The London Stone, Staines
It is from the Saxon word stana, or stone, the town of Staines most probably derived its name.
Church Island
Right Bank Island. The church can be seen in the background of the London Stone print of 1859 below.
The London Stone
Right Bank. [See the Crowstone and the London Stone
in the Estuary section, marking the other end of the Port of London’s
area.]
1280: Original inscription -
God preserve the city of London. A.D. 1280
1620: The stone was moved further into the meadow away from the water
1781: A new stone provided (according to Cooke in 1811)
1792: Picturesque Views on the Thames, Samuel Ireland -
ON the bank of the river, at Colne ditch,
not far from the church of Staines, stands
what is called London-Mark-Stone, which is
the ancient boundary to the city jurisdiction
on the Thames.
ON a moulding round the upper part of
the stone (which is much decayed by age) is
inscribed, "God preserve the city of London. A.D. 1280."
THIS stone was, during the mayoralty of
Sir Watkin Lewes, in 1781, placed on a new
pedestal, on which is inscribed, that it was
erected exactly over the spot where the old
one formerly stood.
From hence the jurisdiction of the city of London extends over
the river Thames as low as Yendal, or Yenleet, to the east, including part of the rivers
Medway and Lea ; and it is the office of the
Lord Mayor's Deputy, the Water Bailiff, to
search for, and punish all persons who infringe
the laws made for the preservation of
the river and its fish.
And in order to maintaintain the rights and privileges of this river,
the Lord Mayor holds a Court of Conservancy eight times in the year, in the four
counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex, when a Jury for each is charged on oath
to make inquisition after all offences committed
on the river, in order to proceed to
judgment against those who shall be found
guilty.
1802: Report of certain Impediments and Obstructions in the Navigation of the River Thames, William Tatham
THE CITY STONE.
This land-mark terminates the jurisdiction of the City of London over the River Navigation, inasmuch as it marks the extent of the First District, as laid out by Act 2 Geo. III. which was afterwards placed under the jurisdiction of the City of London by Act 14 Geo. III.
...[a detailed legal discussion follows] ...
The City Stone, it seems, is placed somewhat in the middle way of a shoal or gull, which Philip Rosewell says, has three feet at low water; and hence arises a doubt whether it shall be repaired at the expence of the First or Second District. This circumstance cannot be otherwise than injurious to the general improvement of the river navigation; for if all the rest was made perfect, both above and below, this would still be a broken link in the chain of commercial communication, and must always have a tendency to-injure the work next below it.
Just below this stone, on the northern bank of the river, there is some little mischief done by a breach, which seems to be of long standing ; and the injury is evidently accumulating. Both Districts ought to join .heartily in this repair, and they should take .into consideration every part .of the subject .matter which may combine to prevent an increase of the breach during high floods, and tend to bring the water to an easier leivel. If the gentlemen of the Upper District should not think proper to lend their aid, or combine to do this at joint expence, I should recommend to the City District to ballast out a sufficiency of the main channel at the foot of the shallow part, near the Stone, to give water to barges till past their boundary ;
securing such excavation in the best possible way which so compulsory, a restriction will permit, for their own safety here and below ; and raising the water, by means of one of our proposed side-gates, to be selfacting, placed across the narrow stream which runs round the adjoining ayte on the Middlesex shore; so that the same may be either used as a stop-gate to turn the water into the main channel when such help may be needed, or to act as a gauge gate to relieve the press of the current, whenever the land floods swell too high.
1818: Havell's View of the London Stone -
The London Stone, Havell, 1818. Manual dredging.
1821: Arnald’s view of the London Stone –
the engraving by W B Cooke
after the painting 'Stone at Staines' by G. Arnald, A.R.A. Novr 1, 1821
[with fourth Staines Bridge in background, see above]
1825: Repairs to the boundary stone.
1833:-
The Lord Mayor took a view of the City’s boundary at Staines, when a procession was formed round the same and the usual ceremony of claiming the jurisdiction took place; and after drinking ‘God preserve the City of London’ and distributing money to the numerous assemblage on the spot his Lordship went on board the shallop and proceeded down the river.
1839: Trotter’s view of the London Stone. It may be on the occasion of a Lord Mayor’s visit –
Staines Bridge Midddlesex. C. Marshall. J Henshall.
London, Simpkin, Marshall & Co., C. Tilt
and the Proprietors, 1 Cloudesley Terrace, Islington. A Asher, Berlin
1846: Illustrated London News, 15th August –
The State Barge being moored close to the edge of the meadow a procession of the
Watermen, Lord Mayor, the Water Bailiff’s eight
watermen in full uniform bringing up the procession.
The ceremony was commenced by walking round
the stone. Alderman Moon then ascended
to its summit, and then drank ‘God bless the Queen,
and Prosperity to the City of London’.
Three cheers were then given; the band played
‘God save the Queen’; cake and wine were
distributed among the party, and small coin was thrown among the crowd.
There
is an old custom of bumping at the stone the Sheriffs and Aldermen who had not
been made ‘Free of the Waters’; accordingly four watermen seized upon
Sheriff Laurie, and while they were bumping the worthy sheriff his colleague
Sheriff Chaplin, made his escape, and was followed by the Aldermen, with the
exception of Alderman Hughes, who declined to answer to his name when called,
and had, indeed, refused to land from the barge. Upon Alderman Moon descending from the stone,
he was instantly bumped. Those who had
been so served then paid certain fees, and were declared Free Watermen of the
River Thames.
The Lord Mayor gave the usual direction that his name, as a record of
the visit, should be painted on the stone.
