Discussion of the
Legend of St. George in Berkshire
by David Nash
Ford
R O
Y A L
S
T. G E O R G E
Folklore or Fact?
Did
St. George really come to Uffington? The
small hillock below the Uffington White
Horse has certainly been known as Dragon
Hill for longer than anyone can remember.
A guardian of treasure, especially
treasure resting in tombs, was a common
role for Dragons found in myth all over
the World. It was a particularly common
theme in Saxon mythology, and is the
basis of the second half of the
well-known epic poem "Beowulf".
For such a story to have survived in a
place-name like Dragon Hill is not so
very unusual. In medieval times, for
instance, just over the county boundary
at Garsington (Oxon), there was a field
known as Drakenhorde or
"Dragon’s Hoard", and
others still exist around the country.
It is not
at all clear, however, whether Dragon
Hill is in fact a burial mound. There
certainly seems little to connect it with
Uthyr Pendragon, only the name.
Historians Barber & Pykitt do,
however, take this as evidence that Uther
(or, more properly, Uthyr) died here
fighting the Saxons, identifying the
battle-site as that mentioned in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 506, where a
British leader, Natanlaod (alias Uthyr)
was killed. Most historians accept the
site as Netley (Hants). The Berkshire
area is not lacking in other Arthurian
legends: It is said that the White Horse
will dance on Dragon Hill when King
Arthur (or Arthwyr), who is not dead but
only sleeping, returns to lead his people
once more; The Norse smith-god Wayland
was said to have forged Excalibur at
Wayland’s Smithy in Ashbury (See
"The Smithy on the Downs");
Sir Gereint supposedly fought with the
Sparrow-Hawk Knight at Sparsholt; King
Arthwyr kept the Round Table on Tower
Hill in Windsor; Sir Lancelot stayed with
the Hermit of St. Leonard’s in Clewer
before a joust; and King Arthur’s
most famous victory over the Saxons at
the Siege of Mount Badon may have taken
place at Badbury Hill near Great Coxwell.
Unfortunately the Grey Wethers in
the valley below Ashdown House were not
turned to stone by Merlin. They are an
unusually large collection of sarsen
stones, perfectly natural though not
necessarily native to this part of the
country. Sarsens are believed to be
erratic rocks, brought far across country
by long gone glaciers. They were often
revered by ancient man. (For an
alternative explanation see "Alfred
and Ashdown".)
Despite
its unusual shape, most experts now
acknowledge that Dragon Hill is a natural
formation. Alternative legends claim it
as the site of an early Saxon castle
besieged by the Danes. It was thus Danish
blood and not that of a dragon which left
the bare chalk on its top (See
"Alfred and Ashdown"). The
hill does resemble the motte of a Norman
castle, but only three of this type are
known from Saxon England, each of which
was owned by a Norman immigrant. There is
no evidence for a later castle in the
area. Another idea has the hill as a
platform for a tower, from which the
surveyor of the White Horse could inspect
the progress of his work.
Some think
the hill was some sort of ceremonial
mound built by ancient man, similar to
Silbury Hill (Wilts): A sacrificial altar
used in the worship of the great White
Horse perhaps? If not fact, this belief
certainly seems to have been current in
pre-Saxon times, for in the 10th century
the hill was known as Eccles Beorh,
that is "Church Barrow". The
name Eccles is a form of the Latin
Ecclesia, brought into British
place-names through the Celtic Egles
(modern Welsh Eglwys) denoting a
late or post-Roman church. They were
often built on converted pagan sites
With
Dragon Hill as a possible religious
ceremonial centre, there has followed
much speculation as to whether the White
Horse (or dragon) is a representation of
the god being worshipped there. Unlike
the 18th century White Horses of
Wiltshire, the Uffington beast is not so
easily identified as an equestrian
animal. Hence, our legend tells that it
is really a dragon, as suggested by its
beak-like mouth. The ancient White
Horse name is its best
identification. This dates back to at
least the 11th century, and it has
therefore been suggested that the animal
is not the dragon, but St. George’s
horse, Bayard. Other stories tell of it
being King Alfred’s horse, cut into
the hillside to commemorate his victory
over the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown
(in Aldworth Parish) in AD 871 (See
also "Alfred and Ashdown");
Or else it is the Invicta, the White
Horse of Kent, carved here when the
Joint-Kings Hengist and Horsa pushed
their borders forward to cover most of
Southern Britain in about AD 442. Would
Saxon carvings not look more like the
real animal though? Their archaeology
shows them to have been skilled
craftsmen. Somehow, the creature looks
older, and if it is indeed an idol
worshipped perhaps by the people of
Uffington Castle, some real possibilities
begin to emerge.
