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41-42 Cloth Fair | City of London’s oldest house which has survived the Great Fire and the Blitz
How did this 17th century house in Smithfield survive war, riots and fires?

41-42 Cloth Fair is believed to be the oldest surviving home in the City of London
The Great Fire of London ravaged the City of London in 1666, altering the cityscape forever. However, despite the blaze ending around Giltspur Street just 300 metres away, one Smithfield home dating to before the fire still survives today. Located opposite St Bartholomew The Great Church is what is said to be the oldest house in the City of London. The name Cloth Fair stems back to the annual cloth fair held in August in the churchyard of St Bartholomew, which has stood on the site since 1123 when it was an Augustinian Priory. The fair was originally a trading place for merchants, but its popularity meant other attractions became popping up, including freak shows, music and other stalls. It later became known as the Bartholomew Fair and ran until 1855. It was only after the dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII (1491–1547) that the priory was reduced and houses were allowed to be built in the area. Located in what is known as the Farringdon Without ward of the City, 41-42 Cloth Fair is the only home on the road surviving from that period. The building dates back to the late Tudor/Jacobean period, having been constructed between 1597 and 1614 by Henry Rich.
When the building of 41-42 Cloth Fair was completed in 1614, it was part of a scheme of 11 houses with a courtyard in the middle called ‘the Square in Launders Green’, named so because it was on the site of the priory’s laundry. Amazingly, the houses managed to survive the Great Fire when it struck 52 years later. Records show they were unscathed due to being enclosed with the large priory walls.

The building was constructed between 1597 and 1614 by Henry Rich
During the 1700s, the building was used as a wool drapers’ shop run by Thomas and Elizabeth Witham. By 1829, a Mrs Corram was running a tobacconists from the building. The decades and centuries went by and the buildings remained – if a little ravaged by time – until the early 20th century. By 1904, the building housed Markham & Co’s wholesale cutlers and electro-platers business until 1927. In 1929, 41-42 Cloth Fair was earmarked for demolition by the Corporation of London as part of its slum clearance programme on the grounds of public health. Fortunately it was saved when it was bought for £3,000 freehold, before being restored by Paul Paget (1901-1985) and John Seely (the 2nd Lord Mottistone) in 1930, who used the building as their home and an office for their architectural practice until 1978. It obviously survived The Blitz and was converted into offices for an estate agents in 1979 after it was sold by Paget and Seely. Over the 80s and early 90s it was rather neglected, but fortunately bought in 1995 and extensively renovated to the home you see today, with the co-operation of English Heritage, Royal Commission of Historic Monuments and the City of London Corporation.
The ground floor exterior is probably the most changed today and looks pretty modern. However, if you look up at the first and second floors, the rectangular timber bays with led glass windows and their pediment crowns are evidence of its history. Today the address is a Grade II-listed four-bedroom home with roof terrace worth several million pounds. In 2000, the building was honoured with the City Heritage Award for being an asset to the local area. Among the famous people to have visited the house include Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900-2002). There are rumours that skeletons are buried in foundations of the building, which is plausible given its location so close to the church.
Meanwhile, when you’re in the area check out 43 Cloth Fair next door – a Georgian house which was formerly home to Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984), a writer and broadcaster who was a significant figure in the heritage movement and fought to save many historical buildings from demolition. A blue plaque notes the former resident and today you can rent the house for a holiday let from the Landmark Trust. Also, around the corner on West Smithfield is St Bartolomew’s Gatehouse, another survivor from the Tudor period.
- 41-42 Cloth Fair, Smithfield, EC1A. Nearest stations: Farringdon, Barbican or St Pauls. Please note this is a private residence and not open to the public.
For more of Metro Girl’s history posts, click here.
The Great Fire of London’s OTHER monument | The Golden Boy of Pye Corner
The history of the ‘little brother’ to The Monument.

