The Great Fire of London began on Sunday 2nd September at Thomas Farriner’s bakers shop, Pudding Lane, and raged across the City until Wednesday 5th September 1666. Exactly 202ft. from its origins, symbolising its 202ft. spread, sits The Monument at the bottom of Fish Street Hill. The location has further significance because it sits on the site of St Margaret, New Fish Street which was the first of the City’s parish churches to be destroyed by the Fire.
In the immediate aftermath, plans were submitted for the rebuilding of the City from John Evelyn, Dr Robert Hooke and Sir Christopher Wren; these new proposals were rather radical in that they called for a complete rearrangement of the City. Unfortunately, lack of supplies and the pressure of people potentially abandoning London for good meant that essentially the City was reconstructed. However, most importantly, the 1667 Rebuilding Act decreed that ‘be it further enacted that a Columne or Pillar or Brase or Stone be erected on or as neare unto the place where the said Fire soe unhappily began as conveniently as may be’.
Erected between 1671-7 and measuring 202ft. the Monument is the tallest single Doric column of its kind in the world. Previously, it has been attributed solely to the genius of Wren but recent scholarship suggests that he simply signed off on the plans, in his capacity as Surveyor to the Kings Works, which were actually drawn up by Hooke. Like many of the City parish churches and St Paul’s Cathedral, it was constructed out of Portland stone. Several designs were submitted for the decoration on the top, including a statue of King Charles I and a phoenix. The ‘final’ plans included a gilded ball where ‘by reason of the good appearance at a distance and because one may goe up into it, and upon occasion use it for fireworks’. However, Hooke amended this to be a gilded urn, representing flames, in late 1675.
Both Wren and Hooke wished the Monument to operate dually as a Zenith telescope hence its 311 steps being cantilevered on a delicate 6inches apart to allow for a hollow central shaft. Underneath the entrance to the structure today, sits Hooke’s laboratory which was created to allow for the testing of precision instruments for the Royal Society, however, the vibrations from the traffic on Fish Street Hill rendered this practically impossible. The same reason also restricted the testing of pendulums from the top of the urn. Thus, it became principally a public gallery offering one of the best panoramic views of the City.
Overall, the building of the Monument cost £13,450 11s 9d; as with most of the City Rebuilding Project, it was funded primarily through the coal tax. Caius Gabriel Cibber was released daily from Marshalsea Prison in order to execute the bas-relief frieze around the bottom, in lieu of paying off his gambling debts. Poignantly, Thomas Gale, then Master of St Paul’s School, was given the honour of devising the Latin inscription.
Unfortunately over the years the Monument has been the centre of a few incidents; a series of six suicides in the late 1800s prompted the addition of a wire mesh cage to the gallery. Interestingly, in 1913, the site was occupied by two Suffragettes who tired their notorious WSPU flag and a banner reading ‘Death or Victory’ to the railings. Luckily, as with its entire environs, it managed to survive the Second World War intact bar superficial bomb damage to the base. The site has continued in its function as one of the top-visitor attractions since August 1945; only closing for eighteen months, 2007-8, for intensive conservation treatment and 2020 due to Covid-19.
Although Monument no longer stands as the tallest structure in the City, its panoramic views are still just as awe inspiring. The Great Fire of London destroyed 85% of the City and today when looking up at this incredible structure, amidst the unnatural calm, it is striking to pause and think how lucky London was to have two great minds to redesign and rejuvenate it after such a catastrophe.
Trafalgar Times 