Uffington
Castle is not a castle at all, but can be
classed under the general heading of an
Iron-Age hillfort, probably inhabited by
a Celtic tribe known as the Atrebates.
The Atrebates’ territory was based
around Calleva, now Silchester, just over
the county boundary in Hampshire. A
bronze horse similar in appearance to
that at Uffington was discovered there
when the town was excavated in the late
19th century. It may have been a goblet
handle. Unlike some other Celtic tribes,
the Atrebates are not known to have held
one particular god in special favour,
though the worship of a horse god is
quite possible. The people of Kintyre, at
this time, were known as the Epidii: The
worshippers of the Celtic horse-goddess,
Epona, and a temple probably dedicated to
her has been identified at Winchester,
within the Atrebatic territory. The lady
has lived on into Welsh mythology as
Rhiannon, and in Irish myth as Macha. If
the White Horse were a god especially
associated with the Atrebates, Uffington,
close to the borders of two other tribes,
would have been the ideal place to
display such a tribal emblem.
However,
there are stronger reasons for suggesting
the White Horse dates from Iron-Age
Celtic times, and particularly for
connecting it with the Atrebates. Some
time around 50 bc the Atrebates started
minting a series of coins featuring a
horse which looks remarkably similar to
that carved into the hillside at
Uffington. It has the same slender body,
the same spindly disjointed legs, the
same bulbous eye and spiky beak! The
coins have been found all over the
Atrebatic territory, some even in the
Vale of the White Horse.
These were
the arguments, as they stood, for the
likely age of the White Horse, up until
mid 1995. It was then believed to be some
2,000 years old. However, recent
investigation by the Oxford
Archaeological Unit has shown up a quite
different story. Previously lost files
from the old Ministry of Works have
showed the unit that a small unofficial
excavation of the White Horse took place
not long after the Second World War. This
revealed that the animal was not merely a
design etched into the natural chalk, but
was formed by trenches deliberately dug
into the brown hillside and filled with
chalk deposits. This was an unexpected
breakthrough which revealed that the
White Horse ought to be receptive to the
newly developed technique of Optical
Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), which can
reveal the date of the last exposure to
sunlight of buried soils. Armed with this
new approach the unit undertook a
minimalist excavation of Berkshire’s
best known landmark. Their endeavours
have shown the White Horse to have been
constructed around 1057 bc: that’s
about 3,000 years ago! The beast is a lot
older than anyone ever dreamt. It does
not date form the Iron Age, but the late
Bronze Age.
We must,
therefore, alter slightly our view of the
horse’s relationship with Iron Age
man. For it was not their coin designs or
similar Celtic artwork which inspired the
hill figure, but the other way around.
They may have worshipped the animal or
associated it with one of their gods, but
they were honouring a wondrous feature of
the landscape which had been their since
beyond memory, just like today. Perhaps
the god worshipped there also had its
origins in the Bronze Age.
Supernatural
powers are still associated with the
White Horse, and it is possible that they
live on from this period when the beast
was thought to be an all powerful god. It
is said that the horse climbs down from
its hillside at night to feed at the
Manger, the slopes immediately below
it. It also drinks from the springs known
as the Woolstone Wells, with its ever
unseen foal. The springs were formed by a
foot-fall from the horse. Every hundred
years the White Horse gallops across the
sky to be reshod by Wayland at his Smithy
(Ashbury). This apparently last happened
in about 1920! (See also "The
Smithy on the Downs"). If you
stand on the horse’s eye, close your
eyes, turn around three times and make a
wish, your wish will come true!