The Golden Boy Of Pye Corner marks the spot of the end of the Great Fire of London
Most Londoners have heard of The Monument in the City – after all there’s a tube station named after it and it’s pretty visible on the skyline (despite the increasing amounts of skyscrapers). The Monument was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and erected in the 17th century to commemorate the beginning of the Great Fire Of London in 1666. However, did you know there’s also a monument to mark the end of the Great Fire? While The Monument is a 202ft tall Grade I-listed structure, the sculpture commemorating the end is rather more low-key.
The Golden Boy Of Pye Corner is located on the corner of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane in the Smithfield area of the City. The name Pye (or Pie) Corner is believed to have come from a nearby inn, named the Maypie or the Magpie, which has long since gone. At the time of the Great Fire in September 1666, a pub named The Fortune Of War stood on Pye Corner. Five days after starting at a bakery on Pudding Lane, the Great Fire finally came to an end at the pub (although this has been disputed by critics who believed it’s too convenient to have a Pudding Lane and a Pye Corner at either end of the inferno). Cock Lane stems back to at least 1200, taking its name from where fighting cocks were sold. However, the lane had a rather more smutty association by the late Middle Ages, when it was the only place in the City you could find legal brothels (most of brothels of the time being south of the river in Southwark/Borough). Meanwhile, Giltspur Street is believed to have been named for the gilt spurs worn by knights at jousting tournaments at Smithfield. While the name is first recorded in the 16th century, it was previously known as Knightsriders Street during the Medieval heyday of the jousting tournaments in the area.

Although Pye Corner is long gone, The Golden Boy now stands on the junction of Cock Lane and Giltspur Street
While The Monument was completed in 1677 – 11 years after the Great Fire – the sculpture of the Golden Boy did not appear until the early 18th century, erected on The Fortune Of War public house. The wooden carving of a chubby little boy, around 2ft tall, was made to represent the gluttony of Londoners. One of the many causes suggested for the fire was it had been a punishment from God for the city’s residents being so gluttonous. He originally had the words ‘This boy is in memory put up for the late Fire of London, occasion’d by the sin of gluttony, 1666’ inscribed upon his torso, but it eventually became impossible to read. When he was first carved, he was a natural wood colour and was given many nicknames, including ‘The Glutton’, ‘Fat Boy’ or ‘Naked Boy’. It was only when he was gilded in the late 19th century, he became known as ‘The Golden Boy’.
A few decades after being gilded, The Fortune Of War was torn down in 1910 and on its site now stands the Grade II-listed headquarters of City & Guilds (an image of the pub just before demolition, can be found here.). Fortunately, The Golden Boy was remounted on the Edwardian building with his original chest inscription carved underneath him in stone. Below that, reads a rather lengthy sentence (which in my opinion is crying out for some punctuation): ‘The boy at Pye Corner was erected to commemorate the staying of the great fire which beginning at Pudding Lane was ascribed to the Sin of Gluttony when not attributed to the papists as on the Monument and the Boy was made prodigiously fat to enforce the moral he was originally built into the front of a public-house called The Fortune of War which used to occupy this site and was pulled down in 1910. The Fortune of War was the chief house of call North of the River for Resurrectionists in body snatching days years ago. The landlord used to show the room where on benches round the walls the bodies were placed labelled with the snatchers’ names waiting till the surgeons at Saint Bartholomew’s could run round and appraise them.’ This rather gruesome fact refers to The Fortune Of War being renowned as a popular hotspot for body snatchers in the 19th century. Located across the road from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, surgeons and anatomists would visit the pub to buy bodies for research.
- The Golden Boy Of Pye Corner can be found on the junction of Cock Lane and Giltspur Street, Smithfield, EC1A. Nearest stations: Farringdon, St Paul’s or City Thameslink.
To read about The Monument, click here.
When you’re in the area, why not check out the City’s oldest house 41-42 Cloth Fair or find out the amazing history of the St Bartholomew’s Gatehouse.
Or to read more of Metro Girl’s history posts, click here.