around eastbourne

Eastbourne

The long man of Wilmington

This impressive figure makes a signal of the paganess of the area. 

However it doesn't seem to be very old. 

It's a major landmark, and i have walked over the hills

 along the countryside paths 

and down into the area of East Sussex,  where they 

say they invented the famous banana treat the banoffee pie.

The hill figure isn't pagan as such. Studies appesr to show

 that it was drawn in the 16th or 17th century.

It's known to have been sketched for an illustration

 in 1710 by the surveyor John Rowley.

So, it isn't ancient, and the Druidic festivals performed there

are out of time, but there were deep interests in magic and mysticism 

in the 16th and 17th centuries, as always probably.

So there isn't a real disparity.

I mean, it's an outwelling of a statement about the landscape,

and done a lot more effectively, i think,

than an awful lot of modern landscape sited installation art.

If people go to worship there on beltane, say, 

who knows what mystic powers will be reawakened by their doing so.

The Long Man

It's very impressive, and it makes the landscape feel pagan, 

even if it isn't. That's the power of art and symbolism.