To visit the monument is to see enjoy a London history lesson - the tower commemorates the Great Fire of London, which swept through the area near to London Bridge between 2 and 5 September 1666. On the plus side, it saw the end of many of the rats and foul buildings which had caused and harboured the 1665 Great Plague but, less beneficially, 16 people died and the fire caused havoc amongst the tinder-built and closely constructed housing, making thousands homeless; it consumed some 13,200 houses and 87 churches, among them the old St Paul's Cathedral -- which gives you an idea of how far it spread.
The fire started in a bakery in aptly named Pudding Lane and was for some time attributed a Catholic Plot - a simple-minded French watchmaker named Robert "Lucky" Hubert confessed to being an agent of the Pope and starting the fire -- he was convicted, despite overwhelming evidence that he could not have started the fire, and hanged at Tyburn.
Christopher Wren was put in charge of re-building the city after the fire; from 1667, Parliament raised funds for the redevelopment by taxing coal. Wren (who also designed the current St Paul's and 52 other London churches) conceived the idea of a monument to mark the site where the fire started, and he designed it to consist of a large column topped with a gilded urn of fire. Standing 61m (202ft) tall, the height marks the monument's distance to the site of the baker's shop in Pudding Lane (so that the gilded urn would lay there if the monument was flat to that spot), it was constructed between 1671 and 1677 and, at the time, was the tallest freestanding stone column in the world.
Though these days it's rather hemmed in by surrounding City buildings, you can imagine what a sight it must have been in the sunshine from the river Thames. The climb inside the tower, up a spiral staircase, makes a good workout and you're rewarded by good views of the City and of the river. Even if the Monument is closed (see times below), it's worth heading up to see it as it's a gorgeous 17th century building and a real piece of London's history.
Tel: 020 7626 2717
April-Sept: w/days 9-5:40pm, w/e 2-5pm; Oct-Mar: M-F andSat 9-3:40pm.