page_title: London Stone
section_title: 18th century to early 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: London Stone / History / 18th century to early 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Church of St. Swithin's London Stone. Picture taken in 1962 just before the remains of this bomb-damaged church were finally demolished. London Stone is housed in the compartment at pavement level immediately below the "Griffiths" demolition board. For a modern close-up see 493195. There is also a Wikipedia arcticle on the church at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Swithin,_London_Stone The inscription above the stone read: "London Stone Commonly believed to be a Roman Work Long placed about 35 foot hence Towards the South West And afterwards built into the Wall of this Church Was for more careful Protection And transmission to Future Ages Better secured by the Churcwardens In the Year of Our Lord 1869 Edward Allfree M.A. Rector Henry Edward Murrell John Land Charles Cann Charles Curtoys Churchwardens Churchwardens St. Swithin St. Mary Bothaw" [Note: The rectory of St. Mary Bothaw was united with St. Swithin's after the Great Fire]. Scanned from an old photograph. Español: Iglesia de la Piedra de Londres de San Swithin. Foto tomada en 1962, justo antes de que fueran finalmente retirados los restos aún existentes de la iglesia dañada por bombas en 1940. La "Piedra de Londres" entonces se ubicaba en un compartimento a nivel del pavimento, e inmediatamente por debajo de la placa de demolición "Griffiths". Para apreciar la caseta o el compartimento posterior, consultar foto 493195. También puede consultarse el wikiartículo en inglés sobre la iglesia, en la dirección electrónica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Swithin,_London_Stone . La inscripción que marcaba la ubicación de la piedra, señalaba lo siguiente: "Piedra de Londres" - Se cree que perteneció a una obra romana&#160;; luego fue empotrada en la pared de esta iglesia, para una protección y conservación más segura, y así poder transmitir este vestigio a las futuras generaciones&#160;; en el año del Señor de 1869 (seguían nombres de autoridades).
context_page_description: London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm, the remnant of a once much larger object that had stood for many centuries on the south side of the street.
  The name "London Stone" was first recorded around the year 1100. The date and original purpose of the Stone are unknown, although it is possibly of Roman origin. There has been interest and speculation about it since the medieval period, but modern claims that it was formerly an object of veneration, or has some occult significance, are unsubstantiated.
context_section_description: In 1598 John Stow had commented that "if carts do run against it through negligence, the wheels be broken, and the stone itself unshaken", and by 1742 it was considered an obstruction to traffic. The remaining part of the Stone was then moved, with its protective cupola, from the south side of the street to the north side, where it was first set beside the door of St Swithin's Church, which had been rebuilt by Christopher Wren after its destruction in the Great Fire. It was moved again in 1798 to the east end of the church's south wall, and finally in the 1820s set in an alcove in the centre of the wall within a solidly built stone frame set on a plinth, with a circular aperture through which the Stone itself could be seen. In 1869 the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society arranged for the installation of a protective iron grille and an explanatory inscription in Latin and English on the church wall above it.
  During the 19th and 20th centuries London Stone was regularly referred to in popular London histories and guidebooks, and visited by tourists. During his stay in England in the 1850s the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne recorded a visit to London Stone in his journal, noting the indentations on the top "which are said to have been made by Jack Cade’s sword". In 1937 Arthur Mee, founder of The Children's Newspaper and author of The King's England series of guidebooks, described it as "a fragment of its old self [...] said by some to have been a stone set up in Stone Age days".  The American archaeologist George Byron Gordon was more expansive (and fanciful) in the course of his Rambles in Old London, published in 1924. London Stone, he tells us, was "the very oldest object in London streets". "The Mediaeval Kings after their coronations used to strike London Stone with their swords in token of the City’s submission" (followed of course by a reference to Jack Cade). "It was an object of great antiquity when the Romans arrived and their predecessors the ancient Britons found it on their arrival more than two thousand years before. It was erected by the people of the New Stone Age [...]."
caption: Demolition of St Swithin's church, 1962: the casing containing London Stone is still in the wall.
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