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TY - ELEC
A1 - Jenstad, Janelle
ED - Jenstad, Janelle
T1 - London Stone
T2 - The Map of Early Modern London
ET - 6.6
PY - 2021
DA - 2021/06/30
CY - Victoria
PB - University of Victoria
LA - English
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/LOND2.htm
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/xml/standalone/LOND2.xml
ER -
London Stone was, literally, a stone
that stood on the south side of what is now Cannon Street (formerly Candlewick Street). Probably Roman in origin, it is
one of London’s oldest relics. On the Agas map, it is visible as a small
rectangle between Saint Swithin’s
Lane and Walbrook Street, just
below the nd
consonant cluster in the label Londonſton
.
Programmer, 2018-present. Junior Programmer, 2015-2017. Research Assistant, 2014-2017. Joey Takeda was a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in the Department of English (Science and Technology research stream). He completed his BA honours in English (with a minor in Women’s Studies) at the University of Victoria in 2016. His primary research interests included diasporic and indigenous Canadian and American literature, critical theory, cultural studies, and the digital humanities.
Data Manager, 2015-2016. Research Assistant, 2013-2015. Tye completed his undergraduate honours degree in English at the University of Victoria in 2015.
Research Assistant, 2010. At the time of his work with MoEML, Liam Sarsfield was a fourth-year honours English student at the University of Victoria. He now works at MetaLab.
Director of Pedagogy and Outreach, 2015–present. Associate Project Director, 2015–present. Assistant Project Director, 2013-2014. MoEML Research Fellow, 2013. Kim McLean-Fiander comes to
Janelle Jenstad is Associate Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of
Programmer at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC) who maintained the
Programmer at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC). Martin ported the MOL project from its original PHP incarnation to a pure eXist database implementation in the fall of 2011. Since then, he has been lead programmer on the project and has also been responsible for maintaining the project schemas. He was a co-applicant on MoEML’s 2012 SSHRC Insight Grant.
Rebel leader.
Playwright and poet.
Historian and author of
Candlewick, Candlewright, or, later, Cannon Street, ran east-west from Walbrook Street in the west to the beginning of Eastcheap at its eastern terminus. Candlewick Street became Eastcheap somewhere around St. Clements Lane, and led into a great meat market (Stow 1:217). Together with streets such as Budge Row, Watling Street, and Tower Street, which all joined into each other, Candlewick Street formed the main east-west road through London between Ludgate and Posterngate.
The city of London, not to be confused with the allegorical character (
The Little Conduit (Cheapside), also known as the Pissing Conduit, stood at the western end of Cheapside Street outside the north corner of Paul’s Churchyard. On the Agas map, one can see two water cans on the ground just to the right of the conduit.
Walbrook Ward is west of Candlewick Street Ward. The ward is named after the Walbrook, a river that ran through the heart of London, from north to south. The river was filled in and paved over so that it was hardly discernable by
Candlewick Street Ward is west of Bridge Within Ward. Its main street is Candlewick Street (Stow 1633, sig. X3v).
Aldgate was the easternmost gate into the walled
city. The name Aldgate
is thought to come from one of four sources:
Eastern gate
(Ekwall 36), ale
, public gate
or open to all
, or old gate
(Bebbington
20–21).
Holy Trinity Priory, located west of Aldgate and north of Leadenhall
Street, was an Augustinian Priory. in the parishes of Saint Marie Magdalen, S. Michael, S. Katherine, and the blessed Trinitie, which now was made but one Parish of the holy Trinitie
(Stow).
Before
St. Paul’s Cathedral was—and remains—an important church in London. In
London Wall was a long street running along the inside of the northern part of the City Wall. It ran east-west from the north end of Broad Street to Cripplegate (Prockter and Taylor 43). The modern London Wall street is a major traffic thoroughfare now. It follows roughly the route of the former wall, from Old Broad Street to the Museum of London (whose address is 150 London Wall).
Located in Broad Street Ward and Cornhill Ward, the Royal Exchange was opened in
As the only bridge in London crossing the Thames until
Billingsgate (Bylynges gate or Belins Gate), a water-gate and harbour located on the north side
of the Thames between London Bridge
and the Tower of London, was
London’s principal dock in
Eastcheap Street ran east-west, from
Tower Street to St. Martin’s Lane. West of New Fish Street/Gracechurch Street, Eastcheap was known as Great Eastcheap
. The portion of the street to the
east of New Fish Street/Gracechurch Street was known as Little Eastcheap
. Eastcheap (Eschepe or Excheapp) was the site of a medieval food market.
