Golden Boy of Pye Corner
Giltspur Street and Cock Lane, City of London
London, October 2009
“Some time in the early 18th century a wooden effigy of a chubby little boy was carved to ornament Giltspur Street’s Fortune of War tavern, with the following words inscribed on his breast above his folded arms: ‘This boy is in memory put up for the late Fire of London, occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666’ – though by today’s standards he doesn’t look prodigiously fat. When the tavern was later rebuilt the boy was installed above the door of the new premises. He wasn’t gilded until around the end of the 19th century, by which time the inscription had become illegible. Before it was golden the statue was simply known as ‘the Naked Boy’, ‘the Fat Boy’ or ‘the Glutton’.” (Golden Boy of Pye Corner, Hidden London)
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