Eccles Beorh

Another composition from The Uffington White Horse but this time focusing on Dragon Hill which sits to the right of The Manger.

This small 'hillock' is thought to be some sort of ceremonial mound built by ancient man and similar to Silbury Hill near Avebury in Wiltshire. If this is not true, the general belief seems to have been current in pre-Saxon times because in the 10th century the hill was known as Eccles Beorh, which translates as "Church Barrow". The name Eccles is a form of the Latin Ecclesia, brought into British place-names through the Celtic Egles (which translates in modern Welsh as Eglwys) denoting a late or post-Roman church.