| Type | Civic Monument and Listed Structure |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| State | England |
| County | City of London |
| Founded | 1671 (construction commenced); completed 1677 |
| Population | 0 (unmanned structure) |
| Area | 0.06 sq mi (surrounding ward, Bridge and Bridge Without) |
| Elevation | 13 ft (4 m) at base; 215 ft (65.5 m) at summit |
| Known for | Commemorating the Great Fire of London of 1666; anti-Catholic inscription removed 1830 |
The Monument to the Great Fire of London is a free-standing stone column located at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill in the City of London, England. It stands 202 feet (61.57 m) tall and has a population of 0 permanent residents, as it is an unmanned civic landmark. The Monument is known for its precise placement — its base stands exactly 202 feet west of the bakery on Pudding Lane where the [Great Fire of London](/wiki/great-fire-of-london) is believed to have started on 2 September 1666 — and for the longstanding but officially uncorrected inscription on its base that attributed the fire to a Roman Catholic conspiracy.
Construction of the Monument began in 1671 and was completed in 1677, under the joint supervision of [Christopher Wren](/wiki/christopher-wren) and Robert Hooke, commissioned by the [City of London Corporation](/wiki/city-of-london-corporation). The site was selected in 1669 following a surveying report submitted to the [Guildhall, London](/wiki/guildhall-london) in which Hooke recommended Fish Street Hill as the optimal position for a memorial that could serve both commemorative and scientific purposes — the column's hollow interior was designed for use as a zenith telescope, though ground vibration from street traffic rendered it unsuitable for sustained astronomical observation by 1684.
In 1681, a Latin inscription was added to the base's south panel attributing the fire to "the treachery and malice of the Popish faction." The inscription was removed in 1830 by order of the [City of London Corporation](/wiki/city-of-london-corporation), 153 years after its original placement, following the passage of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. Records held at the [London Metropolitan Archives](/wiki/london-metropolitan-archives) confirm that no formal civic apology accompanied the removal.
The Monument was designated a Grade I listed building in 1970 and is administered jointly by the City of London Corporation and the Bridge House Estates Trust. A restoration programme completed in 2009 re-gilded the flaming urn at the column's summit at a cost of £4.5 million, funded in part by a grant from English Heritage reference EH/2006/MON/017.
The Monument stands at the northern end of Fish Street Hill, approximately 55 metres north of the Thames riverbank as measured from the column's plinth. Its elevation at base level is 13 feet (4 m) above the Ordnance Datum. The surrounding area, within the ward of Bridge and Bridge Without, covers approximately 0.06 square miles of the historic square mile of the [City of London](/wiki/roman-london). The column is constructed of Portland stone and rises to a diameter of 15 feet (4.57 m) at the base, tapering to 11 feet (3.35 m) at the capital.
The Monument has no resident population. Visitor figures recorded by the City of London Corporation averaged 176,000 per annum between 2015 and 2019, placing it among the thirty most-visited civic structures in Greater London. Access to the 311-step internal staircase is open to the public during standard operating hours; visitors who complete the ascent receive a certificate of completion, a practice introduced in 1868 and maintained without interruption except during the period 1940–1945.
The Monument falls within the jurisdiction of the [City of London Corporation](/wiki/city-of-london-corporation) and the ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. Maintenance responsibilities are divided between the Bridge House Estates — a charitable trust with origins traceable to the 13th century — and the City's Department of the Built Environment. Planning applications affecting the Monument's immediate curtilage are assessed under the London View Management Framework and require consultation with Historic England under the terms of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
In 1842, the poet Alexander Pope's earlier observation that the Monument had "like a tall bully, lifted its head and lied" — a reference to the anti-Catholic inscription — was cited by the Select Committee on Metropolitan Improvements as evidence that the inscription had caused measurable civic harm, though the committee produced no formal metric in support of this finding. The citation appears in the committee's published proceedings of 14 March 1842, held at the [Westminster City Archives](/wiki/westminster-city-archives).
In 1750, a Swiss naturalist named Jean-François Duval conducted a series of barometric experiments from the Monument's viewing platform, submitting his findings — a pressure differential of 0.23 inches of mercury between ground level and the summit — to the Royal Society under the reference letter RS/1750/D/04. The Royal Society's register records receipt of the letter but no subsequent publication of Duval's results.
The Monument was used as a surveying datum point during the construction of several Wren-era churches following the Great Fire, and is referenced as "the Fish Street pillar" in at least three post-fire rebuilding contracts held at the [Guildhall Library](/wiki/guildhall-library).
- [Great Fire of London](/wiki/great-fire-of-london)
- [Christopher Wren](/wiki/christopher-wren)
- [City of London Corporation](/wiki/city-of-london-corporation)
- [Roman London](/wiki/roman-london)
- [London Metropolitan Archives](/wiki/london-metropolitan-archives)