The White Horse Stone of the English

Gæþa wyrd swa hio scel.
(Goeth fate where it will)

Origins and evidence of the White Horse Stone of the English

The White Horse Stone of the English has its origins in the very earliest actions of English settlers to England. These actions and in particular the death of Horsa are recorded in manuscript.

Evidence for this is contained in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. It records that:

Hengest was already known on the continent as a hard fighter, and this pasasage from the Chronicles is the Saxon Advent to England of Adventus Saxonem (Saxonum.) The coming of the English. It is the arrival of these Germanic people led by Hengest and his brother Horsa, invited initially by the Byrthonic King Votigern that eventually led to the creation of England. Five years or so after inviting the Jutish mercenaries to his kingdom, Voritgern angers them after he ‘Welshes’on a deal with them – where the word comes from. The Jutes attack him. The Old English script in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles records that:

The translation of this is in essnce that Hengest and Horsa fought against King Vortigern in the place that is called Aylesford – in Kent in southern England, and his brother Horsa was killed, and after that Hengest and his son Æsc took the Kentish kingdom. (Hengest may have died in 488 AD leaving Æsc to rule the kingdom of Cantware he had created from the conquests over the Brythons. His soldiers were known as the ‘Men of Kent.’)

It is said that a monument was raised in his memory. White Horse Stone near Maidstone is the traditional site, and may actually have been where Horsa was buried. It is thus of national significance to the English.

The story of Hengest (Hengist) and Horsa. The beginnings of England.

As stated above – Hengest was a well-known warrior prior to his adventures on this Island. One reason why the Britons sent to his hall in Denmark was to ask him to act as a mercenary for them against the Picts. The English historian the Venerable Bede, also recorded events, like that of Horsa and Hengest the 'divine twins' or culture heroes, mentioned in the Finnsberg fragment and the Beowuf poem. In these texts, Hengest is a Danish warrior who takes control of the Danish forces after the prince Hnaef is killed, and succeeds in killing the Frisian lord Finn in revenge for his lord's death. The events in these accounts had a historical basis, and have been supposed by historians to occur in approximately 450 AD. This makes these events contemporary with the Anglo- Saxon invasion of England.

Hengest has variously been described as Jute or Frisian or Saxon. In truth all English warriors went by the term Saxon at some time as the embattled Britons would not have known who was who. In modern German and Dutch 'Hengst' and in the Scandinavian languages 'Hingst' is still the word for a stallion. But he may have been a very prolific fighter. Remembering that Saxon / English war bands of this time could move very fast cross country – it is said that he chased his erstwhile ally Vortigern into what is now Wales and may have pushed the Picts into Scotland as far as Dumfries (‘town of the Frisians.’) Hengest eventually kills Vortigern and the English Anglo-Saxon tribes begin to dominate across what was to become England.

What remains today of the White Horse Stone

Today there are those among the English who honour these early kindred as an expression of our Heathen past and present. The White Horse Stone remains in Kent today as do many White Horse hill carvings across England. They represent the English presence in the land, together with hundreds of thousands of graves and other markers