Tales From The Riverbank - Stanes

 A month or so ago, when I wrote of the London Stone, Dave Vine commented that there was another, near Staines, and that it was now in a museum.  I was very interested by this, as it gave a symmetry to my explorations along the river.  Dave was right, the stone is said to be in the Spelthorne Museum, in Staines, though I haven't been there to see it.  I caveat my words slightly, as a lot that I have read about this particular stone has been misleading, or just plain wrong, which is interesting of itself.  

The stone in Staines, known both as 'The London Stone' and the 'STANE', was the one that marked the upstream end of the City of London's rights over the Thames.  The reason for the choice of the spot was that, before the canalisation of the Thames, this was the furthest point at which tidal movement could be perceived.  

The Stone has has certainly moved about a bit, and, when the original was placed in the Library (before it was moved to the Museum) a replica was made and placed by the Thames in the Lammas Lands.

That's presumably where these chaps were, sitting on the Stone, in 1883.  They are Swan-Uppers, and the Stone is presumably the original.

I went to the Lammas Lands to try to find it, but couldn't, and instead relied on Google which had a picture of it by the Old Town Hall.  And there it was. If it is a replica, it's a jolly good one, the actual Stone being the small top part of a sort of wedding-cake of stones bearing the names of Mayors and Aldermen.  The bottom two are mid-Victorian, which seems to have been the peak of the septennial visiting of the stones by worthies, who no doubt enjoyed a good lunch afterwards.

At the top of the Stone is the word 'STANE', which gives rise to the interesting possibility that there may have been two, as at the seaward end of the Thames. This might imply that the name 'STAINES' is a modernisation of 'STANES'.  A number subscribe to this theory, but a weakness that I can see is that the arrangement between Richard the Lionheart and the City of London, which led to the erection of the stones, was in 1197, but 'STANES' is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.  Slip of the pen, I'm sure.

Anyway, having found my Stone I set off downstream, along the riverbank, passing under Chertsey Bridge.

From here, easy, pleasant riding familiar to many Wayfarers, down to the Ferry at Shepperton Lock and on towards Hampton Court and Kingston,

A very pleasant run on a crisp winter's day.

Mark