Note 5 — Chapter XV · How Wulnoth came to Alfred

King Alfred was born at Wantage, not far from the White Horse of Berkshire. The White Horse itself, cut in the chalk, was probably the work of the early Jutes under Hengist and Horsa, which names, by the way, signify a horse and a mare. The white horse was the ensign of the Old Saxons; and hence it is, to this day, found upon the shield of Brunswick and Hanover. There exists near Wantage, the remains of the ancient long barrow or burying place, called Weyland Smith's forge, celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of "Kenilworth." It owes its name to the old Norse deity, Volundr, who was the blacksmith of their mythology, as Vulcan was amongst the Greeks and Romans.