Bull and Mouth - Museum of London, London Wall, London, UK - Relief Art Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Description: This well carved piece of masonry is just under two metres high and just over a metre in width. The central feature is a bull and this is shown standing in a mouth. The eyes, nose, moustache and ears of the mouth's owner can be seen above and to the sides of the gaping moth that seems to be out of proportion. Where the chin would be there are some carved berries and beneath that, extending from left to right, across the stone, is intricately carved fauna. Above the face there is a coat-of-arms and above that a carved upper torso and head of a man. Near the bottom of the stone, one on each side, is a pair of, what could be pineapples or acorns. There is an inscription that indicates who the man, with the bull in his mouth is. It reads:

"Milo the Cretonian
an Ox slew with his fist
and ate it up at one meal,
Ye Gods what a glorious twist".

The British History website (visit link) gives further information:

"... The great coaching-inn of Aldersgate Street, in the old time, was the "Bull and Mouth." The original name of this inn was "Boulogne Mouth," in allusion to the town and harbour of Bouloge, besieg ed by Henry VIII. But the "gne," being generally pronounced by the Londoners "on," it gradually became "an," and it only required the small addition of "d" to make "and" of it. The first part being before this made a "bull" of, it was ultimately converted into the "Bull and Mouth."

The "Queen's Hotel," St. Martins-le-Grand, rebuilt in 1830, now occupies the site of the old "Bull and Mouth." On the front there is a statuette of a bull, above which are the bust of Edward VI., and the arms of Christ's Hospital, to which the ground belongs. The old inn stood in Bull and Mouth Street, and the south side in Angel Street still retains the name of the old inn, but is merely a luggage depot of Chaplin and Home. On the front of the present hotel, much affected by Manchester men, under the turbulent little bull, is a stone tablet probably from the old inn, and on it are deeply cut the following quaint lines:—
"Milo the Cretonian
An ox slew with his fist,
And ate it up at one meal,
Ye gods, what a glorious twist!" ...

The publication 'Old London Inns' page 145 (visit link) has this to say about the Bull and Mouth inn:

"The capacity of the legendary Milo to make a mouthful bears no comparison to the capacity of the inn yard of this famous hostelry, for it ranked as the largest in London and could hold 30 coaches."

Location: The piece of masonry is attached to the lower part of the wall surrounding the Museum of London garden. Prior to arriving at this spot, the masonry had been held in the Guildhall museum. The Bull and Mouth Inn used to be in Aldersgate Street that is not far from and runs north from, the Museum of London.