Many years ago I had the opportunity to speak to the father of one of my servants. He had been employed on building work within the City of London. He maintained that during the course of excavation, most likely for a financial institution or underground, that many archaelogical finds were made, but due to the nature of the work, to stop and excavate would have proved too costly.

The decision was then taken to either destroy the finds or bury them again. He tells of Roman mosaics, but most interesting, of megaliths, lying on their side, some with carvings, similar to stone crosses but far cruder.

I have always treated the story as a combination of urban legend and strong cider, but an impending visit to the capital has pricked my curiosity.

Surley stones must have been part of Londinium, and what happened to them? Beneath the city, what still remains for us to discover? And what is the nearest stone to the City of London, which I feel to be the centre of the city, and probably the oldest, using previous discoveries as a reference point?