2.9- The London Stone
In this week’s minisode we take a look around the few known facts about The London Stone, the most mysterious of the capital’s landmarks.
A City Landmark
One of the most fascinating things about The London Stone is that it has been a landmark in the City of London for over a thousand years. Texts stretching back to the early medieval period use the stone as a reference point or even remark on the stone’s mysterious origins. Londoners of all walks of life have either written about it, driven their carts over it or walked blithely past it. It was even one of the very first tourist attractions in London, being noted in an Elizabethan guide to the city as an interesting spot to visit.
City and Guilds
The London Stone, and its associated legend, are so indelibly linked with the city of London (the original city as marked out by Alfred the Great) that the various guilds and Lord Mayors often stopped over the years to make sure that it is well housed and looked after. But it did not have a regular inspection until it was taken under the protection of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers in the last decade. This ancient guild, whose responsibility was to inspect any aids to sight made in the bounds of the city, is often assocaited with the stone because of the old story of the guild using the stone to break examples of shoddy spectacles on the London Stone. Since the stone was moved to its new housing in 2018, the Worshipful Company of Masons and the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers have joined together to do an annual inspection of the stone, to ensure its continued good health.
Kingmaker
One of the earlier beliefs about the London Stone was that striking or sitting on it would make you lord of the city. This belief must be what led the rebel Jack Cade (pictured above) to strike the stone with his sword after he defeated King Henry VI forces and entered London in 1450. Cade’s rebellion was short lived but his symbolic act demonstrates the power of the stone in popular folklore. Cade ultimately couldn’t hold on to the power he’d claimed, even with the luck of the London Stone.