[citation needed] Although the notion of it being a post-Roman creation remained popular, many antiquarians and scholars had noted the design's similarity to the Celtic art found on the coins of the local tribes (the Dobunni and Atrebates).

The new Bronze Age date would place the figure's origin at the same time as Uffington Castle, during a period when the horse was transforming warfare in Britain.

Francis Wise wrote in 1736: "The ceremony of scouring the Horse, from time immemorial, has been solemnized by a numerous concourse of people from all the villages roundabout.

[14] During the Second World War the figure, easily recognisable from the air, was covered over with turf and hedge trimmings so that Luftwaffe pilots could not use it for navigation during bombing raids.

[18] In August 2023, a restoration project was planned by the National Trust and archeologist Adrian Cox to quantify and reverse the gradual shrinking of the horse since the 1980s.

[19] In the summer of 2024, Oxford Archaeology, in partnership with the National trust and English Heritage, began the project to restore the horse to its original position and shape with the help of many volunteers.

The figure has remained clear of turf throughout its long existence, except for being covered as a precaution during the Second World War (as it could be used as a visual landmark for navigation by enemy planes).

[23] The tradition was revived in 2009 by the National Trust, with local volunteers replacing a layer of freshly quarried chalk on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

"[13] The most significant nearby feature is the Iron Age Uffington Castle, located on higher ground atop a knoll above the White Horse.

[24][full citation needed] This hillfort comprises an area of approximately 3 ha (7.4 acres) enclosed by a single, well-preserved bank and ditch.

[30] In 2019, a group of workers laying water pipes near Letcombe Bassett unearthed an almost 3,000 year-old settlement that archaeologists believe to belong to the same community involved in the creation of the Uffington White Horse.

[40] The White Horse is used as a symbol by diverse organisations (mostly with Oxfordshire or Berkshire connections) and appears in numerous works of literature, visual art and music.

[41] The White Horse is the emblem of the Vale of White Horse District Council,[42] the Berkshire Yeomanry[43] (an Army Reserve unit based in Windsor), and educational establishments including Faringdon Community College,[44] The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College[45] in Wroughton, Wiltshire, and The Ridgeway Primary School in Whitley, Berkshire.

[46] Thomas Hughes, the author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, who was born in the nearby village of Uffington,[47] wrote a book called The Scouring of the White Horse.

Published in 1859, and described as "a combined travel book and record of regional history in the guise of a novel, sort of",[23] it recounts the traditional festivities surrounding the periodic renovation of the White Horse.

The composition requires the choir to inhale helium to sing the "stratospherically high notes" of the climax,[64] accompanied by aerial footage of the horse animated to show it rearing up from the ground.

[41] Painted in 2024, a public mural of the English Settlement sleeve, prominently depicting the Uffington Horse, features on Crombey Street, Swindon.