It is said that the White Horse pub got its name from the tale of the headless horse when it opened at the start of the nineteenth century, so the story certainly goes back much further than that.
White Horse Lane is said to be haunted by the ghost of a headless horse. White Horse Lane sits more or less on the boundary between Danelaw and the Saxons and one story is that the haunting dates back to a battle which took place there between the Saxons and the Vikings in 1002 when a white horse was beheaded in battle and haunts the Lane to this day.
Another story is more recent and dates back to the English Civil War when, it is claimed, Farmer Pennyfather, a Royalist, was beheaded by the Roundheads and his head put on a spike in the farmyard at Welches. The Roundheads tried to take Pennyfather’s favourite horse, but it would not leave. So it, too, was beheaded and has haunted the lane ever since.
There have been many claimed sightings of the headless horse in White Horse Lane and many people find it an intimidating and frightening road to navigate at night. When the horse was the main form of transport, it was said horses would not walk the lane at night. Cars do not appear to have the same problem.