Beginning History: The Great Fire Of London

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The Baker’s Boy and the Great Fire of London by Tom Bradman – join Will Farriner as he struggles to prevent London burning. By mid-morning the fire had breached the wide affluent luxury shopping street of Cheapside. [90] James's firefighters created a large firebreak to the north of the conflagration, [91] although it was breached at multiple points. [92] Through the day, the flames began to move eastward from the neighbourhood of Pudding Lane, straight against the prevailing east wind and towards the Tower of London with its gunpowder stores. [93] The garrison at the Tower took matters into their own hands after waiting all day for requested help from James's official firemen, who were busy in the west. They created firebreaks by blowing up houses on a large scale in the vicinity, halting the advance of the fire. [94] Not everyone at the time thought that the fire was an accident. Some said foreigners caused it. Others felt that the fire was started by those not free to follow their own religion. Some even saw the fire as a punishment from God. The fears of terrorism received an extra boost from the disruption of communications and news. The General Letter Office in Threadneedle Street, through which post passed for the entire country, burned down early on Monday morning. The London Gazette just managed to put out its Monday issue before the printer's premises went up in flames. [75] 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 and anyone else appearing suspicious, arresting them, rescuing them from mobs, or both. [76] [77] Tinniswood, 44: "He didn't have the experience, the leadership skills or the natural authority to take charge of the situation."

The wind dropped on Tuesday evening, and the firebreaks created by the garrison finally began to take effect on Wednesday, 5September. [97] [98] Pepys climbed the steeple of Barking Church, from which he viewed the destroyed City, "the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw". [99] There were many separate fires still burning, but the Great Fire was over. It took some time until the last traces were put out: coal was still burning in cellars two months later. [100] The Great Fire of London (Famous People, Great Events) by Gillian Clements – clear, simple text with lots of useful illustrations and lists. All dates are given according to the Julian calendar. Note that, when recording British history, it is usual to use the dates recorded at the time of the event. Any dates between 1 January and 25 March have their year adjusted to start on 1 January according to the New Style.

SINGS) Something’s burning, something’s burning. Fetch the ketchup, fetch the ketchup… BBQ! BBQ! It’s burnt and it’s crispy.Before ovens were invented all food had to be cooked on fires. Field, Jacob (2017). London, Londoners and the Great Fire of 1666: Disaster and Recovery. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-09932-3. Forrest, Adam (25 January 2016). "How London might have looked: five masterplans after the great fire of 1666". The Guardian. Although it was never implemented, Wren's plan for the rebuilding of London has itself had a significant cultural impact. The decision not to implement the plan was criticized by later authors such as Daniel Defoe and was frequently cited by advocates for public health. It also featured heavily in textbooks for the nascent discipline of city planning and was referenced by reports on the reconstruction of London after the Second World War. [137] Wren presenting the plan was the subject of a Royal Mail stamp issued in 2016, one of six in a set commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire. [165] On 5 October, Marc Antonio Giustinian, Venetian Ambassador in France, reported to the Doge of Venice and the Senate, that Louis XIV announced that he would not "have any rejoicings about it, being such a deplorable accident involving injury to so many unhappy people". Louis had made an offer to his aunt, the British Queen Henrietta Maria, to send food and whatever goods might be of aid in alleviating the plight of Londoners, yet he made no secret that he regarded "the fire of London as a stroke of good fortune for him" as it reduced the risk of French ships crossing the English Channel being taken or sunk by the English fleet. [129] [130] Louis tried to take advantage but an attempt by a Franco-Dutch fleet to combine with a larger Dutch fleet ended in failure on 17 September at the Battle of Dungeness when they encountered a larger English fleet led by Thomas Allin. [131] Rebuilding John Evelyn's plan, never carried out, for rebuilding a radically different City of London Christopher Wren's rejected plan for the rebuilding of London

Rat: But while they slept, a spark must have jumped out of the oven… the fire spread across the kitchen before anyone woke up.The Great Plague epidemic of 1665 is believed to have killed a sixth of London's inhabitants, or 80,000 people, [156] and it is sometimes suggested that the fire saved lives in the long run by burning down so much unsanitary housing with their rats and their fleas which transmitted the plague, as plague epidemics did not recur in London after the fire. [157] During the Bombay plague epidemic two centuries later, this belief led to the burning of tenements as an antiplague measure. [158] The suggestion that the fire prevented further outbreaks is disputed; the Museum of London identifies this as a common myth about the fire. [159] [158] Hinds, Allen B, ed. (1935). "Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice Volume 35, 1666–1668". British History Online. p.82. 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. Exhortations to bring workmen and measure the plots on which the houses had stood were mostly ignored by people worried about day-to-day survival, as well as by those who had left the capital; for one thing, with the shortage of labour following the fire, it was impossible to secure workmen for the purpose. [138] Cooper, Michael (2013). Robert Hooke and the Rebuilding of London. The History Press. p.69. ISBN 978-0-7524-9485-2. Carlson, Jennifer Anne (September 2005). "The economics of fire protection: from the Great Fire of London to Rural/Metro". Economic Affairs. 25 (3): 39–44. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0270.2005.00570.x.