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London Stone in the Sixteenth Century
Previous page: Origins of London Stone
In John Stow's time - the sixteenth century - it was "pitched upright" and "fixed in the ground very deep, fastened with bars of iron, and otherwise so strongly set that if carts do run against it through negligence the wheels he broken and the stone itself unshaken."
Stow could not tell why the stone was there set; and "the time when, or any memory hereof, is none." But he found it mentioned before the Norman Conquest, and again in 1135.
The latter reference, like many that succeeded it, connects London Stone with the residences of men well known in the City of their day. Such references are interesting as evidence of the stone's continued importance in several centuries, when Londoners had so little doubt of its whereabouts that it served them as a direction.
By this time the stone had taken its place in medieval romance, and country folk who came to London ranked it among the sights.
Next page: Jack Cade
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