The Battle of Aylesford or Epsford is a battle between Britons

Britons (historical)

The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...

 and Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

and the Historia Brittonum. Both sources concur that it involved the Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa on one side and the family of Vortigern

Vortigern

Vortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...

 on the other, but neither mentions who won the battle. It was fought near Aylesford

Aylesford

Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England.Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. One pub, a Post Office and four small independent shops remain...

 in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

The 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

mentions the battle in the entry for 455. According to the text, the Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa fought Vortigern

Vortigern

Vortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...

, King of the Britons

King of the Britons

The Britons or Brythons were the Celtic-speaking people of what is now England, Wales and southern Scotland, whose ethnic identity is today maintained by the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons...

, in the battle. Horsa was slain, and Hengist and his son Oisc

Oisc of Kent

Oisc was an early king of Kent who ruled from about 488 to about 516.Little is known about him, and the information that does survive regarding his life is often vague and suspect. He seems to have been the son or the grandson of Hengest, who led the initial Anglo-Saxon conquest and settlement of...

 became the Kings of Kent:

Her Hengest 7 Horsa fuhton wiþ Wyrtgeorne þam cyninge, in þære stowe þe is gecueden Agælesþrep, 7 his broþur Horsan man ofslog; 7 æfter þam Hengest feng to rice 7 Æsc his sunu .

This year Hengest and Horsa fought with Wurtgern the king on the spot that is called Aylesford. His brother Horsa being there slain, Hengest afterwards took to the kingdom with his son Esc.

The Historia Brittonum, also written in the 9th century, contains a variant account of the battle. Chapters 43–45 indicate that Vortigern's son Vortimer

Vortimer

Vortimer is a figure in British tradition, a son of the 5th-century Britonnic ruler Vortigern. He is remembered for his fierce opposition to his father's Saxon allies...

, not Vortigern himself, rose against the Saxons and engaged them in four battles. The third of these battles was fought "at the Ford, in their language called Epsford, though in ours Set thirgabail." At this battle Horsa fell, as did Vortimer's brother Catigern

Catigern

Catigern is a figure of Welsh tradition, said to be a son of Vortigern, the tyrannical King of the Britons, and the brother of Vortimer. A figure of this name also appears in the Welsh genealogies, though he is given different parentage...

. The Historia does not say who won the battle, saying specifically that during Vortimer's campaign the Saxons "sometimes extended their boundaries by victory, and sometimes were conquered and driven back." According to the text, the Britons successfully ousted the Saxons at the fourth battle, fought "near the stone on the shore of the Gallic sea". However, Vortimer's death shortly after ensured the victory was short lived. The Chronicle account is similarly grim for the Britons, saying that they were forced to forsake Kent for good following Hengest and Oisc's bloody victory at Crayford

Crayford

Crayford is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Darent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-History:...

 in 457.

Two Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 chamber tomb

Chamber tomb

A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...

s near Aylesford, Kit's Coty House

Kit's Coty House

Kit's Coty House or Kit's Coty is the name of the remains of a Neolithic chambered long barrow on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. It is one of the Medway megaliths....

 and White Horse Stone

White Horse Stone

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...

, are identified in local tradition as the burial places of Catigern and Horsa respectively.