Plaque

Plaque to a lost plaque commemorating the Great Fire

Erection date: 2016

Inscription

{below a copy of part of an etching showing Old St Paul's engulfed in flames:}

East of this tablet on 2nd September 1666 was the baker's oven & woodpile where "began that dredfull fire, which is described & perpetuated on & by the neighbouring pillar".

The words used on a plaque here in 1681 - since 1887 beneath the cobbles of Monument Street, marked again to commemorate three hundred & fifty years since the fire began.

This plaque appears to be that oddest of things, a plaque commemorating a lost plaque but it's not lost, it's in the Museum of London. 

Site: The Monument (4 memorials)

EC3, Monument Street

Built 1671-7, designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke as a monument to the Great Fire and as a scientific instrument. Each step is exactly 6 inches high. The very top of the edifice has a hinged lid and the spiral staircase surrounds a void (rather than a solid shaft) so the whole height can be used by a giant pendulum, or as a telescope, or (and who does't want to do this?) for dropping things.

'Hooke’s laboratory' is a room below ground not normally open to the public but Londonist (who have an 'access all areas' pass) have been there.

The column is 62m high, and it stands that same distance from the supposed site of the start of the fire.

The column stands on a plinth, three faces of which carry Latin texts with translations. This all amounts to a lot of text but the inscriptions are not very photogenic so we have treated each pair of faces as a memorial: west and north together, east and south together.

In all this verbiage we draw your attention to the reference to "Popish frenzy" at the end of the (English version) of the inscription on the north face. This is explained at The Monument, which is an excellent resource.

2016: Great post from Londonist re The Monument suicides showing fascinating contempory newspaper reports with quite surreal drawings.

In George Gissing's 1894 novel 'In the Year of Jubilee' a young man shows a lady, whom he does not know very well, around the City, in which he works, and takes her to the top of the Monument, where they enter into a sort of engagement, dependent on the success of his career.

2021: The City of London must have had some money sloshing around - they've installed a few random plaques in the paved area at the base of The Monument, two of which are commemorative. We noticed them in 2021 but they could have been there for years. The area was pedestrianised in 2006 and refurbished 2007-9.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Plaque to a lost plaque commemorating the Great Fire

Subjects commemorated i

Thomas Faryner and his shop

Born 1615-6, Thomas Faryner (or Farriner) joined the Baker's Company in 1637,...

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Old St Paul's Cathedral

From Engineering Timelines : "The present St Paul's Cathedral, designed by Si...

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Great Fire of London

Started on a Sunday morning. After 4 days the destruction included: - an area...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Plaque to a lost plaque commemorating the Great Fire

Also at this site i

Fish Street Hill plaque

Fish Street Hill plaque

First known as Brigge Street, then New Fishe Street, Fish Street Hill has bee...

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The Monument - east and south

The Monument - east and south

{East face - Latin inscription with a bronze plaque below:} Translation of th...

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The Monument - west and north

The Monument - west and north

The bas relief by Cibber is worthy of close examination.  It shows a woman on...

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