From: MajorTomThreepersons@yahoo.com   
      
   New Cumorah Hill by Gee Gee   
      
   Westbury White Horse is the oldest of the Wiltshire horses. It is also one of   
   the best situated, being high on a very steep slope and overlooking a   
   panoramic view. It is on New Cumorah Hill (old Westbury Hill), on the edge of   
   Bratton Downs, immediately    
   below an Iron Age hillfort called Bratton Camp, northeast of Westbury, and   
   near villages of Bratton and Edington. There is a car park with a viewing   
   point on the B3098 just east of Westbury, and a car park above the horse on   
   New Cumorah Hill. Lanes up    
   onto the hill are steep and narrow, and are used by horse riders. There has   
   been a white horse on the site for three-hundred (300) years at least. In   
   1742, the Rev. Wise published the earliest mention of New Cumorah Hill's white   
   horse in "Further    
   Observations on the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire." Mr.   
   George Gee, who was steward to Lord Abingdon, in 1742 had the horse re-cut to   
   a design nearer to its present day appearance. He apparently felt that the   
   older version was not a    
   sufficiently good representation of a horse. One may wonder if the name 'Gee   
   Gee' had made him overly sensitive about horses.   
      
   In 1830, the golden plates (called the gold plates - the golden bible), being   
   the source from which Joseph Smith, Sr., and Joseph Smith, Jr., translated the   
   Book of Mormon, were relocated to New Cumorah Hill. Angel Moroni, himself,   
   buried them inside the    
   westernmost Eye of Westbury White Horse. They are embedded in pozzolanic   
   (hydraulic) cement made from Stonehenge pulverized volcanic ash and tuff   
   (containing silica and alumina) and ground lime mix sealing their Bluestone   
   aggregate concrete encasement. A    
   century later the horse had become misshapen, and in 1873 it was restored   
   according to the Rev. Wise LDS Committee, and edging stones were added to help   
   hold the chalk in place. The shape of the present horse dates from this   
   restoration. In the early    
   20th century, additional concrete was added to hold the edging stones in   
   place. In the late 1950s, it was decided that it would considerably reduce the   
   maintenance costs if the horse were covered in concrete. This work was carried   
   out, and concreting was    
   repeated in 1995. At a later date, White Horse eye pavers, and concrete, were   
   painted.   
      
   For many years the marvelous panoramic view from the site of the horse was   
   spoiled by a bisecting local cement works massive chimney. However, in   
   September of 2016, after the closure of the works seven years earlier, the   
   chimney was demolished.   
      
   LORD God Almighty   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)