In principle, water was available from a system of elm pipes which supplied 30,000 houses via a high water tower at Cornhill, filled from the river at high tide, and also via a reservoir of Hertfordshire spring water in Islington. Bush was forced to bail out of the plane over the ocean. Bloodworth is generally thought to have been appointed to the office of Lord Mayor as a yes man, rather than by possessing requisite capabilities for the job. All quotes from and details involving John Evelyn come from his. The battle to put out the fire is considered to have been won by two key factors: the strong east wind dropped, and the Tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreaks, halting further spread eastward. He recommended to the King that buildings were pulled down – many thought it was the only way to stop the fire. They filled parish churches not directly threatened with furniture and valuables. All quotes from and details involving Samuel Pepys come from his diary entry for the day referred to. The City was then, as now, the commercial heart of the capital, and was the largest market and busiest port in England, dominated by the trading and manufacturing classes. He went by coach to Southwark on Monday, joining many other upper-class people, to see the view which Pepys had seen the day before of the burning City across the river. Temporary buildings were erected that were ill-equipped, disease spread easily, and many people died from this and the harsh winter that followed the fire. Pepys himself buried his expensive cheese and wine, and carted his other belongings off to Bethnal Green. [40], Pepys found Bloodworth trying to coordinate the fire-fighting efforts and near to collapse, "like a fainting woman", crying out plaintively in response to the King's message that he was pulling down houses: "But the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it." Toggle navigation The Great Fire of London. Rebuilding took many years. Born in 1890, he ...read more, On September 2, 1944, future President George Herbert Walker Bush is serving as a torpedo bomber pilot in the Pacific theater of World War II when his squadron is attacked by Japanese anti-aircraft guns. Wren also rebuilt 52 of the City churches, and his work turned the City of London into the city we recognise today. The Great Fire of London was a disaster waiting to happen. Gunpowder was used to blow up houses. [65], Allegations that Catholics had started the fire were exploited as powerful political propaganda by opponents of pro-Catholic Charles II's court, mostly during the Popish Plot and the exclusion crisis later in his reign. Updates? [31], A fire broke out at Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane[c] a little after midnight on Sunday 2 September. Only one fifth of London was left standing! [1] The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. Some of the poorer houses had walls covered with tar, which kept out the rain but made the structures more vulnerable to fire. The fears of terrorism received an extra boost from the disruption of communications and news. [49] There were also religious alarms of renewed Gunpowder Plots. ", Pepys ascended the Tower of London on Sunday morning to view the fire from a turret. The section "17th-century firefighting" is based on Tinniswood, 46–52, and Hanson (2001), 75–78, unless otherwise indicated. Indeed, when the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth was woken up to be told about the fire, he replied “Pish! Instead, much of the old street plan was recreated in the new City, with improvements in hygiene and fire safety: wider streets, open and accessible wharves along the length of the Thames, with no houses obstructing access to the river, and, most importantly, buildings constructed of brick and stone, not wood. [12], The relationship between the City and the Crown was often tense. The Great Fire of London was a disaster waiting to happen. The following Sunday, rain fell over the city, extinguishing the fire. [50] Seemingly every cart and boat owner within reach of London made their way towards the City to share in these opportunities, the carts jostling at the narrow gates with the panicked inhabitants trying to get out. Narrow alleyways were forbidden and streets were made wider. In 1986, London’s bakers finally apologized to the lord mayor for setting fire to the city. Striking on 2 September 1666, it raged for nearly five days, during which time its destructive path exposed London’s makeshift medieval vulnerability. This time, however, demolition was fatally delayed for hours by the Lord Mayor's lack of leadership and failure to give the necessary orders. [a] Sometimes taller buildings were levelled quickly and effectively by means of controlled gunpowder explosions. [52] In this state of emergency, the King put his brother James, Duke of York, in charge of operations. Poor souls… they could not have imagined the new disaster that was to befall them in 1666. Even in such an emergency, the idea of having the unpopular Royal troops ordered into the City was political dynamite. During the fire, the passages were additionally blocked by refugees camping in them amongst their rescued belongings, or escaping outwards, away from the centre of destruction, as demolition teams and fire engine crews struggled in vain to move in towards it. It destroyed a large part of the City of London, including most of the civic buildings, old St. Paul’s Cathedral, 87 parish churches, and about 13,000 houses. [75] Historians disagree as to whether the fire played a part in preventing subsequent major outbreaks. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, a poor demented French watchmaker called (Lucky) Hubert, confessed to starting the fire deliberately: justice was swift and he was rapidly hanged. The plot is now "within the roadway of Monument Street". Fears of foreign terrorists and of a French and Dutch invasion were as high as ever among the traumatised fire victims. The Moorgate tube crash in 1975 tragically resulted in 43 people being killed and 74 being injured. [26] Demolishing the houses downwind of a dangerous fire was often an effective way of containing the destruction by means of firehooks or explosives. