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SUBJECT: APPENDIX G
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APPENDIX G
THE CORONATION STONE AND CHAIR
“THE Scottish Coronation Stone, the Lia Fail, or ‘Stone of Destiny,’ was
said by tradition to have been the stone which Jacob used for a pillow, and
to have been brought to Ireland, and from Tara to Scotland, where it had a
resting-place at Scone till, in 1296, Edward I carried it to Westminster. It
now forms part of the Coronation Chair, occupying the space beneath the
seat. Skene, in his monograph, asserts it to have been originally quarried
from the rocks near Scone.” — Chambers’s Encyclopaedia.
The following is from “The Coronation Stone, “by Mr. F. Skene [1869,
4to.], referred to above: —
“The popularly-received account of the stone may be shortly stated in the
words of Pennant: — ‘In the church of the Abbey (of Scone) was
preserved the famous chair, whose bottom was the fatal stone, the
palladium of the Scottish monarchy; the stone which had first served Jacob
for his pillow was afterwards transported into Spain, where it was used as
a seat of justice by Gethalus, contemporary with Moses. It afterwards
found its way to Dunstaffnage in Argyllshire, continued there as the
coronation chair till the reign of Kenneth II, who, to secure his empire,
removed it to Scone. There it remained, and in it every Scottish monarch
was inaugurated till the year 1296, when Edward II, to the mortification of
North Britain, translated it to Westminster Abbey, and with it, according to
ancient prophecy, the empire of Scotland. The latter part of this account is
unquestionably true.’“
It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add that the most complete and
interesting account of this historic stone is to be found in the late Dean
Stanley’s “Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey.” See fifth edition,
1882, pp. 49-56.
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TWO LONDON LANDMARKS
MORE than once in his brief but bright and pleasant table-talks, we have
heard Mr. Spurgeon refer to two stones well-known to those Londoners
who are “something in the city,” and know its highways and by-ways. If
the lecture had had the advantage of his revision, he would certainly have
built these two stones, among many others, into the structure. This is our
apology for inserting a short account of “THE LONDON STONE,” and “THE
BOY AND PANYER.”
LONDON STONE
IN Cannon Street, opposite the railway station, is the Church of St.
Swithin, rebuilt by Wren, and since modernized. Fixed in the outer wall of
the church, and protected by an iron grille, is the LONDON STONE.
According to Stowe, it formerly stood on the south side of the street, but
being regarded as an obstruction, it was removed in 1798. LONDON STONE
was the Milliarium, or central milestone, of Roman London, whence as
from a center the miles were reckoned throughout Britain, even as the
Milliarium in the Forum was the center from which all Roman roads were
radiated. — From Pascoe’s “London of Today.”
The account given of the story by Noorthonck, in his “History of London,”
1773 (4to.), though almost identical with the foregoing, may be of interest.
He says: —
“Close under the wall of St. Swithin’s Church is placed a stone, more
remarkable by its name than by its; appearance. In Stowe’s time this stone
was, as he informs us, fixed upright in the ground on the south side: of the
street, near the channel, and was so well fastened with bars of iron as to
secure it effectually from being damaged by carriages. This stone is of
unknown antiquity, and it is worthy of admiration that more care has been
taken to preserve the stone itself than the history of it.
“The most remarkable conjectures have given this stone a Roman origin;
for as the antient Roman colony extended from the river no higher than
Cheapside, and Watling Street was the principal street or Praetorian Way,
it has been supposed, with great probability, that this stone was the center
from which they began to compute their distances to their several stations
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throughout England. Another supposition framed upon this is, that from
this stone public proclamations and notices might have been antiently given
to the citizens; for in 1450, when Jack Cade, the Kentish rebel, came
through Southwark into London, he marched to this stone amidst a great
confluence of people, and the Lord Mayor among the rest; and striking his
sword upon it, said, ‘Now is Mortimer lord of this City.’“
Of the original form and size of this relic all record is, of course, lost; and it
would doubtless ere now have disappeared altogether but for the pains
taken to preserve its “remains” by a worthy citizen, one Thomas Maiden,
printer, of Sherbourne Lane. It is said that “when St. Swithin’s Church was
about to undergo repair in 1798, Mr. Maiden prevailed on the parish
officers to consent that the stone should be placed where it still remains,
after it had been doomed to destruction as a nuisance.” At that period of its
history it was described as “reduced to a fragment not much larger than a
bomb-shell;” and more recently, in Charles Knight’s “London,” as “not a
great deal larger than a man’s head.” Bombs and heads must have been
somewhat larger then than now; but certainly the aforesaid “British vandal
and relic-monger” was doing his utmost to chip it away to nothing until the
iron grating was interposed.
