I posted on this subject back in the summer. At this week’s London Historians Monthly Pub Meet the subject of this “Roman” artefact came up in conversation and I said I would repost about it in the hope of generating some facts, or even just some clues, about its existence.
This stone is set near to the North door of Westminster Abbey and the West door of St. Margaret’s. It bears the inscription “T II”. The vast majority of visitors pass by without noticing it.
I was sure that I had read somewhere that this stone was a Roman Boundary Marker but couldn’t remember the source. None of the usual reference works had anything about it, it isn’t mentioned in Westminster City Council’s Conservation Plan for the area, nor does it feature in any documents relating to the World Heritage Site it sits within.
I scoured my shelves and found just one reference in Charles Bird’s Curiosities of London and Westminster (1-85770-237-9).
Lying buried in the ground of the former churchyard of St Margaret’s is a stone considered by some to mark a tomb – but actually it is a boundary stone from Roman times. The jurisdiction of the Roman Governor of the City of London (Londinium) was marked around the outskirts by such stones. Presumably this was the second (it is marked II) of a number of other stones, all of which have now disappeared.
Now I am very sceptical that this is a Roman artefact but the rest of Mr Bird’s book seems well-researched and accurate and he clearly loves his subject. The problem, like so many similar titles on “secret”, “hidden” or “unknown” London, is that Mr Bird gives no references at all and provides no bibliography.
Does anyone else have a reputable source(s) that might help to establish whether the claim of a Roman origin has any validity? Or do you know anything else about this mysterious stone? If so, please do comment below.
UPDATE March 20th 2012:
The wonderful Silver Tiger has researched this and has come up with a definitive answer, read it here.
By the way if you are in any way interested in London’s history and haven’t yet been to one of the London Historians Monthly pub meets can I suggest that you come along to one. They are free, open to all and take place upstairs in the lovely Windsor Castle pub in Francis Street, near Victoria. People arrive when they can, anytime from 6.30pm.
There is always a really good mix of professional and amateur historians, bloggers, guides and all-round London enthusiasts. A very convivial and stimulating evening indeed. The dates for the remainder of the year are: 7 Mar, 4 Apr, 2 May, 6 Jun, 4 Jul, 1 Aug, 5 Sep, 3 Oct, 7 Nov, 5 Dec. You can see more details about these and other events at London Historians.
The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.
I must admit I have never noticed this stone before. You would have thought that there would be some mention of the stone from past architect records of clerical records from the abbey. Hope someone finds out, i love a mystery.
I’ve found mention of the marker in ‘Discovering Off-Beat Walks in London’ by John Wittich and Ron Phillips, first published by Shire in 1969. Mine is the 1995 edition, so predates Bird by eight years. The relevant section says:
“It has the Roman numeral IIL on it and marked the extent of the jurisdiction of the governor of Roman London.” So Wittich and Phillips would say you have your photograph upside down!
Alas, as you would suspect from ‘off-beat’ being in the title, it is also reference and bibliography free.
Great blog, btw! It is one of the sites I check on a daily basis for new entries.