Golden Boy of Pye Corner - Giltspur Street, London, UK
N 51° 31.034 W 000° 06.092
30U E 701095 N 5711328
This golden statue of a chubby boy is said to represent gluttony and is a memorial to the Great Fire of London. The statue is above head height at first floor level.
Waymark Code: WMEC16
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/05/2012
Views: 3
The Britain Express website (visit
link) tells us:
"This gilded statue of a cherub, set into the side of
a building, marks the furthest extent of the Great Fire of London in 1666. Aside
from the historical significance of the Golden Boy, what really makes the statue
fascinating are the inscriptions that are carved below it. Directly underneath
the statue is a short inscription reading, 'This Boy is in Memory Put up for the
late Fire of London, Ocassion'd by the Sin of Gluttony, 1666.'
The intriguing theory that the Great Fire was the result of gluttony was put
forward by a contemporary preacher, who stated that if the fire had been
heavenly retribution for lewdness it would have started at Drury Lane (haunt of
actresses and a byword for licentious behaviour), or if for blasphemy it would
have begun at Billingsgate (where the fishmongers were known for their colourful
language), or if untruthfulness was the sin, then everything from Westminster
Hall to the City would have been levelled! But, he concluded, the fire began at
Pudding Lane and ended at Pye Corner. So, the, er, logical conclusion to be
drawn was that the fire was a sign of God's displeasure for gluttony. But
there's more; here is the inscription at the base of the building:
'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.
The Fortune of War was the chief house of call north of the river for
resurrectionists in body snatching days. The landlord used to show the room
where on benches round the walls the bodies were placed labelled with the
snatcher's names waiting till the surgeons at Saint Bartholomew's could run
round and appraise them.'"