London Stone is the name given to a number of

boundary stones A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other t ...

that stand beside the rivers

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

and

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

, which formerly marked the limits of jurisdiction (

riparian water rights Riparian water rights (or simply riparian rights) is a system for allocating water among those who possess land along its path. It has its origins in English common law. Riparian water rights exist in many jurisdictions with a common law heri ...

) of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

History

Until 1350,

the English Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive government spec ...

held the right to fish the rivers of England and charged

duties A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...

on those people it licensed to fish. In 1197

King Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

, in need of money to finance his involvement in the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

, sold the rights over the lower reaches of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

to the

. Marker stones were erected to indicate the limit of the City's rights. In

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

times, the

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

would come in procession by water and touch the Staines stone with a sword to re-affirm the City's rights. Control of the river passed from the City to the

Thames Conservancy The Thames Conservancy (formally the Conservators of the River Thames) was a body responsible for the management of River Thames, that river in England. It was founded in 1857 to replace the jurisdiction of the City of London up to Staines-upon-T ...

, and then below Teddington to the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

and above it to

Thames Water Authority The Thames Water Authority was a UK regional water authority created by the Water Act 1973 to consolidate water management in the river Thames catchment area. It was dissolved in 1989 due to the privatisation of the water industry. Predeces ...

and finally the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

Staines

In medieval times before the canalisation of the Thames, Staines, was the highest point at which the high tide was perceivable for a few minutes every

semi-diurnal A diurnal cycle (or diel cycle) is any pattern that recurs every 24 hours as a result of one full rotation of the planet Earth around its axis. Earth's rotation causes surface temperature fluctuations throughout the day and night, as well as we ...

tide (twice a day), adding some millimetres to the water depth compared to more upstream parishes. This London Stone marked the upstream limit of the City's rights. The official role of a Corporation of London stone of 1285 beside Staines Bridge was set out with a grant of associated privileges in a charter of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

. Its use by the river is indicated by the indentations (on the right-hand face in the photo), caused by tow ropes of horse-drawn boats rubbing against the stone.

Relocation within Staines and replica

Staines is on the point where the north bank moves from east to north and has always been its site but the exact position has changed. #In c. 1750 the approx. 0.6 metre-tall half cube on a tall stone pillar was moved about 500 metres upstream to a site at by the river in the Lammas Pleasure Ground. #In 1986 the stone was moved to the Old Town Hall Arts Centre, Market Square and a replica was placed in the Pleasure Ground. #In 2004 the original was moved to Spelthorne Museum, Spelthorne Library, Friends Walk/Thames Street.

Features

The stone has been recarved in its lower section making its long base narrower than its top. Its sole inscription is a very eroded

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

'STANE' in its top section of uncertain date, the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

word for Stone (as in Stane Street). If the inscription is old enough this reinforces the traditional spelling, if not the pronunciation (as with Stane Street) of the name of the town, for which see

Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of English phonology, pronunciation changes in the vowels of the English language that took place primarily between the 1400s and 1600s (the transition period from Middle English to Early Modern English), begi ...

. It is possible that there was more than one such stone, explaining the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

name of the town, which was established many centuries after the Romans noted they called their staging post at the bridge, Ad Pontes. The lower carved area has a shield in relief as is its motif section below with eroded inscriptions. It stands on a much wider plinth inscribed with the names of various City worthies who may have been involved in its 1750 move. The replica, due to its location, is in the lowest category of architecture, a

Grade II listed structure In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

partly achieved since it happens to stand on the point of one of the former

coal-tax post Coal-tax posts are boundary marker posts found in southern England. They were erected in the 1860s and form an irregular loop between 12 and 18 miles from London to mark the points where taxes on coal were due to the Corporation of London. The ...

s. Martin Nail included the Stone as No. 83 in his list of London boundary marks.

Yantlet line

The historic downstream limit of the City's rights is about 33.5 miles (54 km) as the crow flies from London Bridge and is marked on both banks of the Thames: by the Crow Stone to the north and by the London Stone to the south. The line between the Crow Stone and the London Stone, Yantlet Creek is known as the ''Yantlet Line''.

London Stone (Yantlet)

On the south bank, the marker is the London Stone which stands at beside the mouth of

Yantlet Yantlet Creek is the creek draining into the River Thames that separated the Isle of Grain from the Hoo peninsula. It once connected the River Medway with the River Thames and made the Isle of Grain a true island. The creek silted up and now dra ...

Creek on the

Isle of Grain Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the unitary authority, district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. Once an island and now forming part of the peninsul ...

. The overall height of the monument is about 8 metres. The main column has an inscription, now illegible. The plinth on which it stands has an inscription listing various worthy gentlemen who were probably involved in the re-erection of the stone in Victorian times. They include

Horatio Thomas Austin Sir Horatio Thomas Austin (10 March 1800 – 16 November 1865) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer. Biography Austin was born in England on 18 March 1800, the son of an official in the Chatham Dockyard. In 1828, was dispatched on ...

and Warren Stormes Hale, sometime Lord Mayor and founder of the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

Crow Stone

The marker on the north bank is almost due north of Yantlet Creek and is called the Crow Stone (also known as Crowstone or City Stone). It stands at on the mud opposite the end of Chalkwell Avenue,

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

(two nearby roads are called Crowstone Avenue and Crowstone Road). It was erected in 1837 and replaced a smaller stone, dating from 1755. The older stone was removed to Priory Park in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

, where it remains today. It is likely that there has been a marker on this site and at Yantlet since 1285. The Old Crowstone (as it is named in the official listing entry) was designated as a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

at Grade II in 1974. The new Crow Stone was listed at Grade II in 2021.

Upnor

Two London Stones stand at , between the Arethusa Venture Centre and the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

Lower Upnor Lower Upnor and Upper Upnor are two small villages in Medway, Kent, England. They are in the parish of Frindsbury Extra on the western bank of the River Medway. Today the two villages are mainly residential and a centre for small craft moored ...

, Kent. The older, smaller stone was erected in the eighteenth century, and bears the date 1204 as part of its main inscription. It carries on its rear the words "God preserve the City of London".Image description
at Geograph Apart from that, the inscriptions of both stones are merely the names of various lord mayors and years. They mark the limit of the charter rights of London fishermen.

References

External links

* Pages on

Geograph Geograph Britain and Ireland is a Web application, web-based project, begun in March 2005, to create a freely accessible archive of geographically located photographs of Great Britain and Ireland. Photographs in the Geograph collection are cho ...

for
London Stone, Staines
th
Crow StoneLondon Stone, Yantlet Creek

Google search for "Yantlet Line"
* The PLA page o

* {{coord , 51, 28, 31, N, 0, 40, 42, E, region:GB-SUR, display=title History of the City of London History of Middlesex Staines-upon-Thames Geography of Kent History of Kent Grain, Isle of Medway Grade II listed buildings in Surrey Buildings and structures in Southend-on-Sea Stones Boundary markers