London Stories

Back in the early 90's I did a project for a few months here. It's St. Swithins Lane (after the famous rain predicting 9th Century Bishop of Winchester) in the City of London and the project was for a famous old firm called "Rothschilds". It wasn't the banking part but their asset management division, still, we all got cups of tea and biscuits brought to our desks twice a day by men wearing white gloves! Anyway, it was quite interesting working in the City every day but a bit of a slog to commute on the train, it meant getting up at the crack of dawn and getting home late but worst of all was negotiating "the drain" aka the Waterloo and City line every morning, talk about rat race! 

The lane itself is named after a church that used to be at one end of it, like a lot of buildings in the City what the great fire didn't get the Germans did in WWII and it's not there anymore however, one of the artefacts from the ancient building is still located at the end of this lane and it's on display for all to see, however, most people have never heard of it. The London Stone is supposedly an ancient druidic alter stone (or Roman in origin, or a relic from the mythical founder of London, King Lud, or even pre-historic) that has been cherished by people for centuries and has built up one of those myths linking it to the prosperity of the City, i.e. if the stone leaves then London falls etc. In reality no one really knows what it is (apart from Limestone) and according to medieval records it used to be much bigger than it is today! It can be seen housed in a special display case built into the wall of a modern office block on Cannon St., right next to the Southern entrance to St. Swithins Lane, see picture below..

There's an inscription beside the stone and it reads as follows,

"The remaining part of London Stone, which once stood in the middle of Cannon Street, slightly west of its present location. Its original purpose is unknown, although it may be Roman and related to Roman buildings that lay to the south. It was already called 'London Stone' in the 12th century and became an important city landmark. In 1450 Jack Cade, leader of the rebellion against the corrupt government of Henry VI, struck it with his sword and claimed to be Lord of London.

In 1742, London Stone was moved to the north side of the street and eventually set in an alcove in the wall of St. Swithin's church on this site.

The church was bombed in the Second World War and demolished in 1961–2, and London Stone was incorporated into a new office building on the site. Following redevelopment it was placed in its present location in 2018."

Whatever it's original purpose, if any, what is clear is that we primates can't resist a good (supposedly supernatural) lump of rock!