White horse of Kent
Encyclopedia
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, a county in South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
.
The figure of the prancing (or rampant in heraldry) white horse
White Horse
- Mythology and symbolism :* White horse * White horse of Kent, a heraldic symbol- Coat colors :* Gray , most common white horse coat only becoming white at maturity* White , horse coat/skin mostly lacking in pigmentation...
can also be referred to as Invicta, which is the motto of Kent
Invicta (motto)
Invicta was used in Roma invicta meaning "Unconquered Rome" and is the motto of the county of Kent, England.-Theories of origin:...
.
Origin
The white horseHorse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
of Kent is the old symbol for the Jutish
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
kingdom of Kent
Kingdom of Kent
The Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...
, dating from the 6th - 8th century.
The white horse relates to the emblem of Horsa, the brother of Hengest
Hengest
Hengist and Horsa are figures of Anglo-Saxon, and subsequently British, legend, which records the two as the Germanic brothers who led the Angle, Saxon, and Jutish armies that conquered the first territories of Great Britain in the 5th century AD...
, who defeated the King Vortigern
Vortigern
Vortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...
near Aylesford
Aylesford
Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England.Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. One pub, a Post Office and four small independent shops remain...
. The first recorded reference to the white horse can be found in Restitution of Decayed Antiquities from 1605 by Richard Verstegan. The book shows an engraving of Hengist and Horsa landing in Kent in 449
449
Year 449 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Astyrius and Romanus...
under the banner of a rampant white horse. Indeed, continental origins of this emblem can be found from the coat of arms of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, the Dutch region of Twente
Twente
Twente is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel...
, the House of Welf (who adapted it in the late 14th century; before then the Welf coat of arms was a golden lion on red ground) and the modern German State of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
: the Saxon Steed
Saxon Steed
The Saxon Steed is a favorite heraldic motif of the Saxons.-Origin and past uses:The Saxon Steed originated in the tribal Duchy of Saxony...
. Some historians note that Jutes
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
migrating to Kent through the continent may have been associated with the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
south of the Saxons.
Usage
The horse is a key part of the official coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the county, and appears on the coat of arms of many of the Boroughs of Kent and on the University of Kent coat of arms. The horse is depicted on the Flag of Kent
Flag of Kent
The Flag of Kent is the flag of the English county of Kent. It features the white horse of Kent on a red background, a theme used in several other Kent related coats of arms and logos or symbols...
and forms part of the modern logos of Kent County Council
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 84 elected councillors...
, the Kent Fire and Rescue Service
Kent Fire and Rescue Service
Kent Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Kent covering a geographical area south of London, to the coast and including major shipping routes via the Thames and Medway rivers. The total coastline covered is ; it has 67 fire stations, and 4 district fire...
and the Kent Police
Kent Police
Kent Police is the territorial police force for Kent in England, including the unitary authority of Medway.-Area and organisation:The force covers an area of with an approximate population of 1,660,588 . The Chief Constable is currently Ian Learmonth, who was appointed in 2010 and is the former...
.
The horse also features on the logos of many companies and sports teams in Kent. It was used on the former Invictaway
Invictaway
Invictaway was an express commuter coach service from Kent to London in the 1980s and 1990s, and was also a holding company for the emerging Arriva group...
London commuter coaches operated by Maidstone & District. A large number of pubs in the county also feature White Horse in their name, although this also occurs around the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and may not necessarily relate to the Kent horse.
See also
- Folkestone White HorseFolkestone White HorseThe Folkestone White Horse is a white horse hill figure, carved into Cheriton Hill, Folkestone, Kent, South East England. It overlooks the English terminal of the Channel Tunnel and was completed in June 2003....
, a hill figure in Kent. - White Horse StoneWhite Horse StoneThe Upper and Lower White Horse Stones are names given to two sarsen megaliths on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. They are generally considered to be fragmentary examples of the Neolithic chamber tomb group known as the Medway megaliths...
, megaliths near AylesfordAylesfordAylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England.Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. One pub, a Post Office and four small independent shops remain...
, Kent. - The White Horse at Ebbsfleet, alternate name for the planned Angel of the SouthAngel of the SouthThe White Horse at Ebbsfleet, formerly the Ebbsfleet Landmark, colloquially the Angel of the South, is a planned white horse statue to be built in the Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent, England...
sculpture in Ebbsfleet, Kent.