Mr. Fletcher [in ‘Antiquity’] says that Gildas’ mention of a monument erected in Kent to Horsa and bearing his name should be treated with scepticism. Was not the White Horse Stone near Aylesford supposed to be this ” monument” ? An erratic boulder, probably ; but Gildas as quoted does not say that a monument was set up, only that one bore Horsa’s name after he was slain in battle and buried in Kent.
That the locality of the White Horse Stone used to be haunted by a white horse and its rider (who was buried thereabouts), both of them wrapped in flame, might be thought to have perpetuated a memory of cremation, if such a theory were not so shockingly unscientific.
At any rate, Aylesford seems to have been a horsy neighbourhood long before it saw any Saxons. Excavations there have unearthed, decorative steeds that were lying buried when Caesar came—strange-looking creatures fit to have sired the Ufnngton effigy.
From Notes and Queries, August 14, 1943.