ANTI fracking demonstrators used a historic chalk hill carving to spread their message yesterday.

The campaigners scaled the South Downs to place a slogan made from white sheets of tarpaulin above the Long Man of Wilmington.

The words "Frack Off!" have become synonymous with the battle to stop companies fracking in the UK countryside.

It is believed the message was put up shortly after daybreak with Sussex Police receiving reports at around 8.20am.

Not long after local farmers pulled the tarpaulin off the hillside.

Sussex has been at the forefront of the anti-fracking movement since thousands of protesters descended on Balcombe in in the summer of 2013.

The village was turned into a protest camp for a number of weeks as energy firm Cuadrilla carried out exploratory drilling.

Huge police resources were diverted to the Mid Sussex village and there were numerous arrests - including that of Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion.

The county has also been subject to other potential fracking sites. Celtique Energie put in applications to explore for oil and gas at two sites in the South Downs National Park.

The applications were rejected and they Celtique Energie bosses earlier this year announced they would not appeal the decisions.

A Sussex Police spokesman said they had been contacted yesterday morning. She added: "The protesters have been spoken to at the site and officers are monitoring the situation."

The Long Man of Wilmington is on the steep slopes of Windover Hill about six miles north west of Eastbourne.

At 235 feet (72 m) tall, the The Long Man holds two staves and is designed to look in proportion when viewed from below.

Mystery surrounds its origins although many experts believe it to date from the Iron Age or even the neolithic period.

However, more recent archaeological work has found the figure may have been created in the 16th or 17th century AD.

Some suggest it had significance for the Iron Age settlers as it was positioned to mark the constellation Orion's movement across the ridge above.

Others have said it had some significance in Roman Britain while recently it has been suggested it could be a Tudor or Stuart-era political satire.