Uproar in the Daily Mail. Developers are planning to move London Stone a way down the road.
Most of you won't know about London Stone. It's a lump of limestone in Cannon Street. It's been there for a long time - Shakespeare mentions it. Some say it's Roman, some Druidic. Needless to say, some think it's a sacrificial stone. Needless to say, "some" in this context means "Blake".
It's sat in a little cage and it's easy to walk past and you don't even notice it as your rush past - which is true for so many truly great things in London. I don't want it moved up the road - I want it where it is, nestling there, watching the centuries go by. And yes, I know it's been moved around in the past. But I don't care.
h/t for the story (I don't read the Mail, myself) to Pagans for Archaeology. But if you want to hear from the Stone itself, you'll have to go here.
Where Albion slept beneath the Fatal Tree
And the Druids golden Knife,
Rioted in human gore,
In Offerings of Human Life
They groan'd aloud on London Stone
They groand aloud on Tyburns Brook
Albion gave his deadly groan,
And all the Atlantic Mountains shook
I certainly wouldn't like to think of the London Stone being made into some sort of corporate bling, but neither do I like the idea of it being simply shoved as an exhibit into the Museum of London, as your linked article reports will happen.
ReplyDeleteIn some respects, Pastor, if a symbol of the City is given over to the power of a Corporation, that almost feels normal for London. A museum is definitely the worst idea I've heard.
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