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icymist

(15,888 posts)
Thu Oct 11, 2018, 08:17 PM Oct 2018

'Stone of London' is returned to Cannon Street

LONDON — The ‘stone of London’ has been returned to its rightful place this autumn. But what’s the history behind this sooty old piece of oolitic limestone? Where has it been? And why is its return a matter of importance?

The stone itself is a landmark at 111 Cannon Street, London. Its existence was first recorded in the 1100s. we don’t know when it was first cut or what it was for, although there has long been speculation that its origins are Roman – not an improbable speculation given the Roman roots of the capital. (We shall return to this hypothesis later in this article.) It is part of a larger piece of stone, but it was significant enough for rebel leader Jack Cade, in 1450, to strike it with his sword and declare himself to be ‘Lord of this city’ in opposition to King Henry VI.

In Shakespeare’s play about Henry’s reign, Cade declares:
“And here, sitting
upon London-stone, I charge and command that, of the
city’s cost, the pissing-conduit run nothing but
claret wine this first year of our reign.”

In Elizabethan times, the stone was a popular attraction. There were claims that it had stood there prior to the founding of the city. Later, William Blake depicted it as a Druidic altar stone on which human sacrifices had been conducted. He wrote, “And the Druid’s golden knife/Rioted in human gore,/ In offerings of human life./ They groan’d aloud on London stone.” And, there have even been claims that it was the stone from which King Arthur drew his sword Excalibur.

https://wildhunt.org/2018/10/stone-of-london-is-returned-to-cannon-street.html
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'Stone of London' is returned to Cannon Street (Original Post) icymist Oct 2018 OP
... handmade34 Oct 2018 #1
I'm currently reading London by Edward Rutherfurd. Staph Oct 2018 #2
It is a good book. rsdsharp Oct 2018 #3

Staph

(6,245 posts)
2. I'm currently reading London by Edward Rutherfurd.
Thu Oct 11, 2018, 11:13 PM
Oct 2018

The London Stone appears in several chapters, as a way of tying together the different eras portrayed. Rutherfurd supposes that the stone was placed in front of the Roman Governor's Palace (probably true!) and served as the milepost from which all roads' mileposts are measured (interesting theory but unproven!).

Good book, if you're a fan of the James Michner-style of writing, covering many time periods through the families that live there.


rsdsharp

(9,042 posts)
3. It is a good book.
Fri Oct 12, 2018, 11:26 AM
Oct 2018

I've also read his Sarum and Russka. In somewhat the same style is Ken Follett's Century trilogy.

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