Stone Circles in London

According to E.O. Gordon there were two stone circles in London one at St Paul’s and the other at Westminster Abbey. This is not as daft as it sounds, her theory is that all, or nearly all, cathedrals were built on earlier temples – stone circles, and there is some evidence for this. Many archaeologists and historians have long suspected that Christian places of worship occupy earlier pagan sites and certainly, Westminster was considered a sacred site before Westminster abbey was built. She claimed that at various cathedrals old stones still survive. She believed that the original circle at St Paul’s was in the graveyard and although no stones survive here, she believed that London Stone was the index stone for this circle.

There is evidence in a London place-name, that long before London became a city (whenever that was) it was a settlement important enough to have its own place of worship. Parliament Hill’s original ‘Welsh name’ was the Llandin; a pre-historic mound, the ‘Llan’ part means sacred and indicates that there was a place of worship here.