The Long Man of Wilmington

Wednesday 5 June 2019. We left Beachy Head to find another of England's ancient wonders. The Long Man of Wilmington chalk figure. We've visited several of England's chalk figures before, the horses in Wiltshire, the rather naughty giant at Cerne Abbas and now it was just by chance that I saw that the local map for Eastbourne, where we were staying, included the village of Wilmington.

These days the chalk figure is more a white-painted breeze block figure with touches of white mortar. Modern folk are probably less likely to be enthusiastic about going up the hill every year to pull weeds out to keep the outline. There's no real agreement about how old it is. The earliest record of it seems to be from 1710 and it could be only 300 years old but it could be equally likely that it is 3000 years old.

Also unknown is who or what the figure represents. Was he infirm and having to walk with the aid of the staffs? In which case why are they quite so long? Was he some sort of martial arts wizard? Just an ordinary run-of-the-mill wizard who liked to cast spells with both hands? Yes alright, I'm getting silly! But one theory I've read is that it depicts a man divining the path of ley lines, those mysterious lines of energy that pass through many old stone circles, churches and henges. One name for such people was dodman - the old name for a snail.

Of more pressing interest to me on this fine morning is that the car park had a large sign saying that the toilets were closed. Consequently, this will be a swift visit... Admittedly there was a sign that said that the Alfriston car park toilets were open, but it did not include any helpful hints as to which direction these were or how far away... It was more of a taunt than a public service, really.

The wall of the car park was leaning so much that brick buttresses had been placed to stop it falling. Unfortunately the car park was busy enough to make nipping behind a buttress for a few minutes just a bit too risky...

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