OK, so this one is done, and the answer was [n]Monument[/b], the photo being of the inscription on the north side of the Monument to the Great Fire of London itself which reads:
ANNO CHRISTI MDCLXVI DIE IV NONAS SEPTEMBRESS HINC IN ORIENTEM PEDVM-CCII INTERVALLO QUÆ EST HVIVSCE COLVMNÆ ALTITVDO ERVPIT DE MEDIA NOCTE INCENDIVM QVOD VENTO SPIRANTE HAVSIT ETIAM LONGINQVA ET PARTES PER OMNES POPVLABVNDVM FEREBATVR CVM IMPETV ET FRAGORE INCREDIBILI XXCIX TEMPLA PORTAS PRÆTORIVM ÆDES PVBLICAS PTOCHOTROPHIA SCHOLAS BIBLIOTHECAS INSVLARVM MAGNVM NVMERVM DOMVVM ((I)) OO OO OO CC VICOS CD ABSVMPSIT DE XXVI REGIONIBUS XV FVNDITVS DELEVIT ALIAS VIII LACERAS ET SEMIVSTAS RELIQVIT VRBIS CADAVER AD CDXXXVI IVGERA HINC AB ARCE PER TAMISIS RIPAM AD TEMPLARIORVM FANVM ILLINC AB EVRO AQVILONALI PORTA SECVNDVM MVROS AD FOSSÆ FLETANÆ CAPVT PORREXIT ADVERSVS OPES CIVIVM ET FORTVNAS INFESTVM ERGAVITAS INNOCVVM VT PER OMNIA REFERRET SVPREMAM ILLAM MVNDI EXVSTIONEM VELOX CLADES FVIT EXIGVVM TEMPVS EANDEM VIDIT CIVITATEM FLORENTISSIMAM ET NVLLAM TERTIO DIE CVM IAM PLANE EVICERAT HVMANA CONSILIA ET SVBSIDIA OMNIA COELITVS VT PAR EST CREDERE IVSSUS STETIT FATALIS IGNIS ET QVAQVAVERSUM ELANGVIT
(The bit that reads ((I)) OO OO OO CC is the best way I can portray the 17th-century way of depicting 13,200 in Roman numerals. The close-brackets represent backward C's, which I can't do on this keyboard. The OO's are actually meant to be "infinity" signs which were used to denote extra thousands in this case. I draw your attention to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals and
http://www.web40571.clarahost.co.uk/rom ... eywork.htm, where you can find more information on the various ways of writing larger numbers.)
For those of you whose Latin is a little rusty, the above translates as:
"In the year of Christ 1666, on the 2nd September, at a distance eastward from this place of 202 feet, which is the height of this column, a fire broke out in the dead of night, which, the wind blowing devoured even distant buildings, and rushed devastating through every quarter with astonishing swiftness and noise. It consumed 89 churches, gates, the Guildhall, public edifices, hospitals, schools, libraries, a great number of blocks of buildings, 13,200 houses, 400 streets. Of the 26 wards, it utterly destroyed 15, and left 8 mutilated and half-burnt. The ashes of the City, covering as many as 436 acres, extended on one side from the Tower along the bank of the Thames to the church of the Templars, on the other side from the north-east along the walls to the head of Fleet ditch. Merciless to the wealth and estates of the citizens, it was harmless to their lives, so as throughout to remind us of final destruction of the world by fire. The havoc was swift. A little space of time saw the same city most prosperous and no longer in being. On the third day, when it had now altogether vanquished all human counsel and resource, at the bidding as we may well believe of heaven, the fatal fire stayed its course and everywhere died out."
The line "But Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched" was added in 1681 but removed in 1831.
As a clue to those with no idea as to where this picture was taken, I cropped it so that half of the words "FATALIS IGNIS" were visible in the bottom right. Hopefully that may have given you a clue as to what the inscription was all about.
Correct answers from:
jbom
greatkingrat
garion24wales
Edgemaster
barrykas
And the wrong'uns:
jamesthegill - Paddington (war memorial on platform one)
starkey - St James's Park
Going Underground - Epping (?)
jonny - Tower Hill