Leadenhall Street ran east-west from Cornhill Street to Aldgate Street. All three form part of the same road from Aldgate to Cheapside Street (Weinreb and Hibbert 462). The street acquired its name from Leadenhall, a onetime house and later a market. The building was reportedly famous for having a leaden roof (Bebbington 197).
Fenchurch Street (often called pork and peas
after her sister,
Tower Street ran east-west from Tower Hill in the east to St. Andrew Hubbard. It was the principal street of Tower Street Ward. That the ward is named after the street indicates the cultural significance of Tower Street, which was a key part of the processional route through London and home to many wealthy merchants who traded in the goods that were unloaded at the docks and quays immediately south of Tower Street (for example, Billingsgate, Wool Key, and Galley Key).
Crutched Friars was a street that ran east-west from Poor Jewry Lane to the east end of Hart
Street above Seething Lane. When
Strand Lane was a narrow and rather winding thoroughfare leading to the Embankment a few yards to the east of Somerset House
(Thornbury).
A suburban neighbourhood located just north of Moorfields and outside Londonʼs City Wall, Shoreditch was a focal point of early modern theatrical culture. Following a boom in Londonʼs population
Bishopsgate Street ran north from Cornhill Street to the southern end of Shoreditch Street at the city boundary. South of
Cornhill, the road became Gracechurch Street, and the two streets formed a
major north-south artery in the eastern end of the walled city of London, from
London Bridge to Shoreditch. Important sites included: Bethlehem Hospital, a mental hospital, and Bull Inn, a place where plays were performed before
(Weinreb and Hibbert
67).
Abchurch Lane runs north-south from
Lombard Street to Candlewick Street. The
Agas Map labels it Abchurche
lane
. It lies mainly in Candlewick
Street Ward, but part of it serves as the boundary between Langbourne Ward and Candlewick Street Ward.
Our editorial and encoding practices are documented in detail in the Praxis section of our website.
Location:
Most modern readers of
Now is MortimerI.e., Cade. lord of this city. And here, sitting upon London Stone, I charge and command that, at the city’s cost, the Pissing Conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign. And now henceforward it shall be treason for any that calls me other than Lord Mortimer.
The 1594 stage direction in the first quarto (Q1) text of
Enter Iacke Cade and the reſt,and ſtrikes his ſword on London ſtone(Shakespeare sig. G1v). In the 1623 Folio stage direction, Cade
ſtrikes his ſtaffe on London ſtone(Shakespeare sig. O1r). The incident is recorded in contemporary chronicles.
rode thorough dyuers ſtretes of the cytie / and as he came by London ſtone, he ſtrake it with his ſwerde, and ſayd now is Mortymer lorde of this cytie(Fabyan sig. 2I5r). Likewise,
After that, he [Cade] entred into London, cut the ropes of the draw bridge, & ſtrooke his ſword on London ſtone; ſaieng, Now is Mortimer lord of this citie(Holinshed and Harrison sig. 3O3v). Clearly, London Stone had some cultural significance that made it an appropriate place for a royal challenger to stake his claim. (See also Stow 1:25.)
London Stone was, literally, a stone
that stood on the south side of what is now Cannon Street (formerly Candlewick Street). Probably Roman in origin, it is
one of London’s oldest relics. On the Agas map, it is visible as a small
rectangle between Saint Swithin’s
Lane and Walbrook Street, just
below the nd
consonant cluster in the label Londonſton
.
