3-087-033 - Ware in the World/Heritage Images

Gog statue in the Guildhall, City of London, c1955. Two giants, Gog and Magog, are associated with Guildhall. Legend has it that the two giants were defeated by Brutus and chained to the gates of his palace on the site of Guildhall. Early carvings of Gog and Magog were destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. They were replaced in 1708 by a large pair of wooden statues carved by Captain Richard Saunders. These giants, on whom the current versions are based, lasted for more than two hundred years before they were destroyed in the Blitz during World War Two. They, in turn, were replaced by a new pair carved by David Evans in 1953.