by wasoxygen

The London Stone appears in China Miéville's Kraken.

The London Stone. That old rock was always suspiciously near the centre of things. A chunk of the Millarium, the megalith-core from where the Romans measured their distances. Trusting in that old rock was a quaint or dangerous tradition, depending on to whom you spoke. The London Stone was a heart. Did it still beat?

Yes, it still beat, though it was sclerotic… This had been the seat of sovereignty, and it cropped up throughout the city’s history if you knew where to look. Jack Cade touched his sword to the London Stone when claiming grievances against the king: that was what gave him the right to speak, he said, and others believed. Did he wonder why it had turned on him afterwards? Perhaps after the change in his fortunes, his head looked down from the pike on the bridge, seen his quartered body parts taken for national gloating, and wryly thought, So, London Stone, to be honest I’m getting mixed messages here… Should I in fact maybe not lead the rebels?

But forgotten, hiding, camouflaged or whatever, the Stone was the heart, the heart was stone, and it beat from its various places, coming to rest at last here in an insalubrious sports shop between cricket equipment.

Wikipedia tells us that London Stone "is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm (21 × 17 × 12"), the remnant of a once much larger object that had stood for many centuries on the south side of the street." A property record dated between 1098 and 1108 mentions a man named "Eadwaker æt lundene stane."

Wikipedia adds a note stating that "Modern claims that it was formerly an object of veneration, or has occult significance, are unsubstantiated."

That is a classic tell; you don't have to be a parapsychologist to read between the lines here. Does the article on the Statue of Liberty deny that it has occult significance?

London Stone appears on the Copperplate map of London from the 1550s.

In 1671 the London Stone was used by the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers as an anvil upon which to smash 264 spectacles, "all very badd both in the glasse and frames not fitt to be put on sale... found badd and deceitful and by judgement of the Court condemned to be broken, defaced and spoyled both glasse and frame the which judgement was executed accordingly in Canning [Cannon] Street on the remayning parte of London Stone where the same were with a hammer broken in all pieces."

It is speculated that the "remayning parte" of London Stone was left over from damage sustained in the Great Fire of 1666.

London Stone was moved across the street around 1742, as it had become an obstacle to carts, which upon collision with the stone "the wheels be broken, and the stone itself unshaken." It was made a part of St Swithin's Church, newly rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire. The church was ruined during the Blitz, but the walls remained standing, and London Stone remained in its niche in the wall.

Finally in 1962 the church was razed.

111 Cannon Street was built in its place, home to the London branch of the Bank of China. "London Stone was placed without ceremony in the specially constructed grilled and glazed alcove in the new building that houses it today."

This building happens to be in the heart of the City of London.

The Bank of China has long since moved on, along with the "insalubrious sports shop." I took a look at Google Maps and was astounded to find the building unoccupied! Who is the man with the red sack, standing guard over London Stone?

But step across the street, and the mysterious scene changes again.

London Stone is now under the care of WHSmith, a book and newspaper chain. History shows that the company founder, Henry Walton Smith, died soon after starting the business. His wife and her business partner also died. Two sons, Henry Edward and William Henry Smith, took over the business and died as well! William Henry's son, also named William Henry, ran the business and also succumbed to the deadly WHSmith curse and died. His son, Viscount Hambleden, took over and died. His son, the third Viscount, died. A public holding company was formed to take over the business, and its chairman, David John Smith, died. Control finally passed outside the Smith family, to one "CHW Troughton," who appears to be keeping a low profile.

Can someone please check in on The London Stone? Is anyone from Hubski UK available? edricarica, MilitantNegro or khjuu perhaps? It might be best not to approach too closely, and perhaps stop in at London Stone Pub first.