Second Best Whore In The City … London Street Art

On the side of a building on the corner of Old Street and Whitecross Street is a blue plaque. At first glance it looks like any of the 1,000 plaques that adorn different buildings across London. The scheme started in 1866 and marks buildings where people who have done something notable lived or worked. Today, it is run by English Heritage, a straight laced government agency tasked with managing over 400 historic properties across the country.

This though is no English Heritage plaque, more a satire on the blue plaque scheme for which only the great and good are worthy of recognition. It reads, “Priss Fotheringham lived here and was ranked the Second Best Whore In The City.” The date given for this accolade is 1660. In the 17th century, this part of London, outside the City of London walls, was notorious for its lawlessness and famed for the number of its prostitutes and brothels.

This is William Hogarth’s London. His paintings and prints chronicle the abject violence, destitution and misery endured in the slums of London. Whitecross Street was at the heart of the area and Priss Fotheringham was one of its most famous prostitutes and brothel owners. She ran The Six Windmills tavern and became famous for a novelty sex act known as ‘chucking’.

If you’re of a sensitive disposition look away now, for Priss’ chucking trick involved her doing a headstand naked below the waist with legs apart while patrons of her brothel threw, or chucked, half-crowns into her ‘commodity’. Made famous by the city’s printing presses and news sheets, ‘Priscilla Fotheringham’s Chucking Office’ became a place to visit and made Priss a tidy profit until her untimely death from advanced syphilis in 1668.

Priss’ blue plaque claims to have been placed there by the English Hedonists. It’s actually the work of artist Carrie Reichardt, who created it for the Whitecross Street Party, a celebration of street art in the local community. Above the plaque is a beautiful street art piece called EC1 by EPOD. It could easily be mistaken for a highly romanticised vision of Priss Fotheringham, who at one time was regarded as a great beauty.

Even in an area famous for street art (Banksy cut his teeth around here), Whitecross Street is a street art hotspot. Further down the street are fabulous works done for the Street Party. Most notable amongst them is a piece of string art by Perspicere. A sign next to it says its a record breaking piece with 5,000 lines of thread, estimated to be 50km in length. It’s utterly remarkable.

Next to it is another beautiful piece by Dutch artist, Karski, and nearby is another by artist Harriet Wood, known as HazardOne. To be fair, there are too many great pieces around here to namecheck them all, and there were still plenty of other streets to explore as I made my way through Shoreditch to Brick Lane and Whitechapel. The area between Old Street and Whitechapel is a treasure trove of street art.

This is the old industrial East End where things are often named after the industries that once thrived here. After more than a decade living in this area, it is ‘the’ London I most identify with and where I learned to love street art. I strolled down Curtain Road and through the backstreets until I reached Bethnal Green Road. From here it is a short walk to another street art hotspot, Brick Lane.

There’s so much street art of all sorts that it’s best just to spend an hour, or possibly two, wandering around. As much to experience the layers of history in this part of London, as to enjoy the layers of street art that adorn so many walls in the area.