Kingston's Coronation Stone

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In the Museum is a poster advertising events on 19th September 1850 when Kingston's Coronation Stone was inaugurated.  The Stone now stands to the right of the Guildhall in High Street as you face the building.  Made of Greywether sandstone or sarsen, it is traditionally thought to have been used for the Coronation of up to seven Saxon Kings in the tenth century.  

The Stone may have originally been kept in the Saxon Chapel of St Mary, which used to abut All Saints Parish Church on the Market Place side. The Chapel collapsed in 1730, undermined by grave-digging.  The Sexton was killed, and his daughter, Esther Hammerton, was injured.  She survived and became Kingston's sextoness. The Stone was later used as a mounting block for horsemen in the Market Place. In 1850 it was set, with great ceremony, on a special base, surrounded by ornamental railings and placed to the south of the Market Place. The names of the seven kings were written around the base.  The seven kings were: Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edmund, Edred, Edwy, Edward the Martyr, and Ethelred.  It was moved to its present position after the building of the Guildhall in 1935.

Did you know?

The name 'Unready' or unraed means poorly advised, but the name Ethelred meant good counsel.

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