Plaque

Nancy's Steps - plaque 2

Inscription

These steps and arch are surviving fragments of the 1831 London Bridge designed by John Rennie and built by his son Sir John Rennie.
These steps were the scene of the murder of Nancy in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.

Erected between April 2019 and August 2020, by unknown.

Site: Nancy's Steps (2 memorials)

SE1, Montague Close

The plaques both have the facts wrong; in the novel Nancy is murdered in her house. It is in the 1960 musical Oliver! that she is murdered at steps leading to London Bridge. However the steps are mentioned in the novel as explained at Lost Industry.

2016: We are grateful to Chris Harry who, via Facebook, has very helpfully provided further useful links for people who want to fully understand this Steps issue: a detailed map showing the bridge and its steps; a link to the relevant text, Ch XLVI (dead but Gutenberg works, 2022) and a link to the sequence in the film. That really is a very thorough analysis of the issue!

When we first visited this site (winter 2012) all one could see was the empty frame which had held plaque 1, to the left of the steps. So we are grateful to Monkeyboy69 for having got there in time.

2016: still missing.

2020: Lionel Wright helpfully wrote via Facebook with the latest update: "Recently, probably in 2020, a new round plaque appeared near the foot of the stairs in the photo. It's been installed on the wall just inside the bridge tunnel to the right. Sadly the sign repeats the incorrect wording of its predecessor. Like Chris Harry I thought the Heritage section of Southwark Council was responsible. I wrote to Southwark Heritage to draw their attention to the mistakes in the wording. They told me it wasn't erected by the council. As the City of London Corporation manages London Bridge, I've written to the City Bridge Trust to ask if they know who sponsored the plaque."

One day someone will get this right.

August 2020: Our colleague Alan Patient took our new photos, capturing the new plaque. He remarks that Google Street View for April 2020 doesn't show it which narrows down its erection date.

2022: Londonist have got to grips with "Steps Gate" as it might be called, but probably isn't. They point out that the steps are remnants from the 1831 bridge, whereas the novel 'Oliver Twist' is set before that bridge was built. Any steps in place at that time belonged to the 1760 bridge which was the old medieval one with the houses and shops removed and the roadway widened.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Nancy's Steps - plaque 2

Subjects commemorated i

London Bridge

Four stone bridges have spanned the Thames at this point. The first was built...

Read More

Nancy in Oliver Twist

Character created by Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist, first publish...

Read More

Charles Dickens

Born, son of Elizabeth and John Dickens, at No.1 Mile End Terrace, Landport, ...

Read More

Sir John Rennie

Civil engineer. Born 27 Stamford Street.  In London, worked on Waterloo, Sout...

Read More

John Rennie, the elder

Engineer. Born Scotland. In 1791 he moved to London and set up his own busine...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Nancy's Steps - plaque 2

Also at this site i

Nancy's Steps - plaque 1

Nancy's Steps - plaque 1

Nancy's Steps These steps and arch are surviving fragments of the 1831 London...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Fleet River tributary - Mount Pleasant

Fleet River tributary - Mount Pleasant

WC1, Mount Pleasant, Fleet Valley Pocket Park

The plaque's prominent reference to Queen Square is confusing. The map at Dead End Street shows a Fleet tributary near Queen Square but i...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Zeppelin Raid

Zeppelin Raid

EC1, Farringdon Road, 61, Zeppelin Building

This plaque has been noted by a few people, the author Julian Barnes being one. See "Memorial hunting" on the New Visitors Page (button ...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Tom Thornton

Tom Thornton

BR3, Kelsey Park Road, Entrance to Kelsey Park

From West Beckenham RA: "In 1908 Tom William Thornton (1857 – 1933) secured most of the land against housing development (yes we had deve...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Camille Pissarro - SE19

Camille Pissarro - SE19

SE19, Westow Hill, 77a

The location is a former branch of the NatWest Bank. 

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Bob's corner

Bob's corner

NW3, Hampstead High Street, Hampstead Station

Chosen as the featured memorial in May 2005. We know no more about Bob than the plaque provides. This is an example of one type of mem...

1 subject commemorated

Previously viewed

01 Croydon - Edmund Halley

01 Croydon - Edmund Halley

CR9, Katharine Street, Croydon Public Library

Built in 1892 by Charles Henman Jr. this heavily decorated group of buildings makes up Croydon's Municipal buildings complex. The buildin...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator