Cleadon White Horse

A small horse, painted on a rock face with tar and lime wash, 2 metres high by 3 metres wide. It is now covered in graffiti.

It can be found, south of South Shields on the Cleadon Hills. It is said that it could be seen from much of South Shields, until houses were built since the Second World War.

There are at least six different stories as to how this horse came about, the first material to mention it is in 1887, although some people say it was created in 1940.

• Nestre, the daughter of a Saxon nobleman called Thalphere, fell in love with a Danish chief, Rolf Hardre. The lovers met on Marsden beach. One day, during the lovers' meeting, Rolf's white horse wandered off. The lovers were discovered by a party led by Thalphere and during the struggle that followed they were killed. The mare was later found dead at the bottom of the cliff.

• Lady Williamson and her husband Sir Hedworth Williamson would ride out along the beach. One tragic day she set out alone on her white mare towards Marsden rock. She was never seen again. In tribute to his master's tragedy, Wareham the stableman, painted the white horse.

• William Johnson, a keen farmhand, decided to impress his master by breaking in a stubborn white mare, despite being told to leave it for his master to deal with. Things went wrong when the mare broke free and charged over a cliff to her death. The horse was painted to commemorate this, or perhaps as a warning to others.

• A retired colonel from the Napoleonic wars could no longer ride his treasured white battle charger. He had it kept in a field within view of his house. One day it was stolen. To save the colonel upset the tenant, charged with its care, painted a white horse on the rock. The colonel, none the wiser, continued to admire his faithful white charger from his window till the end of his days.

• A huntsman, out with his friends one day, became separated from them. They later found his body at the bottom of a limestone outcrop alongside his white horse also dead. The horse was painted in his memory.

• A gentleman landowner by the name of Ness decided to have it painted on a Whim. The white horse was painted to grace his estate and has been repainted by locals ever since, keeping his whim alive.

It is one of only four white horses in Britain to face right.

Only a single entry found, so this is based completely off the internet page at  www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/clea/cleadon.htm.   I have not visited. You can see it on aerial photos.