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The Great Britain Guide

Weird & wonderful · South East England

Long Man of Wilmington

In or near Alfriston.

72-metre chalk hill figure on the South Downs, largest in Western Europe.

Long Man of Wilmington, weird & wonderful in East Sussex

Marathon — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
1 h–2 h
Nearest railway station
Mungo's Central Station · 2.3 km
  • Family-friendly

Getting there & planning your visit

The nearest railway station is Mungo's Central Station, located 2.3 km away. The postcode for the Long Man of Wilmington is BN26 5SW. Entry is free, and there is no specific information about accessibility.

Directions on Google Maps →

About

The Long Man of Wilmington is the chalk hill figure on the steep north-facing slope of Windover Hill in the South Downs, near Eastbourne. At 72 m tall — the largest representation of the human form in Western Europe — he holds two staves and faces the visitor with deliberately distorted proportions to look correct from below. The figure's age is contested: 16th-century survey hints suggest he may be early modern rather than prehistoric, but his presence in the South Downs landscape is unmissable from the A27.

Photo gallery

Protected designations

  • Site of Special Scientific Interest: Wilmington Downs SSSI
  • National Nature Reserve: SEVEN SISTERS

Designations sourced from Natural England open data under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

The Long Man of Wilmington or Wilmington Giant is a hill figure on the steep slopes of Windover Hill near Wilmington, East Sussex, England. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Eastbourne and 1⁄3 mile (540 m) south of Wilmington. Locally, the figure was once often called the Green Man. The Long Man is 235 feet (72 m) tall, holds two "staves", and is designed to look in proportion when viewed from below. Formerly thought to originate in the Iron Age or even the Neolithic period, a 2003 archaeological investigation showed that the figure may have been cut in the Early Modern era – the 16th or 17th century AD. From afar the figure appears to have been carved from the underlying chalk, but the modern figure is formed from white-painted breeze blocks and lime mortar. The Long Man is one of two major extant human hill figures in England; the other is the Cerne Abbas Giant, north of Dorchester. Both are scheduled monuments. Two other hill figures that include humans are the Osmington White Horse and the Fovant regimental badges. The Long Man is one of two hill figures in East Sussex; the other is the Litlington White Horse, three miles south-west of the Long Man.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

The origin of the Long Man is unclear. For many years the earliest known record was a drawing made by William Burrell when he visited Wilmington Priory, near Windover (or Wind-door) Hill, in 1766. Burrell's drawing shows a figure holding a rake and a scythe, both shorter than the present staves. In 1993, another drawing was discovered in the Devonshire Collections at Chatsworth House which had been made by the surveyor John Rowley in 1710, the earliest date the figure is known to have existed. An early suggestion, sometimes stated to be a local tradition, was that the Long Man had been cut by monks from nearby Wilmington Priory, and represented a pilgrim. This was not widely believed by…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
50.8101, 0.1881
County
East Sussex
District
Wealden
Parish
Long Man
Postcode
BN26 5SW
Parliamentary constituency
Lewes
Established
1710
Nearest railway station
Mungo's Central Station2.3 km

Sources

Featured in these 2 guides

Other places nearby

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Where to eat & stay near Long Man of Wilmington

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Long Man of Wilmington?
Long Man of Wilmington is in East Sussex, South-East England, United Kingdom (postcode BN26 5SW), in the parish of Long Man.
What is Long Man of Wilmington?
72-metre chalk hill figure on the South Downs, largest in Western Europe.
How do I get to Long Man of Wilmington?
The nearest railway station is Mungo's Central Station, about 2.3 km away. Drivers can use postcode BN26 5SW.
When was Long Man of Wilmington built?
Built or established in 1710.
Who owns Long Man of Wilmington?
Long Man of Wilmington is owned by Sussex Archaeological Society.
Is Long Man of Wilmington a protected site?
Yes — Long Man of Wilmington is part of the Wilmington Downs SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest and the SEVEN SISTERS National Nature Reserve.
How do I get to Long Man of Wilmington?
The nearest railway station is Mungo's Central Station, about 2.3 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode BN26 5SW.