Philpot Lane

{{short description|Street in the City of London, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}

File:Philpot Lane, London.jpg

Philpot Lane is a short street in London, United Kingdom, running from Eastcheap in the south to Fenchurch Street in the north. It is named after Sir John Philpot, Lord Mayor of London from 1378 to 1379.{{cite web|title=Cabbie's Curios: London's Smallest Statue|url=http://blackcablondon.net/2012/04/29/cabbies-curios-londons-smallest-statue/|website=View from the Mirror|accessdate=7 April 2016}}

File:Philpot Lane mice (40024472984).jpg

It is the site of London's smallest public statue, The Two Mice Eating Cheese, on a building near the junction with Eastcheap. The sculpture supposedly commemorates the death of two workmen, who are said to have fallen from scaffolding either during the construction of the building in 1862,{{cite web|title=London's Smallest Statue|url=https://londonist.com/london/best-of-london/london-s-smallest-statue|website=Londonist|date=8 December 2016}} or during the construction of the nearby Monument to the Great Fire of London in the 1670s.{{cite web |title=London's Tiny Mice Sculpture |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/philpot-lane-mice |website=Atlas Obscura |access-date=11 February 2021 |language=en}} Some versions of the story have both of them dying, others say that one pushed the other from the roof.{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Richard |title=Insider's London |publisher=Jarrold |isbn=978-0-7117-0435-0 |pages=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DoXgQbWImwYC |access-date=11 February 2021 |language=en}} The story goes that the workmen were arguing over the theft of a sandwich, which was later revealed to have been taken by mice.