|
THE ANNIVERSARY PAGE
The Great Fire of London
Rarely does good come out of catastrophe, but the Great
Fire of London which raged for four days and nights
during September 1666, rid the City of the disease that had
killed many inhabitants the previous year and left us a
legacy of fine architecture to be appreciated to this day.
Oh yes, another advantage was that building and fire
regulations were tightened up for the benefit of all!
In 1665, the closely grouped shops and houses were a haven for rats
to roam the streets and spread Bubonic (Great) Plague,
killing almost 18,000 souls from a population of less than
100,000. The timber framed buildings, often only a few feet
apart, were a recognised fire risk, but not too much was
done to improve matters.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, September 2nd 1666, the fire
broke out in the Pudding Lane shop of Thomas Farynor,
baker to King Charles II, who had absentmindedly forgotten
to fully douse the embers of his oven. He had been making
and baking most of the previous day for King Chas and his
‘regulars’ but neglected to ensure the oven was completely
extinguished before retiring to his bed.
The fire rapidly spread from the shop to the house above, forcing
Farynor and his family to escape over the rooftops. His maid
however, was too scared to jump across to the next property
and became the first known victim of the disaster…
Sparks and flames licked at other shops and houses nearby also
igniting hay stored in the yard of the Star Inn, Fish
Street Hill. It took no time at all for the fire to
spread rapidly from one property to the next, gaining
momentum with every hour that passed. Warehouses full of
inflammable products such as oil (for lamps), straw and coal
etc just intensified the blaze so that by 8am, 7 hours after
it began, the flames had consumed half of the old London
Bridge.
Diarists Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn both recorded their
impressions of the fire and their eyewitness accounts make
for interesting reading as they graphically describe the
fire’s progress and the destruction of the old city.
After four days and nights, the fire was eventually tamed having
destroyed the original St Paul’s Cathedral, together with
about 13,200 houses, 87 churches, and 50 livery halls over
436 acres of land. The upside was that the fire killed much
vermin as well, so Plague victims fell by half the following
year.
London was completely rebuilt by architects who seized the
opportunity to re-generate the City and we benefit from the
fine buildings we enjoy today. Lessons were learned and fire
awareness improved with buildings being constructed of
sturdy, less flammable materials such as bricks.
© Call Sign Magazine MM6 |
