The 1666 Great Fire

The Great fireplace of London began on the night of Sep a pair of, 1666, as alittle fireplace on Pudding Lane, within the store of Thomas Farynor, baker to King Charles II. At one o'clock within the morning, a servant woke to seek out the house aflame, and therefore the baker and his family at large, however a fear-struck maid perished within the blaze. 

     At this point, most London homes were of wood and pitch construction, perilously inflammable, and it failed to take long for the hearth to expand. the hearth leapt to the fodder and feed piles on the yard of the Star hostel at Fish Street Hill, and unfold to the hostel. The sturdy wind that blew that night sent sparks that next enkindled the Church of St. Margaret, then unfold to River Thames Street, with its riverside warehouses and wharves crammed with food for the flames: hemp, oil, tallow, hay, timber, coal and spirits together with different combustibles. The subject firefighting brigades had very little success in containing the hearth with their buckets of water from the watercourse. By eight o'clock within the morning, the hearth had unfold halfway across London Bridge. the sole factor that stopped the hearth from spreading to Southwark, on the opposite facet of the watercourse, was the gap that had been caused by the hearth of 1633.

 the quality procedure to prevent a fireplace from spreading had continuously been to destroy the homes on the trail of the flames, making “fire-breaks”, to deprive a fireplace from fuel. Lord civil authority Bludworth, however, was hesitant, worrying regarding the price of reconstruction. By the time a Royal command decreased, carried by Pepys, the hearth was too out of management to prevent. The Trained Bands of London were known as in to demolish homes by explosive, however typically the rubbish was an excessive amount of to be cleared before the hearth was at hand, and solely relieved the fire's approach onward. the hearth blazed ungoverned for an additional 3 days, till it halted close to Temple Church. Then, it suddenly sprang to life once more, continued towards Westminster. The Duke of House of York (later King James II) had the presence of mind to order the Paper House dismantled to form a fireplace break, and therefore the fireplace finally died down.