If you want to mix a nice country walk with a surreal experience, head to Windover Hill this weekend, where you will be able to see the Long Man Morris Men giving a lick of paint to the figure in the hills which gave them their name. “One of our members works for Brewers in Eastbourne,” explains Long Man spokesman Alan Vaughan. “The chairman of the company visited the site and thought that the Man needed a bit of a spruce up. So it was suggested that we might do it, so we are. He hasn’t been painted for seven or eight years, and we did it then, too.” There will be about twelve Morris men put to the job using paint and brushes donated by Decorators’ Warehouse in Hailsham. So how many litres of paint will be used? “I’m not sure,” admits Alan. “Rather more than a pot.” Sadly the Morris Men, who annually start their season off on May 1st by dancing at dawn at the foot of the figure, will not be wearing their full regalia. “It’s potentially a rather messy job,” says Alan.

Thanks to Sussex Past who alerted us to this story, and let us know the findings from the latest excavations they’ve done on the site, in 2004. It is most likely, it seems, that the figure is of early post-medieval origins, and the first bricks outline of the figure was made in the mid 16th century. AG