Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/120

 Surrey, in preference to other places of the same name, are copious and convincing. In the Saxon Charters, edited by Mr. J. M. Kemble, it is mentioned, that in 838 a great council was held in the famous town of Kingston, in Surrey (No. 240). On a charter of King Edred (946) Kingstown is mentioned as the royal town where consecration is accustomed to be performed (No. 44); whilst a third charter, dated from "the royal town of Kingston," conveys numerous lands in Surrey (No. 363).

The number of kings crowned here, as recorded by Speed, is nine; two of which, however, are doubtful; and the committee, therefore, in the railing which surrounds the stone, have laudably restricted its claims to the seven royal personages who indisputably received their inauguration on it. They are—

All three sons of Edward the Elder.

The two monarchs less certain are—

But I see from a paragraph in the Surrey Standard, at the time the stone was placed in its present position, that this modest number was not generally satisfactory:—"We cannot but wish, as some historians mention nine kings as being crowned in this town, that the greater number had been adopted, particularly as no mention is made by any historian of the spot where the two discarded kings were crowned. But although their names do not appear on the block of stone, a monument will be erected to the memory of those two ill-treated monarchs by an old inhabitant of the town, who has espoused the cause of the old kings most warmly." The intention seems never to have been carried into effect. $9$ Rhense means Ben- or Run-au, a perfect translation of Bun-mead or meadow: au signifying in German any moist pasture or ground. $10$ John O'Groat's House.—No view of this curious building exists. The only account I have been able to collect on it is a ridiculous legend in the "Beauties of Scotland," vol. v. p. 83. The following notice of Rhense may, therefore, be more acceptable, as no doubt very similar in purpose, if not in appearance:—

The Königs Stuhl (King's chair, Thronus imperialis) was a stone