It may be
that celebrations associated with the
periodic cleaning of the White Horse were
also originally part of the ceremonial
worship of the animal. For many centuries
the "Scouring of the White
Horse" took place every seven years
(a magical number). Local people would
gather on the hill, clean the horse so
that it shone white once more, then
retire to Uffington Castle for a fair and
festivities. This last took place in
1857. It is possible that such a cleaning
or re-cutting is the basis of the popular
King Alfred version of the horse’s
origins. At the same time that they
recovered soil samples for their OSL
analysis, the Oxford Archaeological Unit
also excavated part of Uffington Castle,
and revealed further evidence for a long
established festive centre here.
Unfortunately, they found no signs that,
like other hillforts, it was re-occupied
in the Arthurian period, as our story
suggests, but they were able to
show that during the Roman period, though
unoccupied, there was considerable
activity at the castle. This suggested to
the excavators that there was perhaps an,
as yet unlocated, temple within the
bounds of the hillfort like that at
Lowbury Hill, or more famous examples
such as Maiden’s Castle (Dors).
Alternatively, as suggested above, Dragon
Hill may have been an open air shrine,
while the castle was used for a periodic
festival, just like the scouring
activities of later years. Further,
Uffington Castle was shown, like the
horse, to be much older than previously
thought, possibly being built as early as
the seventh century bc!
Earthworks
such as Uffington Castle are similarly
associated with the only other known
ancient hill figures in Britain: the
Cerne Abbas Giant (Dors) and the, now
re-cut, Westbury White Horse (Wilts). The
Cerne Abbas Giant also underwent ritual
recuttings, and the so called Frying-Pan
Earthwork above his head was even
associated with the May Day Festivities.
These were originally connected with the
Celtic festival of Beltane: The day
dedicated to the solar god, Beli, when
bonfires were lit to welcome in the
Summer and encourage the Sun’s
warmth.
It seems
clear therefore that the White Horse is
late Bronze Age in date, but how does
this relate to the George and Dragon
story? It has, in fact, been suggested
that sacred pagan hills associated with
Beli, the Celtic Solar God (representing
the curative powers of the Sun’s
heat) who may have had his origins in the
Bronze Age, had their dedications
transferred to the Archangel St.Michael
by the early Christians. This is
especially noted along a supposed ley
line running between Cornwall and
Suffolk. It faces the Rising Sun at
Beltane, and travels through
St. Michael’s Mount (Cornw) and the
churches of St. Michael on Brent Tor
(Dev), and Burrow Mump and Glastonbury
Tor (Som) as well as places associated
with St. George, like Ogbourne St.George
(Wilts). In Berkshire, it passes a little
way south of Dragon Hill, but does touch
the parish church of St. Michael in
Lambourn, a Celtic Christian (or possibly
earlier pagan) foundation shown by its
circular enclosure still visible in the
street plan. The legend of St. Michael is
the predecessor of that of St. George, who
was his earthly counterpart. St. Michael
defeated the Devil, who was often
illustrated in the guise of a dragon. At
Uffington we may have
Beli/St. Michael/St. George, representing
the Sun, slaying the Devil/Dragon,
representing the Night, in order to
rescue the beautiful maiden, representing
the Earth; or perhaps, more likely,
St. Michael/St. George defeating the
Devil/Beli, as Christianity struggles to
overcome the old religion.
For the
Celts, sun-deities were closely
associated with horses. Perhaps, like
Apollo, whom he was later identified
with, Beli was thought to ride the Sun
across the sky in a horse-drawn chariot.
Indeed, a Celtic model horse and wagon,
carrying a gilded sun-disc, of similar
date to the Uffington White Horse, was
found at Trundholm in Denmark.
Excavations at Beli’s shrine at
Sainte-Sabine (Burgundy) have revealed
large numbers of offerings to the god in
the shape of small clay horse figurines.
