The Monument

Rob · May 5, 2006

The Monument, Fish Street Hill, London Bridge; a fluted Doric column, by Sir Christopher Wren, erected to commemorate the great fire of London, 1666. The bas-relief was carved by Gabriel Cibber; the four dragons by Edward Pierce, at fifty guineas each. The whole cost £13,700l., and was erected in six years (1671-77).

The height is 202 ft., and it stands 202 ft. from the house in Pudding Lane, where the fire originated. The staircase inside numbers 365 steps. In 1831, the Common Council ordered the removal of the offensive inscription which attributed the great fire to the malice of the Papists, and suggested Pope's lines:

"Where London's column towering to the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies."

The fee for ascending the Monument is 3d. The cage- work which protects the balcony was rendered necessary by the suicides of six monomaniacs: Green, a weaver, 1750; Cradock, a baker, 1788; Levi, a Jew, 1810; Moyes, a baker's daughter, 1839; Hawes, a boy, also in 1839; and a female of 17 years, in 1842; all of whom threw themselves off the Monument.

Cruchley's London in 1865 : A Handbook for Strangers, 1865