Searching For The Mystical London Stone

Early yesterday morning I ventured forth on a mission to find the mystical London Stone. This insignificant looking lump of limestone is reputed to ensure the safety of the city of London, I kid you not! There is a ancient myth that claims the Stone’s safety is linked to the city. “So long as the stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish”.

I’m not too sure how this myth works because only a small fragment of the original stone still exists today. So maybe as long as some of the London Stone exists in one piece the city shall remain safe. You would have thought the guardians of London would have preserved such an important piece of history with a little bit more care! What I want to know is what happened to the rest of the stone?

The London Stone isn’t too tricky to find, head to 111 Cannon Street, open your eyes and peer through a metal grill on the wall and there it is. It is protected by a glass case nowadays…you know how people are. Blink and you would have some crazed Russian tourist attempting to hack bits off with a chisel trying to get a cheap souvenir.

The truth of the matter is that nobody knows the real history behind the London Stone. How old the is  stone and what was it’s original significance are not fully known…go ask Harry Potter he will make up something that sounds good! They were such bad people thousands of years ago, not leaving detailed records for us to pry into the past!

One of the legends regarding the mystical London stone is that Brutus of Troy founded London around 1070 BC. Following  the destruction of the city of Troy,  Brutus and his followers who were known as ‘Britons’ set out to find new lands and London was where they ended up. It is claimed that the London Stone was the altar piece from the Temple. It all makes sense to me!

Another theory, which exists is that the London Stone, is actually Roman and was used by them to measure all distances from in Britain. The only bit missing form this story is that there are no Roman records verifying such an important landmark.

Whatever the true origin of the London Stone, what cannot be disputed is the importance of this lump of rock regarding being recognised as the symbolic heart of the City of London. For many hundreds of years, it was a place where deals were made, oaths and pledges were sworn. By 1198 the London Stone was a prominent landmark and it was referred to on maps as Lonenstane or Londenstane.

To dwelve further into the history of the London Stone head on over to the BBC.

The London Stone  is pure history, there are so  many amazing stories and theories behind it, yet thousands of people walk past it every day not even realising there is anything there. This lump of ancient and mystical limestone must be the most the most unnoticed and unloved tourist attractions in the City of London.

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