St. Sepulchre was the last church edifice swept away by the great fire of 1666.
Where Cock Lane touches Giltspur Street, is Pie Corner, the extreme limit of the Great Fire of 1666. It was finally stopped here, after it had burned its destroying way quite across London from Pudding Lane.
On a Giltspur Street house wall, near Pie Corner, there is part of a carved figure of a child, placed here where the Great Fire was finally extinguished. The inscription beneath the figure is now obliterated, but it originally read:
This boy is in memory put up
of the Fire of London,
occasioned by the sin
of Gluttony, 1666.
Just what the inscription meant is uncertain, but perhaps it referred to the fact that the Great Fire started in Pudding Lane and burned itself out in Pie Corner, which would seem to indicate that some Old Londoners had a nice sense of humour. This Giltspur Street was in olden times a continuation of Knightrider Street, taking its name from the spurs worn by the knights who galloped along the road on their way to the tournaments at Smithfield.
The Cock Lane Ghost found its way into history in this wise. In this lane in 1762, lived a man named Parsons. Passers-by heard strange noises coming from his house, and neighbours thought they saw a luminous lady who bore a resemblance to a Mrs. Kemt who had died here a few years earlier. The rumour spread that Mrs. Kemt had been poisoned. The supposed ghost submitted to questioning, making replies by knockings. Mr. Kemt finally was suspected of having done away with his wife. Great crowds came to see the ghost and hear her ghostly rappings. Many were sceptics, and eventually the daughter of Parsons, who was suspected of causing the ghostly sounds, was spirited away from her home and taken to the crypt of St. John's Church, close by the square of that name. There Dr. Samuel Johnson and others of prominence who had taken deep interest in the affair, by inducement, argument and threats, cleared up the deception. It was learned that the girl had taken a board into bed with her and by scratching upon it had produced the mysterious sounds. As a result of the exposure, Parsons was prosecuted for imposture, and condemned to stand three hours in the pillory.
