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

Henry F. Collins

Henry F. Collins

Role on the lost expedition: Officer on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
John Light

John Light

John Light was born on 27 April 1967, the son of Dennis H. Light (b.1931) and Betty Lilian Light née James (b.1934). His birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1967 in the Plymouth registration...

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Paul Hutcheson

Paul Hutcheson

Cycling to work in the Monday morning rush hour he was hit by a car and killed.  Aged 41 with two children.  A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and fa...

Person, Cyclist, Tragedy

1 memorial
Christopher Hugh Forsythe

Christopher Hugh Forsythe

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Christopher Hugh Forsythe was born on 19 October 1956 in Lambeth, the son of Hugh Forsythe and Catherine F...

Person, Tragedy, USA

1 memorial
PC Patrick Dunne

PC Patrick Dunne

Police Constable Patrick Dunne was born on 2 April 1949 in Shoreham-on-Sea, Sussex, the son of Patrick Dunne (1915-1986) and Betty May Dunne née Wells (1926-2019), the first of their three sons. Hi...

Person, Education, Emergency Services, Tragedy

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Neville Elliott-Cooper, VC

Neville Elliott-Cooper, VC

SW1, Victoria Embankment, Victoria Embankment Gardens

Reading right to left: De Pass; Rhodes-Moorhouse; Keysor; Campbell; Dunville; Colyer-Fergusson; Hewitt; Elliott-Cooper; Watson; Drummond;...

War dead | WW1
2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Sidney Godley - Loughton

Sidney Godley - Loughton

IG10, Torrington Drive, 164

Pte Sidney Godley, 1889 - 1957, awarded the first V. C. of the great war 23 August 1914, lived here. Loughton Town Council 2000

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Christ Church School, SW3

Christ Church School, SW3

Christ Church itself was built in 1839 and quickly established its Sunday School, initially only for boys and in rented premises in Flood Street. Then Lord Cadogan donated the land directly opposit...

Building, Children, Education, Property

4 memorials
Beatrice Eliza Bower Dimsdale

Beatrice Eliza Bower Dimsdale

Daughter of Robert Hunt Holdsworth, of London. 1873 married Joseph Dimsdale and had three children. Widowed in 1912. Awarded her OBE in the 1918 Birthday Honours, where she is given as "Commandant...

Person, Friend / family

3 memorials
Amnesty International

Amnesty International

London-based international organisation focused on human rights. Its mission statement refers specifically to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in London by labour lawyer Peter Be...

Group, Peace, Social Welfare

1 memorial