The long man of Wilmington.

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Carved out of the hillside in a small village of Wilmington on the Weald in East Sussex there is a giant man carved into the earth on the side of the hill. The hill is covered in grass and the man was carved out by removing part of the top soil revealing the chalk underneath. The only problem was that often the grass would grow again so it would have to be maintained often.The design on the hill has had white blocks placed on the cut out so that the grass will not grow back. The Long man can be seen for miles around. It is 235 feet tall and he is holding two staves one in each hand. There are some who believe that they were originally put there during the bronze age but the first ever mention of the Long Man was recorded in 1710. It was believed that it may have originally been carved out by monks who lived nearby in an abbey. Some ideas were that they were figures carved out to frighten off people who were planning to attack them. Throughout the UK there are various chalk carvings mainly of horses. There were over 50 such carvings although some are no longer on view because it relies on locals to keep the carving from becoming overgrown with grass. Some have been discovered through the use of infrared devices. Some have been dated back to 800 AD. Interestingly the white chalk was painted green during WWII in order to prevent the German Luftwaffe from getting their bearings so that they could orientate themselves for bombing raids.