Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

At White Horse Stone are the remains of a possible Neolithic burial chamber. The standing stone at the site is thought to have been the remnant of a burial chamber and barrow. There is no trace of a mound and it is possible that some of these stones were moved from the adjacent field by farmers. Its identification as another chambered long barrow is therefore uncertain. Early antiquarians thought that it resembled a standing horse, hence its name, but stories of the god-like White Horse of Kent attached to it are quite without foundation.

The Upper White Horse Stone has succeeded the original stone (see TQ 76 SE 12) and taken on its legend. The successor is a large sarsen stone to the east of the A229. It stands upright on a narrow strip of woodland. It measures 3m X 1.60m and is 0.70m thick. Nine smaller stones extend westwards from the stone for about 10m.

Monument Types

• CHAMBERED TOMB (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• STANDING STONE (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 2200 BC)

Full description

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[TQ 75336031] White Horse Stone [NR] (1) Upper White Horse Stone: This has succeeded the original stone [see TQ 76 SE 12] and inherited its legend. It is mentioned in Beale- Poste's MSS but there is no further information to be gained. (2) The Successor White Horse Stone is a large upright sarsen standing in the opposite angle of the cross roads to the site of the original stone and it has inherited both the name and tradition of the original, a fact which is not generally recognized. As it stands upright it is very reminiscent of a chamber wall stone. There are many other stones in the vicinity. (3) Upper White Horse Stone included in list of 'Megalithic Remains, probably Burial Chambers'. (4) White Horse Stone sometimes Upper White Horse Stone - a large stone, 8ft by 5 ft by 2 ft, with fragments of others nearby, which may be the much ruined remnant of a burial chamber. In list of doubtful sites. (5) TQ 75356032. The stone measures 3.0m x 1.6m and is 0.7m thick. It stands upright, lengthwise, within a small wood on the line of the Aylesford-Boxley parish boundary. (GP AO/59/6/2 from south east). Antiquity Model Survey has been carried out. (6) Condition unchanged. (7) TQ 754604. Aylesford. White Horse Stone, county number 17. (8) Upper White Horse Stone, TQ 753603. This large upright stone is in anarrow strip of woodland east of the A229. The stone is 2.9m long, 1.65m high and about 60cm thick. Nearby are nine much smaller stones that extend westwards from the stone for about 10m. There is no trace of a mound and it is possible that some of these stones were moved from the adjacent field by farmers. Its identification as another chambered long barrow is therefore uncertain. Early antiquarians thought that it resembled a standing horse, hence its name, but stories of the god-like White Horse of Kent attached to it are quite without foundation. (9,10,11)


Summary of Monument

White Horse Stone, 595m south-east of The Lower Bell
Reasons for Designation

Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs, ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds. Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones, which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways, territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds. Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Consequently all undisturbed standing stones and those which represent the main range of types and locations would normally be considered to be of national importance.

The White Horse Stone is a good example of its type, which survives well. The area immediately surrounding the stone is likely to contain archaeological and environmental information relating to the stone and the landscape in which it was erected.
History

See Details
Details

This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a prehistoric standing stone situated on a chalk spur below an escarpment of the North Downs, south of Chatham. The stone is situated next to the North Downs Way, a trackway following the ridge of the North Downs escarpment, which is traditionally associated with a pilgrim route to Canterbury.

White Horse Stone is a large upright sarsen stone about 1.65m high, 2.9m long and 0.60m thick. There are several smaller stones to the west of the monument. It has been suggested that it may originally have formed part of a Neolithic burial chamber but this is uncertain. The stone is variously known as the White Horse Stone or Upper White Horse Stone. It has inherited the traditions of a second stone, referred to variously as the White Horse Stone, Lower White Horse Stone or Kentish Standard Stone which was located approximately 300m to the west, and was destroyed about 1823. The name of the stone has been associated with several traditions including the possibility that early antiquarians likened its shape to that of a horse.

In 1997-8, partial excavation was carried out near the site following an evaluation for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The features uncovered included a Neolithic longhouse and the remains of Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age occupation. The finds included a cremation deposit, three human pit burials, postholes, pottery, animal bones, flint, iron blades, four iron awls and a whetstone. In addition medieval remains, including a 13th century corn drying or malting kiln, were found in association with the North Downs Way.(15)

<1> OS 6" 1936-47 (OS Card Reference). SKE48342.

<2> Beale-Poste MSS (Maidstone Mus) Vol 3 Sect 3 p.111 (OS Card Reference). SKE37611.

<3> Arch Cant Vol 62 1949 p.135 (JH Evans) (OS Card Reference). SKE36411.

<4> Arch Cant 63 1950 65-67 (JH Evans) (OS Card Reference). SKE35362.

<5> OS Prof Papers NS 8 1924 (OGS Crawford) (OS Card Reference). SKE48428.

<6> Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of Eng and Wales 1950 p.234 (GE Daniel) (OS Card Reference). SKE48648.

<7> F1 ASP 14.05.59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42089.

<8> F2 ASP 21.10.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43142.

<9> DOE(IAM) Ancient Monuments England 2 1978 109 (OS Card Reference). SKE41422.

<10> Philp, B, 1981, A survey of the Medway megaliths, KAR 64: 87 (Article in serial). SKE24000.

<11> SE Eng 1970 101-2 illus (RF Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE49418.

<12> Arch Cant 97 1981 233 (R Holgate) (OS Card Reference). SKE36280.

<13> Field report for monument TQ 76 SE 11 - May, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4148.

<14> Field report for monument TQ 76 SE 11 - October, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4149.

<15> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Neolithic Kent (Thematic Essay)