When 13,000 houses burned down
The legacy of London’s worst disaster is a memorial whose uniqueness at the time of completion in 1677 is demonstrated by its simple name: The Monument. It is 202 feet (61 metres) high and stands exactly 202 feet from the spot in Pudding Lane where a blaze broke out in a bakery on 2 September 1666. When the »Great Fire« finally burned out after five days, half of the city was a field of smouldering ruins. 13,000 houses, 89 churches and St Paul’s Cathedral were destroyed. 100,000 citizens lost their homes.
Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of 50 churches and the new St Paul’s after the fire, also received the commission for The Monument. He designed a limestone column five metres in diameter capped by a flaming urn of gilded copper. Within the column, 311 steps wind up to the viewing platform. The base bears Latin inscriptions and relief carvings: on the east side they record details of The Monument itself, the south face is a verbose glorification of King Charles II, and the west side is devoted to an allegorical depiction of the ruined and the restored City of London, showing the king as a victorious Roman. A close look at the north side reveals that the bottom line of an inscription has been deleted. The Monument was built at a time of anti-Catholic hysteria following false accusations of a conspiracy to assassinate the king. According to the inscription, which was removed in 1830, the Great Fire had been put out, »but Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched«.
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Address Monument Street, EC3R 6DB | Public Transport Monument (Circle, District Line) | Hours Mon–Sun 9.30am–5.30pm| Tip The Great Fire started in Pudding Lane and stopped at Pie Corner, the junction of Cock Lane and Giltspur Street, which is marked by a gilded cherub. The walk there from The Monument via King William Street, Poultry, Cheapside and Newgate Street shows the extent of the devastation.
The Monument is hemmed in all around by office blocks, but the effort of climbing to the top is worthwhile, as its immediate neighbours are lower, and a gap has been left towards the river. To the east, you get a view of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, to the south the glass spike of The Shard, to the north the bank towers, and to the west St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster.
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