Vale of White Horse being removed to show the white chalky soil beneath. This figure gives name to the hill, the range and the Vale. It is 114 m (374 ft) long and highly stylised, the neck, body and tail varying little in width. The origin of the figure is unknown. Tradition asserted it to be the monument of a victory over the Danes by King Alfred, who was born at Wantage, but the site of the Battle of Ashdown (871 CE), has been variously located. Moreover, the figure has been dated to the Bronze Age, so it pre-dates the battle by many centuries.
Bagsecg Bagsecg Bagsecg (died 8 January 871), also known as Bacgsecg, was a ninth-century Viking, and one of the first to be recorded by the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". Both he and Healfdene were the two commanding Viking kings of the Great Army that set up camp at Reading, and invaded the Kingdom of Wessex in the winter of 870/871. The Great Army is recorded to have combated the West Saxons in several engagements in 871. One of these was the Battle of Ashdown, in which Bagsecg and five Viking earls were slain against the forces Æthelred, King of Wessex. After Bagsecg's death,