The Stone of Kings

Time for a history blip. And not a particularly photogenic one, but what can one do with a lump of rock! Anyway....

The Royal Borough of Kingston is probably best known for it's Royal connections with Henry VIII. Hampton Court Palace lies within it's boundaries and Richmond Park lies within and without, a place where Henry spent many days hunting.

But for about 80 years in the 10th Century, Kingston was the centre of the Saxon Kings.

This stone was used in all of their coronations. It has had a variety of homes over the centuries but is now housed outside The Guildhall. It rests on a seven-sided plinth with each kings name. My early saxon english isn't good but I was pretty certain that there wasn't one called Earwig!

Indeed, I was right, and the seven Kings were;

Edward the Elder. 900
Athelstan. 925
Edmund. 940
Edred. 946
Edwy. 956 (Not Earwig at all!).
Edward the Matyr. 975
Ethelred II, The Unready. 979

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people must pass this every day, but I doubt that many of them know how close to our ancient history they are.