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. [66] Abroad in the Netherlands, the Great Fire of London was seen as a divine retribution for Holmes's Bonfire, the burning by the English of a Dutch town during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Hanson also maintains that "it stretches credulity to believe that the only papists or foreigners being beaten to death or lynched were the ones rescued by the Duke of York", that official figures say very little about the fate of the undocumented poor, and that the heat at the heart of the firestorms was far greater than an ordinary house fire, and was enough to consume bodies fully or leave only a few skeletal fragments. On September 5, the fire slackened, and on September 6 it was brought under control. Within days, King Charles II set about rebuilding his capital. The Mayor was ordered to use fire hooks to pull-down burning buildings but the fire continued to spread. During the first couple of days, few people had any notion of fleeing the burning City altogether. [41][42], By Sunday afternoon, 18 hours after the alarm was raised in Pudding Lane, the fire had become a raging firestorm that created its own weather. Suspicions rose to panic and collective paranoia on Monday, and both the Trained Bands and the Coldstream Guards focused less on fire fighting and more on rounding up foreigners, Catholics, and anyone else appearing suspicious, arresting them, rescuing them from mobs, or both. [11] The aristocracy shunned the City and lived either in the countryside beyond the slum suburbs, or in the exclusive Westminster district (the modern West End), the site of King Charles II's court at Whitehall. New public buildings were created on their predecessors' sites; perhaps the most famous is St Paul's Cathedral and its smaller cousins, Christopher Wren's 50 new churches. James set up command posts round the perimeter of the fire, press-ganging any men of the lower classes found in the streets into teams of firemen. Sparks from Farrinor’s bakery leapt across the street and set fire to straw and fodder in the stables of the Star Inn. All Rights Reserved. It had been a long, dry summer. How the Great Fire started, spread and was fought. The fire reached its peak on 4 September 1666, spreading from the Temple in the west to near the Tower of London in the east. It had been noted as a deathtrap in the fire of 1632 and, by dawn on Sunday, these houses were burning. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. This book was really interesting and informative, (it also includes black and white illustrations of how London looked at the time). The people of London who had managed to survive the Great Plague in 1665 must have thought that the year 1666 could only be better, and couldn’t possibly be worse! Not for the last time would a nation honour its brave fire fighters. The moving human mass and their bundles and carts made the lanes impassable for firemen and carriages. The Crown and the City authorities attempted to negotiate compensation for the large-scale remodelling that these plans entailed, but that unrealistic idea had to be abandoned. At first, few were concerned – fires were such a common occurrence at the time. Wealthy people preferred to live at a convenient distance from the traffic-clogged, polluted, unhealthy City, especially after it was hit by a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the Plague Year of 1665. Back in the 1660s, people were not as aware of the dangers of fire as they are today. what sad sight it was by moone- light to see, the whole City. The swirling winds carried sparks and burning flakes long distances to lodge on thatched roofs and in wooden gutters, causing seemingly unrelated house fires to break out far from their source and giving rise to rumours that fresh fires were being set on purpose. The fire soon took hold: 300 houses quickly collapsed and the strong east wind spread the flames further, jumping from house to house. [39], The fire spread quickly in the high wind and, by mid-morning on Sunday, people abandoned attempts at extinguishing it and fled. There was no police or fire brigade to call, but London's local militia, known as the Trained Bands, was available for general emergencies, at least in principle, and watching for fire was one of the jobs of the watch, a thousand watchmen or "bellmen" who patrolled the streets at night. The General Letter Office in Threadneedle Street, through which post passed for the entire country, burned down early on Monday morning. However, it took some time until the last traces were put out: coal was still burning in cellars two months later. The social background to the fire and its repercussions across the country and the world. The old St. Paul’s Cathedral was destroyed, as were many other historic landmarks. Learn about our origins, and how The Great Fire of London changed everything... Richard Mills, Deputy Commissioner and Director of Operational Delivery, Sue Budden, Director of Corporate Services, Fiona Dolman, Director for Transformation, Protecting historical buildings and heritage in London, #SprinklersHit - Contact your MP about sprinklers, Breathing apparatus (BA) cylinder testing, Urban Search and Rescue & International Search and Rescue, Environmental Information Regulations searches, Grenfell Tower Investigation and Review Team (GTIRT), Covid-19 and Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs), Portable heaters, gas fires and open fires, Fire Risk Assessments – your responsibilities, Business Reopening Fire Risk Assessment Checklist after Covid19, Business Emergency Evacuation Plan Coronavirus, Coronavirus: Protecting your business from arson, Coronavirus Fire Alarms and Safety Systems, Large landlords – LAs, social landlords and private blocks, Living above business premises fire safety guide, Fire safety in heritage and historical buildings, Emergency Response and Salvage Plans for heritage buildings, Fire retardant bedding and portable protective systems. – “If you seek his monument, look round”. 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