Читать книгу Made in Great Britain - Tom Quinn - Страница 38

Cherhill rises high above the Wiltshire Plain and is topped by the splendid 38m (125ft)-high Lansdowne Monument, a stone obelisk built in 1845. Designed by Sir Charles Barry on behalf of the third Marquess of Lansdowne, the monument commemorates William Petty (1623–87), who rose from humble beginnings to become Surgeon General to Oliver Cromwell and one of the wealthiest men in England. Petty’s daughter married the third son of the Marquis. Below the monument are the remains of an Iron Age earthwork known as Oldbury Castle.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Don’t miss, on the slopes of the hill below – and looked after by the National Trust – a carved WHITE HORSE. Cut in the hillside in 1780 by Dr Christopher ‘mad doctor’ Alsop of Calne. The gentle landscape provides plenty of walking routes for those keen to be outdoors.

Secret place to stay

MANOR HOUSE HOTEL, Castle Combe (manorhouse.co.uk). Only a dozen miles away, and with more than 120ha (300 acres) of gardens to wander in.

The white horse and the Petty monument.