London's Burning
By September of 1666, after a severe drought, all that was required to start a fire was a single spark. The fire started at the home of
Thomas Farriner, the King's baker, in Pudding Lane. At 2 a.m. on Sunday September 2nd, a maid at the bakery smelled smoke and woke up the household. The family fled across the street but left another maid who was too scared to run. She was the first of the four listed casualties of the fire. The house burnt slowly but when sparks landed on stacks of hay across the street at the Star Inn the fire got larger. After the neighboring houses had been evacuated the townspeople called the constable. The church bells started to ring backwards and the street was blocked off. A chain of firefighters was formed and they brought water from the nearby Thames River to try and put out the fire. As the fire got larger and stronger it became necessary to pull down the surrounding houses to stop the fire from spreading any further. The Lord Mayor, Thomas Bludworth, surveyed the scene from the top of Pudding Lane. The mayor refused to give the townspeople permission for the destruction of private property claiming that the fire was small enough that “a woman could piss it out”. Samuel Pepys, who lived eight streets down had been awakened to assist in fighting the fire but
returned to bed unconcerned. However, in the morning he went to the Tower of London to see the damage and he was struck with fear as he watched the fire spread beyond Pudding Lane. Pepys took a boat to inform King Charles II. As the day went on, the fire gained power. It traveled north up Fish Street Hill and towards the center of the city. It also worked its way down to the Thames until
it hit the riverbanks where people were hastily trying to load all of their belongings in boats. People paid outrageous amounts in order to use carts to get their possessions out of the city. Since the streets were so narrow, the authorities had to ban carts because it was making it too hard to escape. Worst yet, the few fire engines that the city had were useless because they couldn’t move in the narrow and crowded streets. The fire moved along the waterfront blocking the fire fighters from their water supply and spread onto London Bridge where it destroyed the waterworks located there. With narrow streets, wooden homes, a lack of water, and impressive wind , it was very easy for the fire to spread. By dawn, London Bridge had caught fire and started to burn. An open space on the bridge that had acted as a firebreak in 1632 stopped it again. Samuel Pepys saw the fire heading west, fanned by the wind. He went to Whitehall
and informed the King and his brother, James, the Duke of York, about the fire. On Monday, the King and his brother decided to ignore the Lord Mayor and gathered troops to act as workers and fire fighters. Although people were ordered to destroy homes when necessary to contain the fire, the strong winds enabled the fire to jump gaps of even twenty houses. By mid afternoon the next
day, the Londoners had begun to flee to the open spaces of Moorefields and Finsbury Hill. Militias were called in to help with crowd control and to aid in fighting the fire. Out of fear that the fire would reach the Tower of London, the people started to blow up houses to create a fire break. It was successful. By Thursday, the fire had been extinguished. It had destroyed more than 436 acres of the city from the East to the West. It burned approximately 13,200 homes, 85 churches, 52 company halls, 6 chapels, the Guildhall, the Royal
Exchange, the Custom House, various markets and prisons, 3 gates, and 4 stone bridges. More than 100,000 people were made homeless by the fire. Although there were only 4 recorded casualties, it is thought that there were around 20 deaths. The pavement was still very hot even after the fire was completely extinguished. When people tried to walk down their old streets they could only stand on the pavement for a short time before the soles of their shoes were burnt through. A survey completed after the fire estimated the damage to personal homes was estimated at 4 million pounds. The overall cost of the damage, including personal belongings, came out to just under 10 million pounds.
Thomas Farriner, the King's baker, in Pudding Lane. At 2 a.m. on Sunday September 2nd, a maid at the bakery smelled smoke and woke up the household. The family fled across the street but left another maid who was too scared to run. She was the first of the four listed casualties of the fire. The house burnt slowly but when sparks landed on stacks of hay across the street at the Star Inn the fire got larger. After the neighboring houses had been evacuated the townspeople called the constable. The church bells started to ring backwards and the street was blocked off. A chain of firefighters was formed and they brought water from the nearby Thames River to try and put out the fire. As the fire got larger and stronger it became necessary to pull down the surrounding houses to stop the fire from spreading any further. The Lord Mayor, Thomas Bludworth, surveyed the scene from the top of Pudding Lane. The mayor refused to give the townspeople permission for the destruction of private property claiming that the fire was small enough that “a woman could piss it out”. Samuel Pepys, who lived eight streets down had been awakened to assist in fighting the fire but
returned to bed unconcerned. However, in the morning he went to the Tower of London to see the damage and he was struck with fear as he watched the fire spread beyond Pudding Lane. Pepys took a boat to inform King Charles II. As the day went on, the fire gained power. It traveled north up Fish Street Hill and towards the center of the city. It also worked its way down to the Thames until
it hit the riverbanks where people were hastily trying to load all of their belongings in boats. People paid outrageous amounts in order to use carts to get their possessions out of the city. Since the streets were so narrow, the authorities had to ban carts because it was making it too hard to escape. Worst yet, the few fire engines that the city had were useless because they couldn’t move in the narrow and crowded streets. The fire moved along the waterfront blocking the fire fighters from their water supply and spread onto London Bridge where it destroyed the waterworks located there. With narrow streets, wooden homes, a lack of water, and impressive wind , it was very easy for the fire to spread. By dawn, London Bridge had caught fire and started to burn. An open space on the bridge that had acted as a firebreak in 1632 stopped it again. Samuel Pepys saw the fire heading west, fanned by the wind. He went to Whitehall
and informed the King and his brother, James, the Duke of York, about the fire. On Monday, the King and his brother decided to ignore the Lord Mayor and gathered troops to act as workers and fire fighters. Although people were ordered to destroy homes when necessary to contain the fire, the strong winds enabled the fire to jump gaps of even twenty houses. By mid afternoon the next
day, the Londoners had begun to flee to the open spaces of Moorefields and Finsbury Hill. Militias were called in to help with crowd control and to aid in fighting the fire. Out of fear that the fire would reach the Tower of London, the people started to blow up houses to create a fire break. It was successful. By Thursday, the fire had been extinguished. It had destroyed more than 436 acres of the city from the East to the West. It burned approximately 13,200 homes, 85 churches, 52 company halls, 6 chapels, the Guildhall, the Royal
Exchange, the Custom House, various markets and prisons, 3 gates, and 4 stone bridges. More than 100,000 people were made homeless by the fire. Although there were only 4 recorded casualties, it is thought that there were around 20 deaths. The pavement was still very hot even after the fire was completely extinguished. When people tried to walk down their old streets they could only stand on the pavement for a short time before the soles of their shoes were burnt through. A survey completed after the fire estimated the damage to personal homes was estimated at 4 million pounds. The overall cost of the damage, including personal belongings, came out to just under 10 million pounds.