Aerial Investigation and Mapping Report - English Heritage

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THE LONG MAN OF WILMINGTONThe Long Man of Wilmington – occasionally referred to as the Wilmington Giant – isundoubtedly the most familiar monument on this part of the Downs. The outline on viewtoday dates from 1969, and comprises 770 two-feet long concrete blocks, pre-cast withwhite cement and sand, which were made by C.T. Concrete Mouldings Ltd of Uckfield.They were hauled up the hillside in a trolley made from parts of an old electric milk-float,the frame of an iron bedstead, part of an old stable door, and wheels from a motorlawnmower (Holden 1971, 54). The 770 concrete blocks replaced c 7000 yellow brickswhich had originally been laid out in 1874, and repaired c 1890-91 and on severalsubsequent occasions, acquiring both mortar and whitewash along the way. During theSecond World War, the bricks were painted green in an attempt to conceal the LongMan from enemy aircraft seeking navigational aids, but he was returned to his pre-warwhiteness once hostilities had ended.Figure 42 The Long Man amidst the earthworks of chalk and flint extraction. NMR 15211/20 30thJanuary 1995 © Crown Copyright. English Heritage.Aerial photography usefully records the changing appearance of the Long Man throughoutthe 20 th century and into the 21 st , as well as offering an opportunity to contribute to theongoing debate about the ‘accuracy’ of the various restorations. Although aerialphotographs cannot provide a date for the birth of the Long Man, it is possible tocomment on some of the evidence that has been put forward by those who argue for aprehistoric, and particularly Neolithic, origin.© ENGLISH HERITAGE 65 22 - 2013
Description of the current Long ManThe Long Man consists of the outline of a figure, presumed to be male, marked out onthe north-facing scarp of the Downs immediately south of the village of Wilmington. Botharms are raised and he appears to be holding a pole or staff in each hand (or, in someinterpretations, he is opening a gateway or doorway). In 1918, Flinders Petrie calculatedthe slope on the hill figure itself to be 28° 10’, though this angle rose to 33° above hishead (Petrie 1926). The Long Man’s personal dimensions himself have varied according toauthor. Petrie measured him with tapes on the ground, arriving at a distance of 226.5 ft (c70m) from head to foot, the eastern staff measuring 230.66 ft (70.30m) and the westernone 235.66 ft (71.83m). The distances between staves were 114.17ft (34.80m) at thebase and 116.83ft (35.61m) at the top. Petrie estimated that a plan view, i.e. if renderedas a two-dimensional figure on a map, would be around 11.8% shorter.The current outline, as constructed in 1969, is unlikely to differ greatly, following as it didthe brick outline that Petrie was measuring. Using a rectified and georeferenced verticalaerial photograph taken in 2004, the following measurements were obtained: head tofoot - 62.40m (a little less of a difference than Petrie’s 11.8%); eastern staff – 62.20m;western staff – 62.75m; distance between staves – top: 35.20m, and bottom: 34.40m. Thismethod is dependent on the accuracy of rectification of the aerial photograph to the OS1:2500 scale base map (within 2m accuracy to the map, within circa 5m to true groundposition) and more precise measurements would be obtained by ground-basedmeasurement directly on the figure himself.Figure 43 The Green Man of Wilmington, as photographed during the war. Note how extensive theevidence for quarrying is along the scarp edge. RAF/HLA/536/6005 06-May-1942 English Heritage RAFPhotography.© ENGLISH HERITAGE 66 22 - 2013
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RESEARCH REPORT SERIES no. 22-2013S
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Cover Photograph: Cuckmere Haven, t
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ARCHIVE LOCATIONEnglish Heritage,Th
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Figure 1 Revised project area......
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INTRODUCTIONThis report describes t
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Weald cut through the Downs forming
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Monument records in the NRHE AMIE d
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‘Although there are up to 20…,
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Figure 5 Toms’ 1920 survey (left)
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Subsequent survey by the Ordnance S
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The evidence from aerial photograph
Page 24: on aerial photographs as differenti
Page 27 and 28: Although just outside the project a
Page 29 and 30: Figure 12 General view of the easte
Page 31 and 32: large sub-rectangular field that is
Page 33 and 34: cultivators of these lynchets’ (i
Page 35 and 36: Forest and Lullington Heath - 37 ly
Page 37 and 38: SHEEP AND THE DEVIL’S BOOKFrom th
Page 39 and 40: ‘Celtic’ fields immediately to
Page 41 and 42: The 1835 reference to the earthwork
Page 43 and 44: Figure 20 Medieval and post medieva
Page 45 and 46: Figure 22 An early example of by-pa
Page 47 and 48: absence of a winch on earlier maps
Page 49 and 50: Figure 23 Extents of South Camp, ba
Page 51 and 52: 1988, 234). The grouping of 40 huts
Page 53 and 54: indicating probable re-use for mili
Page 55 and 56: 30th January 1943. The wind velocit
Page 57 and 58: the town appeared to be rendered in
Page 59 and 60: Movement upriver was hindered by pi
Page 61 and 62: ground surface. A Diver site was lo
Page 63 and 64: mouth with lines of pontoons and
Page 65 and 66: Figure 33 Trenches aligned approxim
Page 67 and 68: The aerial photographs taken by the
Page 69 and 70: However, for his painting Coastal D
Page 71 and 72: war aerial photographs show a group
Page 73: Figure 40 Camouflage netting over t
Page 77 and 78: which would certainly fit with sugg
Page 79 and 80: separate from it. The toes of the t
Page 81 and 82: other parts of the body, and indeed
Page 83 and 84: lip of a large chalk quarry, was, a
Page 85 and 86: something for which the likes of Pe
Page 87: Hill and the Lavant Caves, both nea
Page 90 and 91: to the present day…’ (Butler &
Page 92 and 93: least was unsupported by evidence f
Page 94 and 95: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
Page 96 and 97: documentary sources or fieldwork. N
Page 98 and 99: Barber M, Wickstead, H in press Dam
Page 100 and 101: Drewett, P 1978 Neolithic Sussex, i
Page 102 and 103: Lowry, B (eds) 2001 20 th Century D
Page 104: ENGLISH HERITAGE RESEARCH AND THE H
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