https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-53313064
well that's put the cat amongst the pigeons.....
Did anyone still believe it was prehistoric? It must be twenty years since I was last there and the consensus then was it was a 17th Century joke.
I still believed it might be prehistoric (meaning ancient, rather than from the time of the dinosaurs). I haven't followed what the consensus thought - last I heard (which would be a long time ago) there was still talk of Hercules, an aegis etc.
I assume the snail survey takes account of the fact that these figures are regularly recut and refilled so the date of one patch might not be the date of the whole. Last weekend was due to be the scouring of the Uffington white horse though it got cancelled for Covid reasons (oddly, as you can't get more socially distanced than sitting on a white horse). That is regularly resurfaced (though only the top few mm of course).
to be honest I am not really one for these types of things but interesting to get people's views on whether they thought they were 'real' or not
They are 100% real