Westbury White Horse given pressure wash by abseilers

The White Horse is thought to have been originally carved in 878 AD to commemorate Kind Alfred's victory over the Danish at the Battle of Ethandune

Work to turn Wiltshire's iconic White Horse monument back from grey to white has started.

A conservation team will abseil down the Westbury landmark to clean, repair and paint it.

Work on the site is expected to take eight weeks and involves jet-washing to remove algae from the surface.

Standing at 175ft (53m) tall the figure, which was originally carved in the late 17th century, is said to be the oldest in Wiltshire.

The much-loved local monument is thought to have been created to commemorate Kind Alfred's victory over the Danish at the Battle of Ethandune in 878.

English Heritage has engaged the Somerset-based firm, Sally Strachey Historic Conservation, to undertake the works.

Volunteers will abseil down to power wash the greying white horse

Cut into the chalk, previously the horse had to be scoured regularly to keep it white, according to English Heritage

The last recorded scouring took place in 1853. In the late 1950s, the horse was preserved by covering it in white-painted concrete.

• Scrub down for algae-ridden white horse

• Pensioners to scrub white horse

Once scrubbed clean of dirt and algae, the horse is due to be given a new coat of white paint

The monument was last cleaned in 2016 and has once again turned from white to grey.

Win Scutt, senior properties curator at English Heritage, said maintaining the landmark is a costly process.

"From a conservation perspective, the ongoing care required by the Westbury White Horse is extremely complex," he said.

"Its position on a steep slope means that we can't prevent the water run-off from the surrounding grasslands, and it's this which creates algae build up and makes it unavoidable that the surface turns grey - even with regular cleaning."

A team of volunteers from English Heritage will be on site during the eight-week period to help explain the conservation cleaning process and the history of the White Horse.

Since 1957 the surface of the hill figure has been defined in concrete