The Great Fire of London in 1666

The Waiting Disaster

• September 2nd 1666

• Four days and nights of constant fire

• Hundred acres of densely packed housing, stores and workplaces burnt down

• People became homeless and destitute

• Medieval streets – narrow, buildings close, constructed with flammable materials

The Fire starts

• In the early hours of September 2nd 1666

• Bakehouse in Pudding Lane

• Thomas Farriner, a baker to the king

• Failed to douse the oven properly

• Ember ignited straw

The Fire Spreads

• Farriner and his family were awoken by the smell of smoke around 1am

• First casualty – maid of Farriner

• The sparks showered surrounding buildings

• The fire gained strenght in the riverside warehouses, in Thames street

• The Mayor of London was a sissy

• Strong winds fed the fire

• By 7:00 300 buildings were ablaze

• The South of London survived thanks to a fire 33 years previously – gap between buildings

September 3rd

• By midnight the conflagration had spread along half a mile of riverfront

• Citizens abandoned homes and hills surrounding London were filled with refuees watching their city in flames

• Fire spread throughout the 3rd

• 2pm 400m north of Pudding Lane

• 9pm over 1km west of Pudding Lane

September 4th

• By sunrise the fire was at it’s peak• The gunpowder was used to clear great gaps

in the west• Fire was stopped before reaching The Tower

of London, home to a gunpowder• In the north flames remaned unchecked• Some flames reached over a mile from

Pudding Line• In the midnight St. Pauls Cathredal went to

rack and ruin

September 5th: The Fire Is Contained

• Firefighters started using gunpowder activly

• Powerful east wind dropped

• Conflagration was broken into isolated fires

• Small fires still burnt by midday of 6th Sept.

• The Great Fire of London was officially considered to have been extinguished after four and a half days.

Why the Fire Spread So Quickly

• Houses were next to each other

• Houses were constructed with flammable materials

• Strong wind carried embers across gaps

• The technology was too basic to move the quantity of water needed

• Firebreaks were inadequate

The Damage

• Up to 430 acres were affected by the fire• Over 13,000 houses, 87 parish churches, 6

chapels, 3 city gates, 4 bridges, 52 guild halls, a prison and many famous and important buildings had been destroyed

• Contemporary estimates claim the damage to buildings nearly 8 million pounds, along with over £2 million worth of goods

• Official records cite only five deaths, but figures eight and seventeen are often given.

People Seek a Scapegoat

• The fire was the work of Catholic spies or French agents

• it was God's punishment for killing the king• it was God's punishment for turning from

the Pope • it was the embodiment of every anger and

hatred people had • Many Londoners suspected foreigners and

Catholics

Monument to the Great Fire of London

• The monument consists of a fluted Doric column built of Portland stone topped with a glided urn of fire

• Height – 61,57m – marks the monument's distance to the site of Thomas Farriner

• The top of the monument is reached by climbing up the narrow winding staircase of 311 steps

The end