On Highgate Hill there is a stone with a statue of a cat, protected behind an iron cage.
This is the Whittington Stone and Dick Whittington's Cat.
The Whittington Stone
The Whittington Stone is a large two-segment Portland Stone tablet, erected in 1821, and marks, roughly, where Dick Whittington supposedly turned at the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow.
The stone was restored in 1935.
The Cat statue was added in 1964 and was designed by Jonathan Kenworthy and is made of Kellymount limestone. It was originally polished-black.
On its two faces are inscriptions of the life of Dick Whittington. The inscription on one side has been completely eroded, but some of the inscription can still be read on the other face.
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Dick Whittington and His Cat is an English folklore telling the rise of poverty-stricken Dick Whittington, who sold his cat to a rat infested country, to attain a fortune.
Another story tells of his heading home to Highgate Hill, but stopping when he heard the sound of Bow Bells, some 4.5 miles away, promising him that he would be mayor of London, one day.
