All About the Great Fire of London 

All About the Great Fire of London 

If you know anything about the history of London, you’ve probably heard of the Great Fire. The fire was a disaster for the city, and it took over 50 years to repair all of the damages!

The fire occurred in September 1666, destroying over 1/3 of London and rendering 100,000 people homeless.

Are you curious to know what caused the fire, the damages it caused, and how London was rebuilt? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Keep reading to learn all about the Great Fire of London.

Setting the scene

John Norden’s map of London in 1593 – WikiCommons

Before I jump into the specifics of the Great Fire, I want to talk to you all a bit about London in the 17th century.

By the time the 1660s rolled around, London was the largest city in England, and was home to 500,000 inhabitants. I personally would not have liked to lived in London during this time! It was dirty, polluted and disease ran rampant. The year before the Great Fire, London has fallen victim to the Great Plague and lost much of it’s population. Plagues, the Great Fire…not such good times in the British capital.

London was getting more and more crowded as the years went on. People flooded to the city in order to find work, and as a result it was busting at the seams. London had been set up like a Roman settlement for over 4 centuries, and this included a large wall to protect the city. In the late 1660s, the population began to push outwards beyond the wall, and was surrounded by slums.

The most crowded part of London (within the ancient Roman walls) was known as the City proper. It was the commercial center of the city and was filled with markets, and was located on the River Thames. The busiest port in England was located here.

Not surprisingly, the poorest people in the city lived within the City proper and the nearby slums. The rich and noble of England migrated further beyond the suburbs and lived mostly in the countryside or Westminster. King Charles II’s court was located in the Whitehall palace in Westminster.

This separation of the rich and poor resulted in a tense relationship between those who lived in the City proper and those who did not. It’s important to remember this, as the City proper actually refused help from King Charles II during the fire on principal. Long story short, the two groups did not get along.

What caused the Great Fire of London?

17th century “fire engine,” Museum of London – WikiCommons

Let’s talk fire hazards because, well, London was filled with them in the 1660s!

London was set up like a medieval city, filled with narrow streets and alleys. Most of the buildings and homes were made out of timber and thatch roofs. Officially, these building materials were prohibited, but they were so inexpensive to acquire that Londoners ignored the laws and used these materials anyways. There were a few areas of the city where you could find stone structures, but these were owned by the wealthy merchants of the time.

These stone mansions were surrounded by poor and crowded neighborhoods. In addition, there were plenty of businesses that technically shouldn’t have been there like blacksmiths, foundries and glass workshops. What do all of these factors mean? The City proper of London was a major fire hazard.

There were also seven-story tenement houses everywhere. These houses were overcrowded and dirty. And, to compile with building laws that prohibited these houses from encroaching on the street, structures called “jetties” were added to the upper floors. Think of these jetties like enclosed balconies: they “jetted” out over the streets in order to work around encroachment laws. But, this meant that when you looked up, you could barely make out the sky! These houses were another major fire hazard.

If you can believe it, there was another element that added to the risk of fire in London. The English Civil War had ended in 1651, and many citizens still had stock piles of black gun powder in the homes. There was also a massive stock held in the Tower of London.

Where did the Great Fire of London begin?

The Great Fire of London, with Ludgate and Old St. Paul’s by unknown artist – WikiCommons

Records state that the Great Fire of London began around 1am on September 2, 1666 in a bakery on Pudding Lane owned by a man named Thomas Farriner. The fire was likely caused by something as simple as a spark that fell out of his oven onto a pile of fuel!

It’s hard to put all of the blame on this poor baker, as the conditions of the city were so bad that any sort of small fire would have erupted into something enormous. Additionally, London had just experienced a very hot and dry summer, and Pudding Lane was the home of multiple warehouses that contained flammable goods such as timber. Talk about a recipe for disaster!

In the 1970s, archaeologists excavated the site of the former bakery Pudding Lane to see if they could determine what else may have caused the fire. There, they found the remains of 20 barrels of tar, a highly combustable material.

“In 1666 there was no organised fire brigade. Firefighting was very basic with little skill or knowledge involved. Leather buckets, axes and water squirts were used to fight the fire – but had little effect.” – Jane Rugg, Museum Curator

Another factor that added to the danger of the Great Fire of London is the firefighting tactics of the 17th century. As you can imagine, they weren’t very sophisticated. Fire’s were common, but a firefighting brigade didn’t yet exist. We’re talking the age of kings and queens, so a police force didn’t exist either!

All of these factors combined: the crowded city, the sketchy building materials, a hot summer and combustable goods, together caused the Great Fire of London.

What were the damages caused by the Great Fire of London?

“About four o’clock in the morning, my Lady Batten sent me a cart to carry away all my money, and plate, and best things, to Sir W. Rider’s at Bednall-greene. Which I did riding myself in my night-gowne in the cart; and, Lord! to see how the streets and the highways are crowded with people running and riding, and getting of carts at any rate to fetch away things.” Samuel Pepys, Londoner who recorded the events of the fire in his diary 

The Great Fire burned for 5 days straight! Luckily, considering the size and severity of the fire, not many people died. Records show that between 6-8 Londoners perished in the fire.

The Great Fire of London by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg – WikiCommons

Most people in the city were concentrated on escaping, rather than fighting the fire, which is probably why it burned for so long. Scared city dwellers attempted to escape by boat on the River Thames, or by fleeing to the city walls. For months after the fire, homeless Londoners lived in makeshift tent cities that popped up in the fields surrounding the city walls. Some unlucky ones actually lived like this for years.

When all was said and done, the Great Fire of London destroyed 436 acres of the city, including 13,200 houses and 87 of the 109 churches in the city at the time. Even months after the fire had been put out, you could still find areas of the city smouldering.

How was London rebuilt after the Great Fire?

Proposed rebuilding plan for the City of London by John Evelyn. This plan was never carried out – WikiCommons

Rebuilding London after the Great Fire was a long process. Just 51 of the destroyed churches were rebuilt, and only about 9,000 houses. It took about 50 years to rebuild the ravaged section of London. Saint Paul’s Cathedral was one of the churches that were destroyed, and it was not completed until 1711!

Nearly all of 1667 was spent clearing away rubble and determining the extent of the damage. In fact, by the end of the year only 150 houses had been rebuilt. It’s understandable that many Londoners were forced to live in those tents outside the city for such a long time!

As the city was working on putting its pieces back together, new efforts were put in place to hopefully prevent a fire as big as this one from happening again. New building laws were enforced, and specific building materials such a brick were being used to construct the new buildings.

The year after the fire, London continued to be a dangerous place to live, with rickety temporary buildings in place, cramped quarters, and disease spreading quickly. Thankfully, in the coming years things began to slowly improve.

The Great Fire of London monument designed by Sir Christopher Wren – WikiCommons

The narrow streets and alleys were widened, and pavement and sewers were installed. Even the port of the River Thames was improved! These changes helped to push London forward as a clean and hygienic city.

Another improvement to the city of London was the emergence of the first fire brigade! Although the Great Fire wasn’t the end of hardships in London, at least there were measures being put in place to prepare for another fire.

Today, you can visit a monument dedicated to the lives lost in the Great Fire of London. It’s located near the supposed start of the fire on Pudding Lane.

Conclusion

Have you all learned a little something, dear readers? I hope so! The Great Fire of London changed the landscape of the city for years to come, and so it’s important to learn about. Would you have liked to be there to see it yourselves? Yeah, me neither!

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