White Horse Stone

The White Horse Stone is a name given to two separate sarsen megaliths on the slopes of Blue Bell Hill, near the village of Aylesford in the south-eastern English county of Kent [1]. The Lower White Horse Stone was destroyed prior to 1834, at which time the surviving Upper White Horse Stone took on its name and folkloric associations [1]. Various archaeologists have suggested—although not proven—that the stones were each part of chambered long barrows constructed in the fourth millennium BC [1]. Excavation has revealed the existence of an Early Neolithic longhouse near to the stone [1]. The Upper White Horse Stone is 2.9 metres in length, 1.65 metres in height, and about 0.6 metres thick [1]. The White Horse Stone is situated in "a narrow strip of woodland", known as Westfield Wood, which is adjacent to the Pilgrim's Way [1]. To the south of the White Horse Stone was a building—termed "Structure 4806" by its excavators in the 2000s—that was constructed in the Early Neolithic period [1]. Radiocarbon dating from the site suggests a usage date of between 4110-3820 and 3780-3530 calibrated BC [1].