A small baker's shop on Pudding Lane was the unassuming beginning to this whole thing. I would presume that occasional fires in a baker's shop wasn't a super uncommon thing. So normal that Thomas Faynor (Farriner) simply put it out and went to bed.
Except that it wasn't out.
At 1am, his house was burning and due to the strong winds from the east, quickly spread to the neighboring buildings. Still, no one was super concerned at first... fires were common.
But it wasn't long before the fire had spread... and spread... eventually consuming over 13,000 residences and 87 parish churches, old St. Paul's cathedral, the Royal Guildhall... the list goes on!
As well as most of the plague-carrying rats - putting and end to the Great Plague in London.
Causes
In the 1660s in London (and most larger cities in Britain), the houses were crammed close together. Many had thatched roofs (which are highly flammable) and the wooden timbers of the houses were covered in pitch (which is also highly flammable.) The pitch would have given some waterproofing (essential in rainy England) and probably some protection against insects and other pests. The thatch was easily available and very insulative.
Additionally, the firefighting methods available in the 1660s was limited to things like axes, leather buckets and water squirts - which had little to no effect on a very large fire. They even used fire hooks to pull down burning buildings, but the fire continued to spread. They even used gunpowder to explode homes to create a fire line.
Fun Facts
- Samuel Pepys, who recorded much of the fire details in his journal, buried a wheel of Parmesan cheese and some of his wine in the ground to escape the fire before carting off his most precious belongings before his home was destroyed. The cheese survived.
- King Charles II helped fight the fire.
- Total cost of damage was estimated at £10 million - at a time when the annual income of London (as a whole!) was only £12,000!!!
Aftermath of the Fire
The entire of London had to be rebuilt including homes for the people - much of this was of poor quality, intending to only be temporary, but due to this, disease spread easily and many died in the harsh winter that followed.
Sir Christopher Wren was instrumental in designing/rebuilding London - which took 30 years to carry out. His work included St. Paul's Cathedral which, to this day, is a major landmark in London.
A permanent memorial, The Monument, was also erected during the next decade - near the origin of the fire to serve as a reminder of the greatest disaster to strike London.
As so many churches burned, many records (that genealogists crave) were forever lost in the destruction. (I, personally, have blocks that will never be overcome due to this.)
Silver Lining
Not all was bad. Bubonic plague, which was carried by the fleas of the rats that lived in London was largely wiped out as well, ending the Great Plague in London.
Sources
- https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/museum/history-and-stories/the-great-fire-of-london/
- https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Fire-of-London
- https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Fire-of-London/
Image Sources
- original work by Stanhope Forbes before 1947 - Creative Commons Wikimedia
- photo by Andrew Dunn in 2004 - Creative Commons Wikimedia
- https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Fire-of-London/ - used for educational purposes.
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
(Buy my work at RedBubble, TeePublic, PicFair and DeviantArt.)
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(Buy my books at Books2Read and at LBRY)
