Burning

A curse or a blessing can come on the wings of a wind. For London in 1666, a curse blew with the wind for five days, five days that are known as the Great Fire of 1666. This fire changed the face of England permanently, It raged for only those five days yet so much was lost. To really learn about this fire, not only did I make a pilgrimage to where the fire began, but I also visited the exhibit at the Museum of London where I found enough information to produce an informative article on the subject.

The Great Fire began on Sunday, September 2, 1666 In Pudding Lane. When I went to see this little street, I thought it would be an exciting cool street because, come on, its name is Pudding Lane. The lane was quite ordinary. It was an old street that meandered by the Themes. It is ordinary, but because of the fire, it shall be remembered in history by at least the British School children who study about it in class.

This fire can be traced to a Baker’s oven on the street owned by Thomas Farrirer. They believe the fire began in his oven around one AM on that infamous Sunday. It had been a long dry summer and most of London was made out of wood. This provided the perfect fuel to feed a hungry fire that quickly spread, leaving thousands homeless in its tracks. The wind proved to be a curse as it sent this fire spinning from house to house consuming the city.

I was rather shocked to discover that although thousands of people lost their homes, they have only ten people recorded as actually dying. This number does not included the uncalculated number that lost their lives the following winter due to starvations, or exposure, but in the actual five days that fire raged throughout London, less than ten people were actually killed.

The fire was only put out after five days had passed and three fourths of the entire city of London was destroyed. This fire was finally extinguished because the wind died down and soldiers and sailors exploded buildings to create a firebreak. They used gunpowder to smash the building to smithereens, yet it was effective. It reminded me of farmers turning the earth to create a damp dead zone that would prevent the sudden wildfires to from destroying their house. You do what you have to do when their is not a fire truck.

Many people wanted to know why this great tragedy hit the city of London created a lot of theories. There were many various ideas. These included: God was punishing the Londoners for their sins, The French or the Dutch were behind them because of war, the Catholics wanted to destroy this Protestant nation, a crazy guy named Robert Hobart confessed (He was not even in England when the fire started, but he lost his head for the confession), it was an accident, or the Baker forgot to put out the oven (experts think this last one is the most likely). Interesting enough, the idea our text book The Story of England, on includes the idea that God was punishing the Londoners for their sins (Hibbert, 142). I think the experts were right and the poor baker simply screwed up and didn’t put out his oven. His little mistake created a fire so hot, the stones of St. Paul exploded.

England was destroyed, providing lots of opportunity for including new architecture. London had not really built any new churches during the 17^th century until the fire required some new one to be built (Morgan, 396). Christopher Wren took this opportunity to implement a new architectural style that still can be seen throughout London.

It was a great exhibit. I really felt like I learned a good amount of information on the Great Fire of 1666. They provided a detailed and interesting exhibit, that also included a great place where you can try on a fire hat from sometime in the past.

Hibbert, Christopher. The Story of England. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2006.

Morgan, Kenneth O. The Oxford History of Britain. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Museum of London The Great Fire of 1666. June 3, 2006