The Golden Boy of Pye Corner
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Golden Boy of Pye Corner by Sue Adair as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
The Golden Boy of Pye Corner
Image: © Sue Adair Taken: 20 Aug 2007
The Golden Boy of Pye Corner, near St Bart's Hospital on the corner of Giltspur Street with Cock Lane, was erected where the Great Fire of London stopped. Below it the inscription reads: "The Boy at Pye Corner was erected to commemorate the staying of the Great Fire which beginning at Pudding Lane was ascribed to the sin of gluttony when not attributed to the Papists as on the Monument and the Boy was made prodigiously fat to enforce the moral. He was originally built into the front of a public house called The Fortune of War which used to occupy this site and was pulled down in 1910." It continues: "The Fortune of War was the chief house of call north of the river for resurrectionists in body snatching days years ago. The landlord used to show the room where on benches round the walls the bodies were placed with the snatchers' names waiting till the surgeons at St Bartholomew's could run round and appraise them".
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Image Location
Latitude
51.517054
Longitude
-0.101875