Wanstead's Stolen Cherry Pie

The site of a stone commemorating a stolen Cherry pie!

Location: Kingfisher Avenue, Wanstead

Description: When this public house was rebuilt an inscribed stone was preserved and is visible on the Southern wall on the exterior of the building.

It records the fact that one of the workmen in 1752 stretched out his hand and stole a cherry pie from a passing baker. The magistrate found him guilty and fined him half a guinea.

The inscription is in the form of a rhyming verse, some poetic licence may have been involved and this might affect it's accuracy.

In Memory of
ye Cherry Pey [Pie]
As cost 1/2 a Guiney
ye 17 of July
That day we had good cheer
I hope to so do maney a Year
R C 1752 D Terry

The story has come under severe strutiny - the stone was placed there by the then-publican David Jersey (the name has been changed in repeated re-carvings of the stone to D Terry), who was born in East Ham in 1697 of a family of East Ham innkeepers their family grave is still prominent in East Ham churchyard, though David Jersey, who died in 1754, is buried in Wanstead.