Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London

By Kate Wilkinson-Brindle
Illustrated by Amy Robinson

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842 CE 1710 CE 2012 CE

The Vikings St Paul’s The London
attacked London. Cathedral Olympics
was rebuilt. were held.

50—410 CE 1666 CE 1939—1945 CE

The Romans The Great Fire World War II –
built the city of London London was
of Londinium. destroyed most heavily bombed
of the city. by the Germans.

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At around midnight on September 2nd 1666, a fire started. It began in a
bakery on Pudding Lane, near London Bridge. Fires were common at this time
because people used candles for light and open fires for cooking. The fire was
small at first, but it quickly spread until all of the bakery was ablaze. The
baker, Thomas Farrinor, and his family escaped by climbing out of an upstairs
window. A few hours later, the fire was spreading fast. The Lord Mayor of
London was not worried about the fire at first. He said the fire was so small
that someone could put it out by weeing on it!

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The Mayor was a foolish man: the fire soon raged out of control. There were
many reasons why the fire spread so quickly:

The fire began at night, so most people were asleep and slow to act.
The summer of 1666 had been very hot and dry.
Most of the buildings in the city were made of wood and built very
close together.
There was a strong wind on the evening of the fire that spread the flames
between buildings.
The fire soon reached warehouses that were full of flammable materials like
pitch, oil, rope and brandy.
There was no fire brigade in London in 1666.

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St Paul’s Cathedral was made from stone, and it had a lead roof. People
thought that it would be a safe place to store their belongings during the fire.
Printers and booksellers rushed to the cathedral with thousands of books to
protect them from the fire.
However, a spark found its way onto part of the roof that was being repaired,
and the cathedral burst into flames. Soon, the lead roof melted and poured
down the street like a river. Instead of being safe, the books became fuel for
the fire.

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Most of London was now in flames. At first, people

tried to put out the fire using water. There were

no long hoses or fire engines like there are today.

People had to use leather buckets and water

squirters. Even the king, Charles II, helped to pass fiGrerefiagthFtiirnegodf uLroinngdotnhe

buckets of water to try and quench the flames!
Using water didn’t work, so the Londoners tried

pulling down the houses to stop the fire from spreading.

They also used gunpowder to blow up the houses and make a firebreak. These

methods and the wind dropping meant that the fire was finally brought

under control.

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There are many sources of information about the wSraitmeruaelndPecphyese:sdeiahriyder
Great Fire of London. A man called Samuel Pepys
wrote all about the fire in his diary. In one page
of the diary, Samuel Pepys wrote about burying
wine and parmesan cheese in his garden to keep
it away from the flames! Other historical sources
include pictures painted by artists at the time and
newspapers from 1666! It took nearly 50 years to
rebuild London after the fire. Many valuable lessons
about fire safety were learned from this terrible event.

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