished our walk on the hill we drove down to Afriston, the next village, and had a cream tea in an olde worlde tea shop, served by a waitress in her black dress white apron uniform.
After our tea we walked around the village briefly, it is old in parts and ancient in others and seemed strange after the open Downs. With its narrow street, flint studded walls and peg tile houses, all orange and gold in the afternoon sun, everything seemed cosy and close.
We did not visit the historic clergy house mentioned on the tourist information signs, but in a low beamed building in the centre of the village we discovered a record shop (C.D. shop might be more accurate) that sells music of the 50's and 60's. They have everything from Tom Lehrer to Bebop collections, via Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas.
By Olly Buckle (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/323686/olly_buckle.html)
Long Man Photo By adactio (http://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/106028046/)