More smiles than stains, we held a wonderful recreation of a very old tradition. It was something long in the planning, and only possible with enormous help from a huge variety of people, not least my Water Bailiff (Chris Livett) and Under Water Bailiff (Frank Moxon – affectionately known as ‘Scuba Bailiff), DL Nicholas Wood-Dow, Sheriff Langley, Sheriff Masojada, LM’s Sea Cadets ADC, Doggetts Coat & Badge Watermen, four Livery Masters, Sea Cadets, Sea Cadets Pipers, RNLI Crew, the Mayor and people of Staines and Spelthorne, and a lot of boat owners. Particular mention must go to Stephen Barnard, friend, fellow Waterman & Lighterman, and owner of M B Leonie.
I long wanted to bring back an old tradition – the Lord Mayor’s ‘View’ of the Thames with the Waterbailiff. All Watermen & Lightermen know of four stones, or pillars, bearing the City arms on the north bank of the Thames just beyond Staines Bridge, on the Essex foreshore a mile or so beyond Leigh, at Yantlett Creek on the Isle of Grain, and at Upnor on the Medway in Kent.
They were the boundary stones marking the limits of the Corporation’s former conservancy rights over the Thames and parts of the Medway and Lea. By virtue of several royal charters, the earliest of which was granted by Richard I in 1197, and also by an act of parliament of 1394 which appointed the Mayor as conservator, the Corporation exercised this jurisdiction for rather more than six and a half centuries until, following a law suit with the Crown which was also concerned with claims to the soil and the bed of the river, it was removed by the Thames Conservancy Act. Periodically the Lord Mayor and Aldermen with a goodly retinue would make a “View” of the River – in brief it was a sort of nautical beating of the bounds in the course of which the four stones were visited. At each of them the City’s claim to its rights was made by placing the City sword at the foot of the stone while the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs and the rest of the company drank wine to the toast of “God Preserve the City of London”.
First though, I had to choose between visiting Staines or Leigh. In 1633 the markstone just beyond Staines Bridge was visited, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen were entertained at Mr Benjamin Stone’s house on Hounslow Heath, and also dined at the Bush. For supper and lodging they moved on to the Saracens Head at Kingston where the Surrey jury met next day at the Town House, and the proceedings terminated with dinner at the Saracens Head. When I tell you that the expenses include payments to the City trumpeters and to the Common Hunt for his attendance with the hounds you will appreciate that a very enjoyable time was had by all.
In 1771, Lord Mayor, Brass Crosby, Alderman Rossiter and a number of the Officers descended from the yacht into two boats in order to visit the Leigh stone. “The wind and tide meeting and the water being very rough and the sea running very high the Officers’ boat got ahead and made the shore before the tide dropped”, but the Lord Mayor and Alderman Rossiter ran aground about a mile from shore. They had to be rescued by being carried to a flat bottomed punt brought out from the shore which was then drawn by twelve men through the shallow water and over the mud to the beach.
Staines vs Leigh – you guessed, Staines won.
Yet more background comes courtesy of James Edwards from the Office of the City Remembrancer:
Historical Background
The conservation of the River Thames was entrusted to the citizens of London by various charters from 1197 and included, inter alia, the control and regulation of fishing. At first, the emphasis was chiefly on fishery preservation but later emphasis passed to improvement of navigation and in 1770 the Corporation appointed a Navigation Committee which became one of its busiest Committees. A Waterbailiff was appointed to undertake duties related to the City’s conservancy of the Thames, and who reported to the Navigation Committee. The jurisdiction was removed from the Corporation of London to a new body (the Thames Conservators) by the Thames Conservancy Act of 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. C.147). The powers of the Conservators in respect of the lower river as far as Teddington were vested in the Port of London Authority by the Port of London Act 1908 (8 Edw. VI c.68).
The area of jurisdiction enjoyed by the Corporation until 1857 extended from the River Colne near Staines to Yantlet Creek, and included parts of the Rivers Medway and Lea and all streams and creeks of tidal waters within those bounds. Jurisdiction in the Medway extended as far as Cookham or Cookham Wood at Upnor. A series of stone markers demarcated these limits of the City of London’s rights over the River Thames.
It was the practice of the Lord Mayor accompanied by the Sheriffs, Recorder and other City dignitaries to visit all the boundary stones on the Thames and Medway in the course of official surveys of the river. The legal claim to the City’s rights was made at each survey by the placing of the City Sword at the foot of the stone while the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs drank wine to the toast of ‘God preserve the City of London.’ Subsequently the name of the Lord Mayor together with the date of the visit was engraved upon the stone.
There are a number of narrative accounts in the London Metropolitan Archive of the Views of the River which were made periodically by the Lord Mayor and in the course of which the stones were visited. All are of late 18th or early 19th century date. They include descriptions of the ceremonial and a transcription of an account of the visitation of 1771 [LMA ref: CLA/036/02/1771/15/001/B]. A paper presented to the Guildhall Historical Association by Alderman Sir Hugh Wontner in January 1979 on “The Lord Mayor’s View of the Thames” containing excerpts from 1633, 1771, and 1796, is below:
The Stones Today
The stones marking the former limits of the City of London’s rights over the River Thames can still be found today (though that at Staines is a replica).
One stands at Chalkwell, Southend, approximately 42 miles downriver from Tower Bridge:
The Crow Stone at Chalkwell, Southend.