Stow frequently assumes his readers’ familiarity with London Stone. He invokes it as a landmark to orient his readers when describing potentially unfamiliar places. In fact, he mentions it at least five times in
On the south side of this high streete, neare vnto the channell
I.e., the gutter, in the middle of the street in is pitched vpright a great stone called London stone, fixed in the ground verie deepe, fastned with bars of iron, and otherwise so strongly set that if Cartes do runne against it through negligence, the wheeles be broken, and the stone it selfe vnshaken.Stow ’s dayThe cause why this stone was there set, the time when, or other memorie hereof, is none, but that the same hath long continued there is manifest, namely since (or rather before) the time of the conquest: for in the ende of a faire written Gospell booke giuen to Christes Church in Canterburie, by
Ethelstane king of the west Saxons [925–940 A.D.], I find noted of landes or rentes in London belonging to the sayd Church, whereof one parcell is described to lie neare unto London stone. Of later time we read that in the yeare of Christ 1135. the first of kingStephen a fire which began in the house of oneAilward , neare vnto London stone consumed all East to Aldgate, in the which fire the Priorie of the holy Trinitie was burnt, and west to S.Erkenwalds shrine in Paules Church: and these be the eldest notes that I reade therof.Some haue saide this stone to be set, as a marke in the middle of the Citie within the walles: but in truth it standeth farre nearer vnto the riuer of Thames, then to the wall of the Citie: some others haue saide the same to be set for the tendering and making of payment by debtors to their creditors, at their appoynted dayes, and times, till of later time, payments were more vsually made at the font in Powles Church, and now most commonly at the Royall Exchange: some againe haue imagined the same to bee set vp by one
Iohn orThomas Londonstone dwelling there agaynst, but more likely it is, that such men haue taken name of the stone, rather then the stone of them, as didIohn at Noke,Thomas at Stile,William at Wall or at Well, &c.
Even in
Londonstone.
Its original purpose has been the subject of much speculation by
archeologists and historians. It may have been a Roman measuring marker.
Smith notes that in 1833, during the construction of London Bridge a section of Roman road was
discovered that led in the direction of London Stone (33). Theories
going back to the historian William Camden (1551–1623) have it that the
Romans measured all distances throughout the island from London Stone (Kingsford 2:316; see also Weinreb
and Hibbert 477). Camden took London Stone to have beene a
(Camden sig. 2M6r). Camden thought
the stone predated the wall, thus implicitly addressing the rounded top
of an early wayside Roman funerary monument, whose base may still await
discovery on the south side of Cannon
Street
(Weinreb and Hibbert 478). They describe
the stone’s current appearance as weathered Clipsham limestone
with no
markings except a pair of grooves worn in the top
(Weinreb and Hibbert 478). However, archeological evidence from the
1980s seems to confirm Camden’s theory. Shepherd notes that it stood on the
line of the central axis of the supposed [governor’s] palace and on the
probable site of the principal entrance to it, where may well have stood a
monument or milestone from which distances throughout the province were to
be measured
(29n).
The first mayor of London, Henry Fitz-Alwin, lived at London Stone, and the site of his house has been
associated with the temporal governance of the city and the livery until the
twentieth century. Kingsford traces the history of the site back to Henry
Fitz-Alwin (1189?-1211) (Kingsford
2.315–16; Stow 2:149–152). In
the possession of the Prior of Tortington for a time, Fitz-Alwin’s house
passed to the Earls of Oxford at the dissolution of the religious houses in
the sixteenth century. The fifteenth and sixteenth Earls of Oxford (both
named John de Vere) made their London home here.
80. Gentlemen in a liuery of Reading Tawny(Stow 1:89). The earl’s homecoming must have been quite the spectacle, sure to have made an impact on the denizens of Candlewick Street. Known toand 100. tall yeomen in the like liuery
Oxford Houseor
Oxford place by London Stone(Stow 1:224, marginalia), the house was then home to two other mayors.
In this(Stow 1:224; see Stow 2:184 for dates of office). Sir John Hart’s daughter married Humphrey Smith, Alderman of Walbrook Ward (Kingsford 2.316), and they continued to live at the London Stone address. The house was purchased by the Salters’ Company in 1641 and became the site of their company hall until 1941 (Kingsford 2.316; see also the Salters’ Company online history of their hall).Oxford place sirAmbrose Nicholas [a Salter] kept his Maioralitie [1576–1576], and since him the said sirIohn Hart Sheriff in 1579-80, Mayor in 1589–90]
London Stone was a convenient
shorthand address for nearby shops and houses. a fire began in the house of one
This fire burned much of London, spreading to Aldgate in the east and to Paul’s Church in the west, and
damaging the timber bridge over the
Thames (Stow 1:22; see also Stow 1:139 and Stow 1:224–225). At
least two seventeenth-century booksellers lived near London Stone, as we can learn from the addresses
they included on the title pages of their stock. Phillip Waterhouse had a
shop at the signe of St. Pauls Head in Canon Street neare London
Stone
(Cobbes sig. π1r).
