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.
Battle of Leeds and Sir Thomas recaptured Wakefield. This was, however, almost immediately followed by another Royalist advance into the West Riding, this time under Newcastle himself. The Battle of Adwalton Moor saw the Parliamentarians narrowly defeated by Newcastle’s forces, with Bradford falling shortly afterwards. Fairfax escaped and spent the rest of 1643 besieged in the Parliamentarian stronghold of Hull. The Royalists only withdrew to York when the Scottish Covenanter army marched south in support of Parliament. In July 1644, the Royalists were comprehensively defeated at the Battle of Marston Moor, which lost the north of England for King Charles I. Battle of