Great Fire of London 1666

The Stuarts - Great Fire of London 1666

Sunday 2nd September 1666 – Wednesday 5^th Sept 1666

London was a busy city in 1666. It was very crowded. The streets were narrow and dusty. The houses were made of wood and very close together. Inside their homes, people used candles for light and cooked on open fires. A fire could easily get out of control. In those days there were no fire engines or firemen to stop a fire from spreading.

Sunday 2^nd September 1666

The fire began in the Pudding Lane house of baker Thomas Farriner. The weather was dry and windy and this helped to spread the fire.  The fire was so strong that it could be seen from a quarter of a mile away.

 Early morning
The Lord Mayor was advised to order the demolition of four houses to stop the fire spreading. He decided not to issue the order because the city would then be responsible for re-building those houses. The fire continued to spread destroying houses west of Pudding Lane. The City's water engine was also destroyed, soon more than 300 houses had been destroyed

Monday 3rd September 1666

 Early morning
 The fire continued to spread . The Thames was full of boats filled  with property rescued from houses that had burnt down.

 Late Morning
 To reduce the numbers of people in the area of the fire, an order was given that carts being used to salvage property from the burnt down homes could not be brought near to the fire.

 Charles II attempted to bring some order to the City by establishing eight fire posts around the fire with thirty foot soldiers assigned to each. The king’s brother, the Duke of York was put in charge.

Because the wind was blowing from the East the fire had spread eastwards more slowly. Fire-fighters managed to prevent Westminster School from being destroyed although it was badly damaged.

 The fire was now 300 yards from the Tower of London and orders were given for extra fire engines to be sent to prevent its destruction. Many of London's wealthiest citizens had taken their money and valuables to the Tower of London for safekeeping.

Tuesday 4th September 1666

 Early morning
 The fire showed no sign of stopping. All attempts to check its spread had failed and the fire-fighters were getting very tired.

 8 p.m.
The roof of St Paul's cathedral caught fire.  

 End of the Day
This had proved to be the most destructive day of the fire. St Paul's cathedral was among the many buildings destroyed on this day.  

Wednesday 5th September

 Early Morning
 The fire continued to burn but, due to the fact that the wind had dropped, it was not spreading so quickly.

 Mid day
The destruction of a number of houses in Cripplegate had stopped the spread of the fire and had allowed fire-fighters to put it out.  

 Evening
The fire was under control. 100,000 people were homeless.

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