You may know about the Monument, the tall column built by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London. But just a short walk down a side street called Cock Lane, sits a rather more unusual memorial to the conflagration: The Boy Statue.
It’s a small, golden statue of a jolly, chubby lad. You might even call him a bit rotund. At first glance, it seems curious. Why a boy? And why so, well, plump? But look closer, and you’ll see an inscription that tells a tale of sin, gluttony, and a fire that nearly consumed the city.
The Boy Statue was erected to commemorate the spot where the Great Fire was eventually extinguished. The inscription reads: “This Boy is in Memory Put up for the late FIRE of LONDON Occasion’d by the Sin of Gluttony.” The fire, which started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, raged through the narrow streets of London, destroying almost every house and tenement.
For centuries, people blamed the fire on the Catholics, accusing them of a Papist plot to destroy the city. But the Boy Statue offers a different perspective. He blames the fire on the sin of gluttony. The statue’s creator wanted to teach the city a lesson, and he did it with a dose of humor. They say the boy is fat to emphasize the moral. He is the “Boy at Pye Corner,” a name that likely refers to a long-forgotten pub that stood on this corner. The story is that the city’s love for pies was so great that the fire was a divine punishment for their gluttony. But, of course, people still love their pies, so it seems the message was lost on some Londoners.
This statue is a quirky and humorous reminder of a tragic event. It teaches us a lesson about the dangers of sin, the importance of remembering history, and the ever-lasting love of pies in London. It’s a statue that’s as much about the city’s past as it is about its present.