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piles : and when these piles were pulled up to deepen the channel 

 of the river, many thousands of Roman coins, with abundance of 

 broken Roman tiles and pottery, were discovered. The enormous 

 quantities of Roman coins may be accounted for by the well-known 

 practice of the Romans to make these imperishable monuments 

 subservient to perpetuating the memory of both their conquests 

 and their public works. 



The "London Stone" has very generally been supposed to be a 

 milliarium of central point for measuring distances ; but Sir 

 Christopher Wren believed it was part of some more considerable 

 monument in the Forum, his reason being that " in the adjoining 

 ground on the south side, after the great fire, were discovered 

 tesselated pavements, and other extensive remains of Roman 

 workmanship and buildings." It is fixed at present close under 

 the south wall of St. Swithin's church. It was fixed deep in the 

 ground, and is mentioned in the time of Athelstan, King of the 

 West Saxons, without any reference to its being a Roman military 

 stone, so that there is some probabiHty the " London Stone " is a 

 prehistoric monument. 



At the beginning of the 5th century the Romans left Britain, 

 and probably till the arrival of the Saxons, London continued an 

 important commercial town. The Saxons disliked walled towns, 

 and in many instances destroyed those they conquered. This was 

 not done in London, and it is just possible the Britons may have 

 been able to purchase freedom from destruction. Mr. Freeman 

 does justice to the stout heart of the Londoners, and calls London 

 during this period "the stronghold of English Freedom." The 

 Saxon Chronicle has little to tell of London between the 5th and 

 9th centuries ; but the city is described by Bede as being in 604 

 the metropolis of the East Saxons, and an emporium of many 

 peoples, who came to it by sea and land. And about the year 

 1000, when Canute became master of England, the tribute which 

 the townsmen of London had to pay was ;^io,5oo, or about a 

 seventh of the amount which was paid by all the rest of the 

 English nation. This shows the growing importance of the town. 



There is little more to be said of the history of Saxon London 

 9 



