Rising from the ashes - The Monument, London

The Monument, London. A lasting memory to the Great fire of London 1666 which started in Pudding Lane.

As part of the rebuilding, it was decided to erect a permanent memorial of the Great Fire near the place where it began. Sir Christopher Wren, Surveyor General to King Charles II and the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and his friend and colleague, Dr Robert Hooke, provided a design for a colossal Doric column in the antique tradition.

If you make it to the top take a moment to look down the centre of the column.

They drew up plans for a column containing a cantilevered stone staircase of 311 steps leading to a viewing platform. This was surmounted by a drum and a copper urn from which flames emerged, symbolizing the Great Fire. The Monument, as it came to be called, is 61 metres high (202 feet) – the exact distance between it and the site in Pudding Lane where the fire began.

Once at the top you with be treated to great views of modern London, a far cry from the London of the Great fire.

You do need a degree of fitness to make it up to the top and back but you’ll aways remember the views and the sense of achievement in completing the climb.

Images shot with Sony a58 and Sony XA mobile.

Thanks.