White Horse Stone

Categories: Archaeological sites in Britain | Archaeological sites in Kent

The Upper and Lower White Horse Stones are names given to two sarsen megaliths on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. They are generally considered to be fragmentary examples of the Neolithic chamber tomb group known as the Medway megaliths.

Image:Upperwhitehorsestone.jpg
Upper White Horse Stone with some of the smaller stones behind it.

Upper White Horse Stone is 2.9m long, 1.65m high and about 0.6m thick and stands just off the Pilgrim's Way. Close by it are nine smaller stones that stretch to the west for about 10m. There is no evidence of a covering barrow and it has been suggested that these much smaller stones were moved from the neighbouring field by local farmers. Its identification as a chambered long barrow like the other Medway megaliths is therefore uncertain although its shape certainly resembles a chamber wall stone. In local tradition it is also the burial place of the Saxon leader Horsa. The standing stone is also considered by some visitors to resemble a horse's head. Both these links have been suggested as the source of the name. A connection with the white horse on Kent's Invicta coat of arms has also been invoked.

Lower White Horse Stone once stood about 300m west of Upper White Horse Stone. It was destroyed in 1823 and the site is now under the dual carriageway that climbs Blue Bell Hill. It therefore cannot either be said with certainty to have be a true prehistoric megalith.

White Horse Wood Country Park is a park nearby, created by Kent County Council on a portion of the North Downs close to where the stones once stood but is named in connection with Kent's Invicta emblem.

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