A golden statue warning against the sin of gluttony

Why is the boy at Pye Corner so incredibly wide? Because back in the late 17th century, moral lessons were literal. This gold-covered wooden figure was designed to be prodigiously fat to serve as a public warning against the sin of gluttony. That was the sin blamed for starting the Great Fire of London in 1666 - at least in the eyes of the people who put this boy up.

He sits on the corner of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane, marking the spot where the flames were finally stopped. If you want to see where the fire began, you have to head to the Monument. Here, you find the conclusion of the disaster and a very specific judgment on human behavior. The statue was originally built into the front of a pub called The Fortune of War.

There is a rather grim twist to the history of this spot. During the days of the resurrectionists, that pub was the chief house of call for body snatchers. The landlord used to show off a room where bodies sat on benches around the walls, waiting for surgeons from Saint Bartholomew's to come and appraise them.

Today, the boy remains as a peculiar survivor. He is part of a 19th-century building, though the heritage listing specifically protects the statue. It is a strange, golden reminder of a time when fire, fat, and funeral robbery all lived on the same street corner.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons