White Horse Stone
Encyclopedia
The Upper and Lower White Horse Stones are names given to two sarsen
megalith
s 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
. The stones are said to be a monument to Horsa, a great warrior and King of Kent who supposedly died near the stone but is most likely fictional (see Horsa and Hengist articles for details), who used the White horse of Kent
as his standard.
The Upper White Horse Stone is 2.9 m long, 1.65 m high and about 0.6 m thick and stands just inside Westfield Wood, off the Pilgrims' Way
. Close by it are nine smaller stones that stretch to the west for about 10 m.
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 the shape certainly resembles a chamber wall stone.
In local tradition this 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. Locals at the nearby public house in the early 1990s used to refer to the White Horse Stone as "The Ingá stone
".
that climbs Blue Bell Hill. It therefore cannot either be said with certainty to have been a true prehistoric megalith
.
to build a radio tower within just a few metres of the stone. Local residents contacted a religious group, The Odinic Rite
, asking for their help as they had previously campaigned to have High Speed 1 diverted away from the stone. This group began a campaign and sent out messages to contacts around the world asking for people to write to Tonbridge and Malling
Borough Council asking for planning permission to be denied. At the council planning meeting representations were made by The Odinic Rite, another group called Woden's Folk
and local residents. The councillors unanimously rejected the application.
In May 2006 Orange sought planning permission http://www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00041306.pdfhttp://www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00041319.pdfhttp://www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00041281.pdf from Maidstone
Borough Council to install a telecommunications mast just across the border between the Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling borough councils. This new proposal was still within 100 metres of the White Horse Stone and so a new campaign was launched by the Odinic Rite. If approved, this plan would have seen an 8-metre high mast built in an area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
.
This application was refused on 28 July and the following reasons were given:
Following the first threat to the White Horse Stone by Orange, members of The Odinic Rite decided to formalise these activities and Guardians of the White Horse Stone became an official part of the Odinic Rite. This group meets at the stone every 6 months to clear litter and have removed items ranging from a slot machine, carpet tiles, builders waste and car body parts from the area surrounding the stone. http://www.odinic-rite.org/photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=14http://www.odinic-rite.org/photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=6http://www.odinic-rite.org/photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=18
Sarsen
Sarsen stones are sandstone blocks found in quantity in the United Kingdom on Salisbury Plain, the Marlborough Downs, in Kent, and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset and Hampshire...
megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
s on Blue Bell Hill
Blue Bell Hill
Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include Walderslade; and Blue Bell Hill and Kit's Coty villages...
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 the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of 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...
. They are generally considered to be fragmentary examples of the 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...
group known as the Medway megaliths
Medway megaliths
The Medway megaliths or Medway tombs are names given to a group of Neolithic chambered long barrows and other megaliths located in the lower valley of the River Medway in the English county of Kent...
. The stones are said to be a monument to Horsa, a great warrior and King of Kent who supposedly died near the stone but is most likely fictional (see Horsa and Hengist articles for details), who used the White horse of Kent
White horse of Kent
The White horse of Kent, or the White Horse Rampant, is a symbol of Kent, a county in South East England.The figure of the prancing white horse can also be referred to as Invicta, which is the motto of Kent.-Origin:...
as his standard.
Upper White Horse Stone
Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...
. Close by it are nine smaller stones that stretch to the west for about 10 m.
There is no evidence of a covering barrow
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
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
Chambered long barrow
Chambered long barrows are a type of megalithic burial monument found in the British Isles in the Neolithic.Long barrows either contained wooden or stone burial structures beneath the barrow and the surviving megalithic stone in the latter means that they are the ones referred to by archaeologists...
like the other Medway megaliths is therefore uncertain although the shape certainly resembles a chamber wall stone.
In local tradition this is also the burial place of the Saxon
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...
leader Horsa. The standing stone
Standing stone
Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
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
Invicta (motto)
Invicta was used in Roma invicta meaning "Unconquered Rome" and is the motto of the county of Kent, England.-Theories of origin:...
