Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A large, upright sarsen stone once stood in the NW angle of The Pilgrims' Road and the Rochester-Maidstone Road. A literary legend connects it with the Standard at the Battle of Aylesford c455. Local legends link it with Kits Coty House.

It was destroyed in 1823 without excavations and The Upper White Horse Stone (TQ 76 SE 11) 300m east has taken on its legends. The precise site is unknown.

Monument Types

• CHAMBERED TOMB? (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)

Full description

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[TQ 75126022] This site of the Lower White Horse Stone or Kentish Standard Stone. (1) In Beale-Post's MSS (a) four versions of the origin of the name of the White Horse Stone are given. They demonstrate that the `legend' of the stone was not fixed at the beginning of the 19th cent and that obviously it was literary in origin and late in date. This original stone, a standing sarsen, was destroyed sometime before 1834. It was succeeded by the Upper White Horse Stone [see TQ76SE11] which has inherited the legend of the former. (2) The original stone lay in the NW angle of the Pilgrims' Road and the Rochester-Maidstone road, and was broken up before 1834. A literary legend connects it with the Battle of Aylesford, c. 455. (3) Kentish Standard Stone included in list of `Megalithic Remains, probably Burial Chambers'. (4) Kentish Standard Stone or Lower White Horse Stone - a single standing stone, destroyed c.1823. In schedule of doubtful sites. (5) Refers to the `White Horse Stone' as 'A stone some time since broken up and removed...' Account continues with `a report of a conversation with an old man' who recollected a large stone being broken up and human bones found beside it but it is uncertain whether the White Horse Stone or Smythe's Megalith - TQ76SE10 - is meant. (6) 'Account siting from WH Bensted's Map of c.1863 which is in our possession, and which is itself a reliable document'. (7) Antiquity Model has been prepared. (8) TQ 750603 Lower White Horse Stone or Kentish Standard Stone. A large upright stone once stood about 300m. west of the Upper White Horse Stone (TQ76SE11), but this was destroyed in 1823, without excavation. Its site is probably now under the dual-carriageway and its precise significance remains uncertain (10). Much nonsense has been written about its supposed association with Kits Coty and the standard of the Saxons (11). (9-11) Paul Ashbee has in recent years published several articles discussing the Medway Megaliths, with a particular emphasis on historical records and early investigations, with detailed bibliographic references. Discussing the Lower White Horse Stone, he suggests that "it may have remained from a long barrow, the stones of which have been mostly buried or broken up". This is highly speculative, particularly as there is no clear evidence that the stone was originally upright. (12-15)

<1> Maidstone Mus Office 6" (LRA Grove) undated (OS Card Reference). SKE46333.

<2> Beale Poste MSS (Maidstone Mus) Vol 3 Sect 3 p.109 (OS Card Reference). SKE37610.

<3> Arch Cant Vol 62 1949 p.135 (JH Evans) (OS Card Reference). SKE36415.

<4> Arch Cant Vol 63 1950 p.65 (JH Evans) (OS Card Reference). SKE36419.

<5> OS Prof Paper NS No 8 1924 (OGS Crawford) (OS Card Reference). SKE48425.

<6> Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of Eng and Wales 1950 p.235 (GE Daniel) (OS Card Reference). SKE48649.

<7> Gents Magazine 1824 Part II p.112 (DA Briton) (OS Card Reference). SKE43607.

<8> F1 ASP 26-MAY-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42310.

<10> F2 ASP 26-MAY-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE43175.

<11> Arch Cant 97 1981 233 (R Holgate) (OS Card Reference). SKE36280.

<12> Philp, B, 1981, A survey of the Medway megaliths, KAR 64: 87 (Article in serial). SKE24000.

<13> South East Eng 1970 101-2 (RF Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE49513.

<14> Oral: LRA Groves, Curator, Maidstone Museum. 25-MAY-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE48041.

<15> Field report for monument TQ 76 SE 12 - May, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4150.

Sources and further reading