George is a translation of the Greek
meaning "Tiller of the Soil",
so the saint may have been linked with
Solar Beli because he awoke the earth
after its winter rest. It is worth noting
that St. George too was associated with
horses (apart from that which he rode),
as at his well at Llan San Sior, near
Abergele (Clwyd), where such animals were
still sacrificed until relatively recent
times. So, at Uffington, it seems that
the great White Horse hill figure is
Beli’s symbol carved into the
hillside.
One
British legend states that St. George was
a friend of the Christian Roman Emperor
Constantine in the early 4th century, and
travelled with him to Britain to visit
the Emperor’s mother, St. Helen,
possibly at Abingdon where she was
supposed to have lived (See "Holy
Abingdon"). They sailed across
what later became known as
St. George’s Channel and stopped
first at Glastonbury (Somerset) to pray
at the tomb of St.George’s ancestor
St. Joseph of Arimathea. The more
widespread story, however, tells how
St. George was born in Coventry (Warks)
nearly two hundred years later. He was
the son of a nobleman named Albert. His
mother had died giving birth to him, and
during his father’s subsequent
grief, baby George was stolen away by an
enchantress named Calyb. St. George grew
up in this enchantress’s charge, and
when he became a man, she gave him armour
and a shield, and a horse named Bayard on
which to find his fortune. However, in
order that he would not discover his true
identity, St. George’s shield bore no
arms, and, when he asked for a sword with
which to defend himself, the enchantress
told him he must find his own. St. George
travelled to Glastonbury (Somerset) with
six knights that he had released from
Calyb’s spell. Here he was asked to
defend the famous Abbey against a wicked
knight who had sworn to take one of the
Abbey’s greatest treasures from
them: the sword, Meribah, with which
St.Peter had struck off Malchus’ ear
in the garden. It had been brought to
Glastonbury by St. Joseph of Arimathea
many centuries before. St. George defeated
the evil knight of course, and was given
Meribah as a reward. During the battle he
was wounded in such a way that the blood
ran down his blank shield, first sideways
and then from top to bottom, forming the
red cross of Christ which he bore ever
since!
The real
St. George is something of a mystery
himself, but he certainly wasn’t
British; and though he was known to
generations of Uffington folk as
"King Gaarge", there is no
evidence of Royal blood either. He
appears to have lived in the Middle East
in the 3rd century AD, possibly being
born in Cappadocia in Palestine. Little
else is clear. He was probably a tribune
(commander) in the Roman Army, and may
have saved a number of Christians from
persecution. He was subsequently
converted to Christianity himself, and
was martyred at Lydda during the
Diocletian persecution of AD 303. He
would not succumb to torture, poison,
being cut to pieces by spiked wheels or
cast into boiling lead, so he was dragged
through the streets before having his
head cut off. There was no dragon to
speak of. This part of the story, usually
set in Sylene in Libya, is believed to
have been confused with the tale of
Perseus and the Kraken. In ancient Greek
myth, Perseus saved Andromeda from this
huge sea-monster at Joppa, only a few
miles from Lydda!
St. George
became popular with 11th century English
Crusaders who discovered his tomb at
Lydda. He was seen as a unifying force,
being neither Saxon nor Norman, and he
eventually replaced St.Edward the
Confessor as patron saint of England
during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Besieged at Calais in 1349, King Edward
III is said to have invoked
St.George’s name in a rally cry
which so inspired his troops that they
soon routed the French. Edward afterwards
founded the Most Noble Order of the
Garter at Windsor, with St. George as its
patron and his Windsor Chapel as its
home. The Royal chapel held two of
St.George’s fingers, part of his
skull and part of his arm encased in a
jewel encrusted silver arm reliquary. In
1416, however, it acquired another, much
greater, relic of the warrior-saint. The
Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund visited
Windsor to celebrate St. George’s
feast day at the Royal Chapel dedicated
to him. Here he was prsented with the
Order of the Garter and, in return, he
left behind him St. George’s heart
which he had obtained while on crusade in
the Holy Land. Thenceforth the
saint’s popularity increased to the
position he holds today. the relics
rested in St. George’s Chapel and
were a great attraction to pilgrims until
ejected at the reformation.
Next:
Places associated with the Legend
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to: The Legend of St. George in Berkshire
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