“Alton Barnes White Horse is as much a familiar background to Stanton as it is to the Altons. Indeed Stanton has a special claim to it as it was cut by a Stanton man, John Harvey. Robert Pile of the Manor Farm Alton Barnes commissioned one John Thorne to do the work about 1812. The sum agreed was £20 and Thorne was to excavate to a uniform depth of 1 foot and to fill it with chalk. Thorne employed John Harvey to do the digging, but before it was finished Thorne disappeared with the money, which had been paid in advance. John Harvey was left to complete the job and presumably was paid by the farmer.”
Taken from the book ‘Stanton and its People’, which now unfortunately seems to be out of print.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Barnes_White_Horse
(John Harvey baptised 1783 to James Harvey and Dorothy Hamlen.)