Dorset farmer hits back over historic chalk carving row

A farmer who owns the land which is home to an historic landmark has hit back at claims it has been neglected.

The white horse chalk carving at Osmington, Dorset is a tribute to King George III and more than 200 years old.

It received a makeover before nearby Weymouth hosted sailing at the 2012 Olympics, but a restoration group said it had fallen into disrepair.

However, landowner Paul Critchell has had enough of the criticism: "It's continual and it's ill-founded really."

Mr Critchell explained: "As the winter gets wetter the stone soaks the water in and becomes much darker in colour and the grass gets more rank and changes from a green to a buffy colour and it matches the colour of the horse, so it doesn't stand out.

"People take a photograph at the worst possible time of year and that's not representative of what the horse looks like. It's not disappearing and will probably never disappear."

Chairman of the Osmington White Horse Restoration Group, Geoff Codd, voiced concerns earlier in the year that it had deteriorated during the pandemic.

"The project we undertook left the monument in a state where if it was totally obliterated in someway or another it could be restored to precisely where it now sits," he said.

No one body has statutory responsibility for the monument. While Mr Critchell is the landowner he has no formal or legal obligation to maintain the landmark, just a "moral one".

Dorset Council resumed a weed-killing operation earlier in April after a three-year hiatus during the pandemic. It has a maintenance programme for the carving but no official budget.

The monument of the 260ft (79m) figure, said to be George III on his horse Adonis, has been subject to controversy in the past.

In 1989, the TV presenter Anneka Rice botched an attempt to spruce up the landmark on her "Challenge Anneka" programme.

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