Just down the road from Avebury stone circle this area has more than its fair share of history, from neolithic onwards. The hill is topped by Oldbury Hill Fort, an Iron age fort updated from a previous bronze age settlement. The white horse was first carved into the chalk hillside 230 years ago and the Lansdowne monument erected 65 later, but my favourite nugget of history has to be The Cherhill Gang...
A notorious gang of highwaymen from the 18th century that robbed rich Londoners travelling the Great Western Road from Bath to London. One of their techniques was to hold up the carriages completely naked, with the effect of instilling fear and shocking the passengers into not being able to recognise their faces!
In 1811 they robbed the Royal Mail wagon, killing the driver and made off with their loot towards Beckhampton. They came across a man called Walter Leader who'd had a flaggon of ale or two too many. Stunning him the highwaymen carried him back to the scene of the crime and staged him as the perpetrator, a spent pistol in his hand. He was later discovered by the law who judged there to be conclusive evidence of murder, he was found guilty and duly sentenced to death in London. However, the gang of highwaymen had quarrelled and one of the members decided to confess to the authorities in Bath, turning "King's Evidence". A despatch rider was sent for London with an urgent pardon for Walter Leader, but despite pleas for a delay, he was hung on a misty morning in London just half an hour before the rider arrived. He was buried at the side of the road, near Beckhampton and his ghost is reportedly seen by the locals, walking the nearby streets in a black cloak and tricor hat.
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