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Standing Stone / Menhir
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I visited the Stone again on Saturday. The ex Bank of China is now virtually derelict - although with a sign saying "To Let'. The ground floor is presently - and hopefully, temporarily - occupied by a cut-price sports shoe retailer - so presumably in the week it is possible to go in and see the side of the stone not visible from the street.
It truly is a bizarre, sad - and telling - sight to see one of London's only significant megalithic remains caged in an ugly box under a giant NIKE sign....
The planning application for the redevelopment of the site and the Stone's relocation has been approved although there is no news of any pending activity.
What also struck me this time is that the mooted original site of the Stone - outside the entrance to Cannon Street Station - would have placed it on the banks of the hidden river Walbrook - a waterway also sacred to the Romans (witness the now also relocated Temple of Mithras).
The vicissitudes of highway management and commerce will never see the remaining fragment restored to its original supposed location so the best that can be hoped for now is that it is removed from its present dismal setting and properly housed in the Museum of London.
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Posted by tuesday
20th February 2006ce
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