The Countless Stones (Little Kit's Coty House)
A mere stone's throw away from Kit's Coty House is the Countless Stone, who are more commonly known as Little Kit's Coty House. Now if you take any notice to the folklore behind them then this is a little bit insulting to Horsa as that means his final resting place has been degraded down to a smaller version of his rival's, but otherwise the two sites don't share much visually with each other. We very much doubt they did even before they were in a ruinous state.
Now the Countless Stones is another site that can be dated back to the Early Neolithic period and the professionals reckon that it was constructed around 4000 BCE. As we mentioned in our post on KCH, the Countless Stones are part of a series of long barrows localised to the Medway region so are known collectively as the Medway Megaliths. These one specifically consists of a series of half buried sarsen stones that are thought to have been a tomb similar to the Coldrum Stones on the other side of the river. The site was defaced by the stones being pushed over at some point in the 17th century, and sadly we don't know what it would have looked like prior to this event as the site wasn't yet of any interest. We do know that this site boasts the largest sarsen stones out of the Medway Megalith group so that shows that it was important in a different way to the others due to the fact the stone size was larger. Depending on who you believe it is recorded that there are anywhere between 19 and 21 stones at the site, but this leads us onto an interesting bit of superstitious folklore, so more on that later.
Noting the history of the area we'd suggest you take a look at our post on Kit's Coty House as it seems a bit daft recounting it again, but for the most part long barrows were popular with settlements in the Neolithic age and this was a prime location.
But what is the point of these sites? Well communities within the Early Neolithic period felt death had a greater meaning than some of those who came before them. So the burial ritual was a bit more elaborate for these settlements, especially as they believed that the spirits of the dead could meddle with the forces of nature in order to make life better for their living relatives. By making their remains comfortable the thought is that crops would grow better and thus life would be better among other things. It has been noted following investigation into several sites as these that they also doubles as shrines and it is thought that people would visit the tombs and make offerings and perform rituals to request help and guidance from the dead. They almost became like temples, these tombs, it seems the dead in Neolithic times took on a higher power and their burial places seemed to reflect this.
In terms of folklore, obviously we have the fact that Horsa, of Hengist and Horsa fame, was laid to rest here following his death and Catigern is buried at KCH. But there is another story whispered among the community and it is how the stones got their alternative name.
Known as the Countless Stones, the legend has it that the stones are uncountable, but this arose after they had been pushed over. To this day evidence remains of people attempting to count the stones in order to prove the legend true or false, but the idea is that no one can count them as either to prevent you from doing so. Through this, the count is different every time you try, but if you get the same number three times in a row then you'll be unalived!
Another version flips this on its head and says if you manage to count them three times in a row with the right number then your hearts desire is fulfilled. But it is mostly the former one tat is remembered, especially when you recount the story where the baker placed a loaf of bread on each to count them, but the devil removed each one before appearing before the man! We opted not to count the stones as to be honest we don't need any more bad luck than we already have, and considering they're on a main road which was pretty hard to get to, we'd rather not risk it.
Now maintained by English Heritage, the site is open at all hours of the day, although why you would want to risk your life to get here we don't know. The site itself is actually really cool and it is an awful shame that it isn't more accessible for people to visit as we reckon it would be a great site for school trips and such, but there aren't many signs and its dangerous parking at a layby a while up the road and then trying to walk down the busy road to get there. It is a little creepy, but when you stand there and listen to the birds alongside the buzz of the electricity cables next door, you can almost be transported back to a time where it was peaceful. We recommend just standing still and taking it in if you did visit!
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