Engraven on the stone wall of the church, above the monument, are two
inscriptions, the one in Latin, the other a free translation thereof, followed
by the names of the then Rector and Churchwardens. The English
inscription is as under —
LONDON STONE
COMMONLY BELIEVED TO BE A ROMAN WORK,
LONG PLACED ABOVT XXXV FEET HENCE
TOWARDS THE SOVTH WEST
AND AFTERWARDS BVILT INTO THE WALL OF THIS CHVRCH
WAS FOR MORE CAREFVL PROTECTION
AND TRANSMISSION TO FVTVRE AGES
BETTER SECVRED BY THE CHVRCH WARDENS
IN THE YEAR OF OYR LORD MDCCCLXIX.
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“THE BOY AND PANYER”
FROM a handsome volume of Mr. Elliot Stock’s Camden Library Series,
entitled “London Signs and Inscriptions,” by Philip Norman, F.S.A., we
give a few particulars about the sculptured sign from which Panyer Alley,
the narrow passage leading from Newgate Street into “The Row,” takes its
:name. “It represents a naked boy resting on a pannier or basket, and
holding what, in Strype’s time, appeared to be a bunch of grapes between
his hand and foot, ‘in token perhaps of plenty,’ as he suggests. Within an
ornamental border, apparently on a separate stone bellow, is the following
inscription:
‘When ye have sought the City round,
Yet still this is the highest ground.
August the 27, 1688.’“
When Mr. Norman was writing his book, he had to note not only that the
stone was “much dilapidated,” but that it was “in danger of destruction,” as
the houses on the side of the alley where it stood were about to be
demolished. These have since been rebuilt, and the stone (or stones)
replaced, or rather placed several feet above the ground (on which it used
to rest), so that the inscription is in less danger of obliteration than in the
past. That this interesting curio was “in danger,’“ not so much of
“destruction” as of being “improved away,” and very far away too, is clear,
if there be any truth in the following paragraph which appeared in the Echo
of January 21, 1893: —
“A remarkable conspiracy was detected by the authorities of the City a few
days ago, when an attempt was made to steal the celebrated Panyer stone
in Panyer Alley, Newgate Street, which has for the last two hundred years
marked the highest point of the City of London. It appears that a rich
American bribed one of the workmen ,engaged in pulling down the old
warehouse in which the stone is fixed, asking him to exchange the old relic
for a modern stone, and promising to pay f5o for the deception. The
workman conveyed notice of this to the City authorities, and a guard has
now been placed upon the original stone, which is a cherished heirloom of
the City.”
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The stone, no doubt, took the place of a previous one, according to Stowe.
Mr. Norman’s diligent research may be thus summarized: — In the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the sale of bread was not allowed to
take place in the bakers’ houses, but only in the King’s markets. It was sold
in bread-baskets or “panyers,” and the coarser kinds, at any rate,
occasionally in boxes or hutches. One writer gives it as his opinion that
“the child is handing out a loaf, and that at a period somewhat later than
the date of the ‘Liber Albus’ (1419), Panyer Alley was noted as a standingplace
for bakers’ boys with their panniers.” Another idea is that the pannier
is a fruit-basket. Fruit and vegetables were doubtless landed from the river
near St. Paul’s, and porters carrying such produce may have passed
through and rested themselves in this short passage on their way to
Newgate Market, which, originally for corn and meal, became, as many of
us well remember, a meat market, until happily it was improved away, and
the unsavory site appropriated to enlarge the ever-growing Book Market
of the World.