The Great Fire of London: 4 Days That Burned a City #Shorts
Pack: 05 - The Great Fire of London 4 Days That Burned a City
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In September 1666, a fire in a bakery on Pudding Lane became the Great Fire of London.
- It began at around 1am on Sunday, 2 September 1666, in Thomas Farriner's bakery, and burned until 6 September (London Museum).
- Samuel Pepys watched it spread and described "a most horrid malicious bloody flame" (Diary of Samuel Pepys, 2 September 1666).
- It destroyed 13,200 houses and 87 churches, wrecked old St Paul's Cathedral and left around 100,000 people homeless (London Museum, London Fire Brigade Museum).
- Fewer than 10 deaths were recorded, but the true toll is unknown and more may have died (London Museum).
- Christopher Wren designed 51 new City churches and the new St Paul's; the Monument, designed by Robert Hooke and Wren, stands 202 feet from where the fire began (The Monument).
Have you ever climbed the Monument?
Sources
- London Museum, "The Great Fire of London"
- The Monument (City of London), History
- London Fire Brigade Museum, "The Great Fire of London"
- The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 2 September 1666
Images
- "Great Fire London" (c. 1675), unknown artist, Public domain
- "Samuel Pepys" (1666), John Hayls, Public domain
- "The Great Fire of London, with Ludgate and Old St. Paul's" (c. 1670), anonymous, Public domain
- "The Great Fire of London" (c. 1797), Philip James de Loutherbourg, Public domain
- "Monument to the Great Fire of London 2", Michael Rowe, CC BY-SA 4.0
