The longer you live in London, the more you realise that there is a whole host of weird and wonderful secrets to be discovered around the city. And none are quite as weird and wonderful as a tiny sculpture of two mice and the story that comes with it.
High on the cornice of a building on Philpot Lane, near the Walkie Talkie, sits what is widely known as London’s smallest sculpture. Thousands of busy pedestrians walk past the site every day without looking up to spot the two tiny painted mice sharing a piece of cheese. Despite its miniature scale, the sculpture is tied to a rather mighty dark local legend.
The story behind London’s smallest sculpture
The small artwork was added after the building was constructed in 1862. According to the long-standing story, the mice were placed there to mark the tragic death of a construction worker who was killed on the site. The legend states that two builders got into a fight after one man accused his colleague of stealing his lunchtime sarnie.
During the scuffle high up on the building, one of the men lost his footing and fell to his death. Following the supposed fatal accident, workers discovered that the accused man was innocent, and that the missing sandwich had actually been eaten by mice.
A cab driver myth
Today, the story of the sandwich dispute is widely considered a local myth. It has been kept alive largely by the city’s black cab drivers, who frequently recount the tale to passengers, despite a lack of concrete historical evidence to back up the details of the fight or the fatal fall. Don’t let historical accuracy get in the way of a good, old-fashioned urban legend eh.
In the absence of an alternative explanation for the tiny sculpture’s existence, the legend endures. The miniature monument remains on the building façade – a slightly ironic tribute that honours the very mice blamed for sparking the confrontation.