" coat of arms has also been invoked. Locals at the nearby public house in the early 1990s used to refer to the White Horse Stone as "The Ingá stone
Ingá stone
The Ingá Stone is located in the middle of the Ingá river near the small city of Ingá, 96km from João Pessoa, in Paraíba State in the northeast of Brazil. The Ingá Stone is also called Itacoatiara do Ingá...
".
Lower White Horse Stone
The Lower White Horse Stone once stood about 300 m west of Upper White Horse Stone. It was destroyed in 1823 and the site is now under the dual carriagewayDual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
that climbs Blue Bell Hill. It therefore cannot either be said with certainty to have been a true prehistoric megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
.
Threats to the White Horse Stone
In 2004 the telecommunications company Orange U.K. sought planning permissionPlanning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
to build a radio tower within just a few metres of the stone. Local residents contacted a religious group, The Odinic Rite
Odinic Rite
The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
, asking for their help as they had previously campaigned to have High Speed 1 diverted away from the stone. This group began a campaign and sent out messages to contacts around the world asking for people to write to Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling is a local government district and borough in the English county of Kent.Tonbridge and Malling borough covers an area from the North Downs at Burham and Snodland in the north to the town of Tonbridge in the south...
Borough Council asking for planning permission to be denied. At the council planning meeting representations were made by The Odinic Rite, another group called Woden's Folk
Woden's Folk
Woden's Folk is a heathen group based in England in the United Kingdom. The aim of Woden's Folk is to create a new folkish religion for the English, rooted in the worship of the old gods of England. The immediate aim of the group is to prepare the way for the manifestation of the English Avatar,...
and local residents. The councillors unanimously rejected the application.
In May 2006 Orange sought planning permission http://www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00041306.pdfhttp://www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00041319.pdfhttp://www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00041281.pdf from Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
Borough Council to install a telecommunications mast just across the border between the Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling borough councils. This new proposal was still within 100 metres of the White Horse Stone and so a new campaign was launched by the Odinic Rite. If approved, this plan would have seen an 8-metre high mast built in an area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
.
This application was refused on 28 July and the following reasons were given:
The proposed mast would be sited in a particular location that would intrude upon views across the Kent DownsKent DownsKent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Kent, England . They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the North DownsNorth DownsThe North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
Special Landscape Area. In this respect this proposal would be harmful to the natural beauty and scenic quality of the landscape. Furthermore it would also be clearly visible from the North Downs Way and would affect the wider setting of the Ancient MonumentAncient monumentAn ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. In the United Kingdom it is a legal term, differing from the American term National Monument in being far more numerous and always man-made...
for the White Horse Stone. The proposal would therefore be contrary to policies of the Maidstone Borough-Wide Local Plan 2000 and policies of the KentKentKent 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...
and MedwayMedwayMedway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
Structure Plan 2006.
Guardians of the White Horse Stone
On March 22, 1987 members of the Odinic Rite conducted "Operation Guardian" during which they cleared away undergrowth and built steps (which remain today) to allow access to the stone. The group called themselves Guardians of the White Horse Stone and looked after the area around the stone but activities were sporadic and unorganised.Following the first threat to the White Horse Stone by Orange, members of The Odinic Rite decided to formalise these activities and Guardians of the White Horse Stone became an official part of the Odinic Rite. This group meets at the stone every 6 months to clear litter and have removed items ranging from a slot machine, carpet tiles, builders waste and car body parts from the area surrounding the stone. http://www.odinic-rite.org/photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=14http://www.odinic-rite.org/photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=6http://www.odinic-rite.org/photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=18
External links
- The Megalithic Portal
- The Modern Antiquarian (Comments, news and photographs of the stone)
- White Horse Stone Campaign (An Odinic RiteOdinic RiteThe Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
campaign to prevent the construction of a telecommunications tower within yards of the stone.) - Website of Guardians of the White Horse Stone. (A group set up by the Odinic RiteOdinic RiteThe Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
to protect the stone and surrounding area)