Coronation Stone

The Coronation Stone is a large sarsen block in Kingston upon Thames. It stands beside the town’s Guildhall in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Kingston began as a Saxon settlement whose name means farmstead of the kings. Seven Anglo-Saxon kings are believed to have been crowned here. The stone is protected as a Grade I listed building. Seven kings were consecrated on this site between the 9th and 10th centuries. Æthelstan became king in 925, Eadred in 946 and Æthelred the Unready in 979. John Stow wrote in the late 16th century that Æthelstan was crowned on a stage in the market place. A stone recovered from the ruins of St Mary’s Church in 1730 was later placed on a plinth in the market place. The names of the seven kings were inscribed around its base. Visitors find the stone on a plinth outside the Guildhall’s frontage. A plan to move it back to All Saints’ Church churchyard has not yet been carried out. The stone remains a simple block of sarsen, set in an urban square. Nearby stands the Market House on the site of the old Town Hall. The setting is quiet despite its central position in the town.