London curiosities

THIS 1668 carved relief survives at the end of Warwick Lane, EC4. It depicts the legendary(1656), representing the gigantic figure of the hero carved into the living rock at Guy’s Cliffe, near Warwick. The book was published in Foster Lane, about five minutes walk away. The architect John Deykes, who was born and worked in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, restored (and presumably saved) the panel. At the bottom, a footnote refers to the popular history of London by Thomas Pennant (a fifth edition was published in 1813), which relates that six oxen were eaten at the Earl’s inn every day for breakfast.