The Great Fire of London

1. The Great Fire of London

2. What was the Great Fire of London? • In 1666 a huge fire swept through London that destroyed 87 churches and 13, 000 houses. • Although only 5 people died, 200, 000 Londoners were made homeless. Can You imagine how the people of London felt losing their homes to the flames?

3. How did the fire start? • The Great Fire of London started in King Charles II own bakery on Pudding Lane. • The baker’s name was Thomas Farryner. Every night before he went to bed Farryner would check that the fires in his ovens had been put out. On the night of Sunday 2nd September 1666 Farryner did not check his ovens properly and they started a small fire .

4. How did the fire spread? The small fire that started in the bakery soon spread and became a HUGE fire that swept through neighbouring buildings, destroying peoples homes and businesses. The fire spread very easily because the buildings were built from wood and due to the very hot summer that year the wood was very dry. The houses were built very close together and the streets were very narrow this meant that once a house had caught light it was very difficult to put out due to a strong wind that fanned the flames, making them jump from building to building. Only buildings made of stone survived the flames.

5. How did the Great Fire of London affect the people of London? If a fire broke out in London today what would happen? In 1666 London didn’t have a fire brigade! The people of London tried to put out the flames using wooden buckets. When this wasn’t working they started pulling down houses before they caught fire to make a fire break, but this had very little effect. Many people had to abandon their homes to escape the flames but being in the streets wasn’t much safer because the streets were so narrow, so people escaped the flames in boats on the river Thames. 200, 000 people were homeless by the time the fire was extinguished

6. How do we know about the Great Fire of London? Samuel Pepys 1666 Eye Witness accounts! A member of parliament named Samuel Pepys was a diarist, he wrote down everything that he saw and was also the person who informed the King of the terrible happenings. When Samuel Pepys saw the fire was being blown towards his house he ordered his wine and cheese to be buried in the garden to protect it from the flames. Pepys remained in London to help try and douse the flames. Look at the picture of Pepys, what type of man do you think he was?

7. John Evelyn was also a diarist and he wrote to Samuel Pepys about the fire, some of these letters are still around today. Evelyn also designed some plans for the rebuilding of London. Christopher Wren was the architect who planned for most of the rebuilding work, he designed the new St Pauls cathedral and the monument, in memory of the great fire.

8. What materials were used to rebuild London? Imagine you had to rebuild London, what would you need to think about? What materials would you use? • When Wren was given the task of rebuilding London he had to think about what he needed to do to try and prevent such a disaster from happening again. • In order to do this he had to think about why the fire spread so quickly. • The houses were mainly made of wood • The houses were built very close together • The streets were VERY narrow • What would you do? • Wren decided that he should do the following things: • The houses should be made of stone • The houses should be built further apart • The streets should be wider

9. These pictures are of the old St Pauls cathedral and the new St Pauls cathedral... Can you tell which one is the new one and which one is the old one? The Monument was completed in 1677 and is 202 ft tall, this is also the distance from where the monument stands today and the starting place of the fire in pudding lane. Imagine you are Christopher Wren, what would your design for St Pauls look like?

10. Great Fire of London Timeline 1666