A second is found on the opposite bank at Yantlet, on the Isle of Grain. It is also approximately 42 miles from Tower Bridge:
The London Stone at Yantlet, Isle of Grain
The landward view from the London Stone at Yantlet
A further stone is located at Lower Upnor, at the mouth of the Medway, around 56 miles from Tower Bridge:
The London Stone at Lower Upnor
Upriver, there is a replica of the stone at Staines. This is approximately 36 miles upriver from Tower Bridge:
The London Stone at Staines, with Staines Town Hall in the immediate background, and steps to the riverfront on the left of the image.
Though the City Corporation’s rights over the river have long since passed to the Port of London Authority and the Environment Agency, Alderman Mainelli asked officers to explore whether the Lord Mayor’s visit to the London Stones could be revived during his mayoral year.
Volunteers and officers put together the following plan:
Mayoral River Progress – Visit to the London Stone, Sunday 30th June 2024
0815 Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress depart Mansion House in Saloon Car.
0945 Arrive Thames Side (Beech Tree Lane, TW18 2JA). Met by Sheriffs and Consorts on arrival.
1030 Civic Party board the ‘Leonie’.
1100 Depart moorings and passage upstream to Staines.
1130 Moor at Staines-Upon-Thames. Sea Cadet Guard of Honour forms. Civic Party disembark, received by the Mayor & Mayoress of Spelthorne, and Deputy Lieutenant of Spelthorne Borough Nicholas Wood-Dow.
1140 London Stone ceremony commences. Speech given by Lord Mayor and unveiling of a plaque on the railings of the London Stone.
1150 Lord Mayor touches the London Stone with a ceremonial sword (provided by Company of Watermen & Lightermen). Gin Toast.
1200 Civic Party re-board the ‘Leonie’ to take salute. Sail/row past by Lord Mayor’s escort flotilla.
1230 Reception aboard the ‘Leonie’.
1250 Civic Party and Mayor of Spelthorne disembark and proceed on foot to Spelthorne Museum (100m walk). View the original London Stone within the Museum.
1335 Civic Party return to landing stage of the ‘Leonie’. Lord Mayor presents the Mayor of Spelthorne with a bottle of Gin. Mayor of Spelthorne departs at this point.
1350 Lord Mayor hands out prizes (best turned-out motorboat) on the landing stage.
1400 Civic Party board the ‘Leonie’. Depart downstream to Penton Hook Lock.
1430 Sheriffs and Consorts disembark at Penton Hook Lock. Depart in Shrieval Taxi. Lord Mayor & Lady Mayoress remain aboard.
1700 Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress disembark at next Lock. Depart in Saloon Car for Mansion House.
Of course, if you’ve read this far I know it’s because you were waiting to read my remarks:
Mr Mayor, Masters, Sheriffs, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for joining us here on Staines-upon-Thames Day to resurrect the centuries-old tradition of the Lord Mayor’s ‘view’ of the London stones.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Michael Mainelli, the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London, the world’s oldest democratic workers’ and residents’ cooperative. Also known as the “Square Mile”, the City used to constitute the entirety of London…and, for over six-and-a-half centuries, the Lord Mayor acted as conservator for the City’s waterways.
After the responsibility was handed to the Lord Mayor by Richard I in 1197, four boundary stones were erected, marking the limits of the Corporation’s conservancy rights over the Thames and parts of the Medway and Lea. They’re located at Upnor on the Medway in Kent, at Yantlett Creek on the Isle of Grain, on the Essex foreshore a mile or so beyond Leigh and – of course – here, just below Staines Bridge.
Periodically, the Lord Mayor and City representatives would make a “view” of the river, a kind of nautical beating of the bounds in the course of which the four stones were visited. These regular journeys, punctuated by the striking of each stone with a ceremonial sword, highlighted the City’s enduring commitment to uphold its rights and responsibilities along the Thames. However, the visits didn’t always go to plan. In 1771, during a trip to the Leigh stone, the Lord Mayor Brass Crosby had to be rescued after rough waters caused his boat to run aground. He was “carried to a flat-bottomed punt […] which was then drawn by twelve men over the mud to the beach.” Fortunately, there’s been no need for such heroics today.
The river is no longer maintained by the Corporation but by the Port of London Authority and the Environment Agency. However, as a keen sailor, I was keen to resurrect this tradition in 2024 – the 200th anniversary of the RNLI – to help raise funds for this vital institution, which you may be surprised to learn was founded in the City! And, also, to draw attention to the importance of this vital trade artery around which the Square Mile was formed.
To quote John Burns’ retort to a cheeky American who dared criticise our great river, “the St Lawrence is water, the Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history.” In that spirit, this year, we’ve also brought back the offices of the Water Bailiff and Under Water Bailiff, who’d historically “search for all persons who infringe the laws made for the preservation of the river and its fish”. And, in September, we will hold our first ‘Thames Day’ as part of World Rivers Day.
On Friday Water Bailiff Chris Livett and Under Water Bailiff Frank Moxon set off by powered craft from Tower Bridge inspecting and saluting the RNLI’s Tower, Chiswick and Teddington lifeboat stations and passing through five locks, before reaching Staines-upon-Thames today. In a moment, we’ll carry out the traditional ceremony with this replica stone, before going to visit the original 1285 London stone in the Museum of Staines, and taking part in all the fun of Staines-upon-Thames Day!
To finish, a few thank yous are in order: To the Mayor of Spelthorne. The Water Bailiff and Under Water Bailiff. The Company of Watermen and Lightermen. Malcolm Knight, River Coordinator and part of the organising team. Stephen Bernhard, owner of Leonie on which the mayoral party travelled. The Sea Scouts. The Worshipful Company of Distillers for providing the gin for the toast. And, finally, all those that have contributed towards the RNLI by participating in the event.
Today, we recommit ourselves to protecting the iconic waterway that lends this town its name,, Burns’ piece of “liquid history”, the River Thames! Thank you.