THE white horse at Osmington Hill commemorates King George III's association with Weymouth.

It was completed in 1808 and depicts the king riding in the countryside; one of his favourite pastimes.

A local tale claims that the king was so offended by the carving, because it shows him riding away from the town rather than towards it, that he never returned.

It is also claimed one of the men behind the scheme was so embarrassed that he killed himself and was buried on the site.

However, there is no truth in the tale. King George III never saw the chalk figure; it was finished three years after his last visit to the town, and there is no evidence anyone died as a result of the enterprise.

The White Horse is 280-feet long and 323-feet high figure is the only example of a hill carving depicting a horse with rider.

It was cut by soldiers under the direction of James Hamilton, a well-known local architect, on land owned by local bookseller John Wood.