LONDON — The ‘stone of London’ has been returned to its rightful place this autumn. But what’s the history behind this sooty old piece of oolitic limestone? Where has it been? And why is its return a matter of importance?

The stone itself is a landmark at 111 Cannon Street, London. Its existence was first recorded in the 1100s. we don’t know when it was first cut or what it was for, although there has long been speculation that its origins are Roman – not an improbable speculation given the Roman roots of the capital. (We shall return to this hypothesis later in this article.) It is part of a larger piece of stone, but it was significant enough for rebel leader Jack Cade, in 1450, to strike it with his sword and declare himself to be ‘Lord of this city’ in opposition to King Henry VI.

In Shakespeare’s play about Henry’s reign, Cade declares:
“And here, sitting
upon London-stone, I charge and command that, of the
city’s cost, the pissing-conduit run nothing but
claret wine this first year of our reign.”

In Elizabethan times, the stone was a popular attraction. There were claims that it had stood there prior to the founding of the city. Later, William Blake depicted it as a Druidic altar stone on which human sacrifices had been conducted. He wrote, “And the Druid’s golden knife/Rioted in human gore,/ In offerings of human life./ They groan’d aloud on London stone.” And, there have even been claims that it was the stone from which King Arthur drew his sword Excalibur.