'The South' to have a Landmark in Kent

An artist Mark Wallinger from Essex, who was born in 1959 in Chigwell,  is shortlisted for a £2 million statue overlooking the Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent. He wants to create a massive statue of a white horse, thirty-three times larger than life. 

Kent is represented by the White Horse and Kent County Council and Invicta Radio both have the White Horse as its logo. 

In an article from the Evening Standard  by Nick Curtis (thisislondon.co.uk) he quotes:-

"In the North, they got an angel. Down South, we may get a giant horse.

This massive statue of a thoroughbred - 33 times larger than life - is one of five shortlisted proposals for a £2 million statue overlooking the Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent to mark the redevelopment of the area and rival Antony Gormley's Angel Of The North.

The horse is the brainchild of artist Mark Wallinger, who recreated protester Brian Haw's parliamentary peace camp at Tate Britain. He also won last year's Turner Prize for a video of himself dressed as a bear, wandering around an empty art gallery.

Back in 1995, Wallinger bought a race-horse and renamed it A Real Work Of Art, hoping to "exhibit" it at races across the country, although thanks to an injury it only ever ran once. His horse statue would be made of sterner stuff and constructed using boat-building technology. It is inspired by Horsa, the semi-mythical leader of the Anglo-Saxons who landed at Ebbsfleet in the fifth century.

The word "horse" derives from his name and the white horse duly became the county symbol of Kent. The competition to find and fund the Ebbsfleet landmark has been organised by Eurostar, London and Continental Railways and property firm Land Securities, which plans to build a new community including 10,000 homes on the 1,000-acre site.

This massive statue of a thoroughbred - is one of five shortlisted proposals for a £2 million statue

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Opinion

If Kent has the horse as opposed to the other contesters such as Rachel Whiteread's 'house on recycle mountain' it will be in harmony with the Soul of Kent.

The South of England is famous for the white horses of Westbury, Osmington, Alton Barnes, New Pewsey, Winterbourne Basset, Marlborough, Oldbury and the white horse along the South Downs. Horses have played a big role in our culture such as in point to points, horse trials, agriculture, WW1, foxhunting, carriage horses and show jumping.

I used to ride a white horse (or rather a grey) and it used to invariably rear (and sometimes on ice), just like the White Horse of Kent; those were 'interesting' days. It would be good to see if the statue will be made up of local raw materials and if 'the locals' could vote for their own choice too, not just by some 'director' who isn't from the area, or even if they actually want a statue when money could be spent on more important things such as local hospitals and policing.

Maybe the white horse would be a symbol of what we have lost. I remember a field in Tonbridge that used to have a  'white horse' poking over the fence. This is now an expensive suburban housing estate. These days, in Kent, meadows are often golf courses, rife with highly toxic weedkillers, and car parks. The farm stables and the tackshop where I rode the horse (Melody) in the photo is now a middle class 'refurbished' house. 

It is ironic that over 10,000 homes will be made in Ebbsfleet and that the residents may have to have a statue of a statue of horse instead.