1859: The Thames, Mr & Mrs Hall
THE BOUNDARY STONE
We are now approaching the ancient town of Staines; — its bridge
and its church steeple are in sight; but before we reach them there is
an object standing on one of the aits that claims our especial attention.
We must step ashore to examine it, for it is the Boundary Stone of the
City of London; and here its jurisdiction ends — or did end, we should
rather say, for by a recent enactment all its rights and privileges, as
regard the river Thames, were transferred to "a Commission".
The conservancy of the river Thames was vested in the Lord Mayor
and Corporation of the City of London by long prescription, confirmed
by various charters and acts of parliament. Apart from the Courts of
Conservancy, which were held by the Lord Mayor in person, attended
by the Recorder and other officers, with much state, most of the administrative
duties of Conservator of the Thames have long been performed
by a committee of the corporation, known as the "Navigation and Port
of London Committee", consisting of twelve Aldermen and twenty-nine
Common Councilmen. Their jurisdiction extended from Staines, in
Middlesex, to Yantlet, in Kent. Their duties were to prevent encroachments
on the bed and soil of the river, or anything being done on its
banks to impede navigation; to regulate the moorings of vessels in the
port, deepen the channel, erect and maintain public stairs, keep in repair
the locks, weirs, and towing paths, regulate the fisheries, and seize
unlawful nets, &c. In the performance of these duties they were aided
by four harbour-masters, an engineer, water-bailiff, and other officials
appointed by the corporation.
The revenue arose principally from two sources, viz. the tonnage dues
on ships frequenting the port, and the tolls paid by vessels passing
through the locks, or using the landing-piers. The corporation also
received, not as conservators of the river, but as owners of its bed and
soil, rents for wharfs, piers, and landing-places, which they granted
licences to erect. The produce of the tonnage dues was about £18,000
per annum — a sum more than sufficient to cover the expenses charged
upon them, as the corporation were in possession of a surplus of about
£90,000; but as the application of these dues was, by act of parliament,
strictly limited to the river below London Bridge, no benefit could be
derived from the possession of such surplus to the upper portion of the
river, where the amount received from tolls was small, and, in consequence
of the great competition of the railways with the carrying trade
of the river, had latterly become so much diminished as to fall far short
of the annual expense.
Notwithstanding the difficulty in which the corporation were placed,
with a surplus below bridge, which they were unable to appropriate, and
a deficiency above bridge, which they had no means of making good but
by pledging their corporate estates — they have shown no hesitation in
the performance of the duty cast upon them. Meanwhile circumstances
had arisen to prevent that efficient management of the Thames which it
has ever been the constant object of the corporation to secure. A claim
was set up by the crown to the bed and soil of the river. The right to
the conservancy of the Thames had been contested in the time of Queen
Elizabeth, by the then Lord High Admiral, and decided in favour of the
city; but the right to the bed and soil of the sea-shore, and of navigable
rivers, between high and low-water mark, is comparatively a recent
claim on the part of the crown. A bill was filed against the corporation
to enforce this claim, and requiring them to show their title; and after
protracted proceedings, extending over a period of thirteen years, a
compromise was effected. The city, with a view to the interests of the
public, consented to acknowdedge the title of the crown to the bed and
soil of the river, and the crown consented to grant a title to the corporation,
stipulating, at the same time, that a scheme, suggested by
Government for the future management of the river, should be adopted
and embodied in an act of parliament, which act has recently come into
operation.
The Thames Conservancy Act, 1857, placed the authority over the
river Thames — within the limits of the ancient jurisdiction of the city —
in a board consisting of twelve persons, viz. the Lord Mayor for the
time being, two Aldermen, and four Common Councilmen, elected by the
Court of Common Council, the Deputy-master of the Trinity House, two
persons chosen by the Admiralty, one by the Board of Trade, and one
by the Trinity House. The members are severally to remain in office
for five years, unless otherwise removed, and are eligible for re-election.
The revenue arising from the tonnage dues below bridge,
and the tolls and other receipts above bridge, together, form one
fund for the management and improvement of the navigation of the
river; and of the receipts arising from embankments, or other appropriation
of the bed and soil, one-third is paid to the crown, and the
remaining two-thirds added to the general fund above mentioned.
Thus was almost regal authority, enjoyed for ages by the citizens
of London, and exercised by their chief magistrate and corporation in a
spirit of munificent liberality that did honour to their administration,
quietly supplanted and absorbed by the greater power of the crown.
Our hope is, that public interest may not suffer by the change.
Those who have visited the Thames above "the city stone" cannot fail
to lament that the whole of the river has not been under their jurisdiction:
between Staines and London all matters have been admirably
and liberally managed; from Staines upwards they have been shamefully
neglected. There are numerous "Boards of Conservancy" from Cricklade downwards,
not one of which seems to have the least idea of
cleansing the river, repairing its banks, or facilitating its navigation and
traffic. If we are to judge of other "reforms" which the corporation of
the metropolis is doomed to undergo by this reformation of the conservancy
of the Thames, we fear we may not anticipate a change that will
be advantageous.
It is to be hoped that the "improving" spirit of the age will not
proceed so far as to remove this ancient boundary mark; but that the
inscription it still retains — "God preserve the City of London" — will be
uttered as a fervent prayer by generations yet to come: for, of a truth,
upon the prosperity of the metropolis of England depends the welfare of
the kingdom.
1870: The London Stone, Henry Taunt -
London Stone, Henry Taunt, 1870
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT01125
1883: Swan Uppers at the London Stone, Henry Taunt -
Swan Uppers at the London Stone, Henry Taunt,1883
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT03991
The original stone is now held in the Old Town Hall Arts Centre near Staines Bridge. In place of it is a replica.