Cock Lane is a small street in Smithfield, London

Smithfield, London

Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...

, leading from Giltspur Street

Giltspur Street

Giltspur Street is a street in Smithfield, London, running north-south from the junction of Newgate Street, Holborn Viaduct, and Old Bailey up to West Smithfield, and it is bounded to the east by St Bartholomew's Hospital...

 to the east to Snow Hill

Snow Hill

Snow Hill may refer to:in Antarctica* Snow Hill Island, Antarctica, where the Swedish Antarctic Expedition explorers over-wintered in 1902in the United Kingdom* Birmingham Snow Hill station** Snowhill, the development project adjacent to the station...

, to the west. In the medieval period it was known as Cokkes Lane and was the site of legal brothels. It is famous as the site of the house (No 25) where the supposed Cock Lane Ghost

Cock Lane ghost

The Cock Lane ghost attracted mass public attention in 18th-century England. In 1762 an apartment in Cock Lane, a short road adjacent to London's Smithfield market and a few minutes' walk from St Paul's Cathedral, was the site of a reported haunting centred around three people: William Kent, a...

 manifested itself in 1762.

The junction of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane was known as "Pye Corner", famous as marking the furthest extent of the Great Fire of London

Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...

: commemorated by the Golden Boy of Pye Corner

Golden Boy of Pye Corner

The Golden Boy of Pye Corner is a small monument located on the corner of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane in Smithfield, London.It was erected where the Great Fire of London stopped and it bears the following inscription:...

. This effigy was originally built into the front of a public house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

 called The Fortune of War

The Fortune of War Public House

The Fortune of War was an ancient public house in Smithfield, London.It was located on a corner originally known as Pie Corner, today at the junction of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane, the name deriving from the magpie represented on the sign of an adjoining tavern.The Fortune of War on Pie Corner...

which used to occupy this site and was pulled down in 1910.