The title pages of books dated from 1629 to 1631 indicate the proximity of
his shop to London Stone. A slightly
later bookseller worked in the vicinity from at least 1643 to 1649. George
Lindsey sold books from his shop overagainst [
(
Bores head, néere London ſtone(West sig. B1r).
London Stone is mentioned throughout
the literature of the period. One of the odder texts in the corpus of early
modern London literature is a poem anthropomorphizing London Stone and the Boss at Billingsgate (a water conduit) as a man and woman
wishing to marry. London Stone,
described as curtes and gente
(i.e., courteous and gentle) (honeſt Country foole
in
Samuel Rowlands
Great tall Pauls Steeple and the royall-Exchange: / The Boſſe at(Rowlands sig. D3r).Billings-gate andLondon ſtone
ſet vp this bill at London ſtone. Let it be doone ſollemnly with Drom and Trumpet, and looke you aduance my collours on the top of the ſteeple right ouer againſt it [St. Swithin’s church steeple], that euery one of my Souldiers may keepe his quarter(Nashe sig. D3v). The bill that follows is
I Caualiero Paſquill, the writer of this ſimple hand, a young man, of the age of ſome few hundred yeeres, lately knighted in Englande, with a beetle and a bucking tub, to beat a little reaſon about Martins head, doe make this my Proteſtation vnto the world, that if any man, woman, or childe, haue any thing to ſay againſt Martin the great, or any of his abettors, of what ſtate or calling ſoeuer they be, noble or ignoble, from the very Court-gates to the Coblers ſtall, if it pleaſe them theſe dark Winter-nights, to ſticke vppe their papers vppon London-ſtone, I will there giue my attendance to receiue them, from the day of the date heereof, to the full terme and reuolution of ſeuen yeeres next enſuing. Dated 20. Octobris. Anno Millimo, Quillimo, Trillimo, Per me venturous Paſquill the Caualiero.
This passage suggests that London
Stone might have functioned as a gathering place for popular
protest and dissemination of information, even though Pasquil does
characterize his act of diſplaying my Banners vpon London-ſtone
as an act of
(Nashe sig. D4r; i.e., soldier’s courage or
bravura). The Earl of Bulloigne’s sons in Thomas Heywood’s
Oh that I had with mee As many good lads, honeſt Prentiſes, From Eaſtcheap ,Canwicke-ſtreete , andLondon-ſtone ,To end this battell, as could wiſh themſelues Vnder my conduct if they knew me heere; The doubtfull daies ſucceſſe we need not feare.
In the subsequent city comedies and citizen romances that stage London in topographical particularity, the site is a common point of reference. In William Haughton’s
city comedy, a central development of the plot entails leading the foreign suitors away from the usurer Pisaro’s house. Once the English suitor Heigham has misled the Italian and French suitors to believe they are in Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch Street respectively, Frisco (servant to Pisaro), although outwitted himself, has a bit of fun with the foreign suitors’ lack of local knowledge. Pretending to lead them from Tower Street to Crutched Friars, Frisco can tell them that their route takes them past London Stone (south-west of Pisaro’s house), Ivy Bridge Lane (far west of the city, running south off theStrand en route to Westminster), and Shoreditch (far north of the City, accessed via Bishopsgate Street). In the late evening dark, Frisco finds his way by touch and smell.
I haue the ſcent ofLondon-ſtone as full in my noſe, asAbchurch-lane of motherWalles Paſties: Sirrs feele about, I ſmellLondon-ſtone .
Frisco is here representing local topographical knowledge as being imbricated
in sensory experience that the foreigners do not have.
Firk’s reply contains a truism of London cultural knowledge, that Paul’s Steeple is the highest structure in the City. The second item in his comparison has to be equally well known – and known to be much shorter than Paul’s Steeple – in order for his question to be rhetorical.
Over the centuries, London Stone has
been moved several times.
All things of beauty, ſhatter’d loſt and gone; / Little of(Crouch sig. A3v). In the post-fire rebuilding, the stone was moved to the north side of Cannon Street, where it was embedded in the wall of St. Swithin’s Church (designed by Sir Christopher Wren). St. Swithin’s was destroyed by bombing in 1941, but London Stone survived (Weinreb and Hibbert 766). (Note that the footnote to the Jack Cade passage in Ronald Knowles’s Arden3 edition ofLondon whole but London-ſtone