London Stone
This is a fragment of the original piece of limestone once securely fixed in the ground now fronting Cannon Street Station. Removed in 1742 to the north side of the street, in 1798 it was built into the south wall of the Church of St Swithun London Stone which stood here until demolished in 1962. Its origin and purpose are unknown but in 1188 there was a reference to Henry, son of Eylwin de Londenstane, subsequently Lord Mayor of London.
This is the text that was on top of the cubicle in which the Stone sat from about 1962. We took the photo of the 1960s building in 2015 but it was impossible to see whether the Stone was still in place or not.
The Stone was on this site before the 1960s building was erected, and the plaque then 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 Churchwardens 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"
This text was found at .
After the 1666 Great Fire St. Mary Bothaw and St. Swithin's were united, which explains the bit of the inscription.
Site: London stone (2 memorials)
EC4, Cannon Street, 111
Google Street View for June 2016 shows the Stone (well, its cubicle, at least) in the old building. By May 2019 the new building can be seen with a new, very similar, cubicle in an identical position. The Museum of London looked after the Stone and had it on display during the building works.
All this just draws attention to the fact that a near-identical building has replaced the perfectly acceptable 1960s one. It's even the same height, presumably capped by the rules about sight-lines to monuments such as St Paul's Cathedral. In a climate emergency why are we allowing these like-for-like redevelopments, when the existing buildings could be renovated and brought up to present-day specs, without the massive load of embedded carbon?
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