The London Stone

The London Stone is a 2,000-year-old block of Rutland oolitic limestone located in London, historically linked to a Roman governor's palace and famous medieval rebellions. In 1450, rebel leader Jack Cade struck his sword against it to claim rule over the city, an act featured in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part Two. Although popularized as an ancient Trojan relic, historian John Clark showed its protective prophecy was created around 1862.

London Β· from the walk β€œSecret London: Hidden Alleys, Ancient Stones & Forgotten Stories” Β· audio ~3 min Β· Generated

105 Cannon Street, London EC4N 5AD

Why did rebel leader Jack Cade strike the London Stone in 1450?

Look through the glass in front of you... and you'll see one of London's strangest survivors. A rough, pale block of limestone, barely bigger than a carry-on suitcase. It doesn't look like much. But this... is the London Stone. And for nearly two Thousand years, it has been sitting at the heart of this city, refusing to disappear.......... Geologically, it's a block of oolitic limestone that originally came from Rutland, a type of stone that doesn't occur naturally anywhere near London, meaning someone deliberately brought it here. But who? And why? That's the mystery no one has been able to solve.......... Archaeologists in the nineteen sixties discovered that in its original location, the Stone would have been aligned with the centre of a massive Roman building... tentatively identified as a Praetorium, possibly the Roman governor's Palace itself. Some believe the Stone was originally a monument erected in the palace forecourt. Imagine... the very spot where the Roman governor of Britannia held power.......... In fifteen ninety-eight, the historian John Stow described it as "a great stone... pitched upright, fixed in the ground verie deep, fastened with bars of iron." A French visitor twenty years earlier recorded it standing three feet high above ground, much larger than what you see today. It seems to have been damaged by the Great Fire of sixteen sixty-six, which destroyed all the surrounding buildings.......... Now here's where it gets dramatic. In fourteen fifty, Jack Cade, leader of a rebellion against the corrupt government of Henry the Sixth, entered the city with his men, struck his sword on London Stone, and claimed to be "Lord of this city." There doesn't seem to be a record of any existing tradition behind this, so Cade might have simply been indulging in theatrics... but it was compelling enough for Shakespeare to include it in Henry the Sixth, Part Two, where he transformed the stone into a rebel's throne.......... And then there's the prophecy. It has been called the Stone of Brutus, linked to the legend that it was part of an altar built by Brutus of Troy, the mythical Trojan founder of London... with the saying: "So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish." Sounds ancient, doesn't it? But according to historian John Clark, "It isn't an ancient rhyme." It was actually invented by an eccentric Welsh clergyman around eighteen sixty-two. A myth... barely a hundred and sixty years old, disguised as ancient wisdom.......... Today, the Worshipful Company of Masons and the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers inspect the Stone every May, verifying its continued existence. Just to be safe. Because in London... you don't take chances with a two-thousand-year-old puzzle that might just be holding the whole city together.

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