Event    From 2/9/1666  To 6/9/1666

Great Fire of London

Categories: Tragedy

Started on a Sunday morning. After 4 days the destruction included:
- an area of one and a half miles by a half mile
- 87 churches
- 13,200 houses
- only 6 people are recorded as having died (but see Londonist)
- the Great Plague of 1665 was also brought to an end by the fire, possibly.

The fire started in the house and shop of the baker Thomas Farynor in Pudding Lane. The site is now marked by the Monument. But at the time many suspected a Papist plot and Robert Hubert obligingly claimed to have started the fire. He was a Frenchman who was not even in the country at the time but that did not save him from the scaffold.

At the time of the fire England was at war with the French and the Dutch and, during the fire, some people thought it was the French invading, others attacked a Dutch baker blaming him. Rumours about the cause rumbled on for years. Thomas Farriner (spellings differ) swore it was not his fault. Was it God's punishment? Was it the Catholics? A great resource for this topic is The Great Fire of London

2016: a Telegraph article reports on an article in 'Country Life'. The exact location of the start of the fire has now been identified: "Those plans, combined with measuring 202 feet from the Monument itself, show that the oven was located on what is now the cobbled surface of Monument Street, 60 feet east of Pudding Lane."

The rebuilding of London used stone from the west, Oxfordshire/Berkshire, brought by river. Once unloaded the barges were filled with rubble which was taken back up river and dumped on the various islands in the river, including Monkey Island, raising the level of the ground and providing solid foundations for buildings.

In 2016, to mark the 350th anniversary, the artist David Best was commissioned to create a model of London and set it on fire.

Most of the memorials to the Great Fire refer to buildings that were lost; we have found only one that celebrates a building that survived. But quite a few survived - Spitalfields Life displays some lovely drawings of many buildings that survived until at least c.1800.

London has had other very big fires: Tooley Street and see Londonist for others. And Londonist drew our attention to this great article in The Guardian listing the buildings lost. And the buildings that survived? Londonist again.

September 2023: Londonist reported on new research which names Thomas Dagger (Farriner's employee) as the first person to raise the alarm.

2024: Historical researchers now believe the site of the start of the fire to be in Monument Street, amongst the parked vehicles on the south side of the street to the east of the Monument. And we learnt that wattle and daub, if well maintained is extremely resistant to fire, but very flammable if poorly maintained, as one might expect in many of the properties in the City at this time.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Great Fire of London

Commemorated ati

Alienation Office

"Act 5 and 6 Will. IV.Cap.82" refers to a legal instrument created during the...

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Building survived the Great Fire

Londonist points out how important correct use of English can be: "This was n...

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Cannon Street Station

The Sir John Hawkshaw Cannon Street Station was officially opened by South Ea...

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Crosskey's Inn

Site of Crosskey's Inn, destroyed 1666. The Corporation of the City of London

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Cutlers' Hall

Site of Cutlers' Hall, 1416 - 1883, rebuilt after the Great Fire 1666. The C...

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Show all 55

Other Subjects

Brian Cooper

Brian Cooper

Driver of the Great Western express train involved in the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster. Died aged 52. Andrew Behan has kindly carried out further research: Brian Cooper was born on 15 July 1947 in...

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Catholic martyrs at the Tyburn gallows

Catholic martyrs at the Tyburn gallows

105 Catholic martyrs lost their lives at the Tyburn gallows, 1535 - 1681.  The Tyburn Convent website explains but only lists a few.  We have found other memorials to a few of them: John Houghton a...

Group, Religion, Tragedy

3 memorials
Hian Oon Chan

Hian Oon Chan

Hian Oon Chan was born on 22 June 1941. Married to Yong C. Chua in the 3rd quarter of 1972 in the St Marylebone registration district. Home address was believed to have been 2 Calabria Road, London...

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Fiona Grey

Fiona Grey

An IT Consultant from Alexandria, Dumbarton, killed in the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster, aged 33. Andrew Behan has kindly carried out further research: Fiona Janet T. Grey was born on 14 August 19...

Person, Tragedy, Scotland

1 memorial
Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore

Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore

From a 2008 interview with Carrie Reichardt: "Black Panther Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore has been locked up since 1975 in Angola, one of the most brutal prisons in the USA, also known as ‘the last slave p...

Person, Law, Race Issues, Tragedy, USA

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Olympic Games - 2012

Olympic Games - 2012

See also 2012 Paralympics. The first event was held on 25 July in Cardiff but the opening ceremony in London was on the 27th. Closing ceremony 12 August.

Event, Sport / Games

13 memorials
Rosalie Drury Snr.

Rosalie Drury Snr.

Born Rosalie Sawyer on 11 March 1887 in Hoxton, the eldest of the eight children of William Vernon Sawyer (1863-1939) and Amelia Emma Sawyer née Cooksey (1864-1901). Her father was a Mattress Maker...

Person, Friend / family

1 memorial
H. Arscott

H. Arscott

Andrew Behan has kindly provided this research: Sapper Henry Arscott was born on 31 March 1881 in Hampstead, the younger son of William and Frances Arscott. His father was a house painter. The 1881...

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Louis Frederick Roslyn

Louis Frederick Roslyn

Sculptor. Born in London as Fritz Roselieb, changed his name when he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1915. Works in London include the reliefs on Norway House.

Person, Sculpture

5 memorials
George du Maurier

George du Maurier

Artist and writer. Born Paris. Punch cartoonist. 1894 wrote the novel Trilby, from which comes the term "Svengali".  In Hampstead lived at 4 Holly Mount, moved to Gangmoor House facing Whitestone P...

Person, Art, Humour, Literature, France

2 memorials