ENGLISH Heritage have confirmed that will not be cleaning the famous Westbury landmark until next year, but they say they will be completing smaller-scale work this Autumn to remove the graffiti that was recently drawn on the head of the horse.
English Heritage had previously said that the White Horse would be cleaned completely this summer but they have now said they had to delay the plans as drought was declared in the county. English Heritage say they require 10,000 litres of water to steam the surface.
Win Scutt, English Heritage curator for the west said, “We are as keen as the local community to see the horse white once more and will absolutely be carrying on with the work, starting this Autumn with a smaller scale clean to remove recent graffiti from the head of the horse, ahead of the complete clean, repair and repaint as planned next year.
“We know how well-loved the horse is and had hoped to be able to complete the first stage of works to restore its brightness this summer. Unfortunately, we had to rethink our plans due to the extreme weather and drought conditions – our work would have used 10,000 litres of water via steam cleaning at a time of a national shortage of water.
“Caring for a monument of the size and importance of the Westbury White Horse is no small task. Its position on a steep slope means the build-up of algae that turns the surface grey is unavoidable and, after trials over the past year, we now have a planned programme of cleaning in place to keep it looking its best in the future.”
