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On This Day, September 2, 1666, The Great Fire Of London Started In Pudding Lane

For all of you who love London and its history, a reminder that today is the anniversary date of The Great Fire Of London.

For those who will be in London in the month of September, the Museum Of London has a special exhibit this month about The Great Fire Of London. A wonderful museum.

This month's issue of BBC History Magazine had an interesting article I wanted to share with you.

"10 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Great Fire Of London."
http://www.historyextra.com/article/united-kingdom/10-facts-great-fire-london?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=HistoryEXTRA-merge-02.09.16_46658_BBC%20History_Newsletters

Excerpts from the book by writer Rebecca Rideal, "1666: Plague, War and Hellfire". Submitted to BBC History Magazine by Emma Mason.

Quoted directly from the article, the following two paragraphs:
During the early hours of 2 September 1666, a fire broke out in Thomas Farriner’s bakehouse on Pudding Lane, which blazed and spread with such ferocity and speed that within a few days the old City of London was reduced to a charred ruin. More than 13,000 houses, 87 churches and 44 livery halls were destroyed, the historic city gates were wrecked, and the Guildhall, St Paul’s Cathedral, Baynard’s Castle and the Royal Exchange were severely damaged – in some cases, beyond repair.

On 5 September 1666, the 33-year-old Samuel Pepys climbed the steeple of the ancient church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower and was met with the “the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw; everywhere great fires, oyle-cellars, and brimstone, and other things burning”. Leaving the church, he wandered along Gracechurch Street, Fenchurch Street and Lombard Street towards the Royal Exchange, which he found to be “a sad sight” with all the pillars and statues (except one of Sir Thomas Gresham) destroyed. The ground scorched his feet and he found nothing but dust, ash and ruins. It was the fourth day of the Great Fire of London and, though some parts of the city would continue to burn for months, the worst of the destruction was finally over.

What’s more, the burning lasted months, not days: Pepys recorded that cellars were still burning in March of the following year.

If you want an interesting read, pick up a copy of Samuel Pepys' Diaries. He writes in great detail about the Great Fire Of London, and his life and times in London.

Posted by
3898 posts

If you want an interesting walk when in London, here's one I plotted out for myself when we were there in May.

First, start near the Tower of London, and visit the church mentioned by Pepys.
"On 5 September 1666, the 33-year-old Samuel Pepys climbed the steeple of the ancient church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower"
We visited All Hallows-by-the-tower. Amazing church. Get one of the docents to give you the tour. They will take you to the basement where you will see segments of Roman pavement, and a segment of a Roman townhouse tile floor.
Leaving All Hallows, we went across the street (north) to Trinity Square Gardens. Be sure and see the square marking the site where Thomas Cromwell and others were executed.

From there, walk north up Seething Lane. Pepys lived at the Navy Office on this street in 1660. It burned during another fire in 1673. Look for the blue plaque that marks the spot where the building stood, and mentions that Pepys lived there.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/1023/
Look on the left side of the street for St. Olave Church, where Pepys and his wife are buried. Very often, the gate is chained closed, and you cannot enter. The gate with the creepy skulls overhead is where you enter. If you are able to find the church open, go in. You are in for a treat.

(All the locations mentioned so far were very near our hotel. So we were exploring our neighborhood.)

Continue north up Seething Lane, turn left on Crutched Friars, walking west. At Mark Lane, turn right, walk north to Fenchurch Street. Take a left. You are now walking west on the same Fenchurch Street Pepys mentioned.

You will come to Gracechurch Street, also mentioned by Pepys. Turn right (north). Walk one block more or less. Look to your right. Go down Ship's Passage to The Swan pub. Have a beverage.

Come back out to Gracechurch Street. Turn north and walk one and a half or two blocks to see Leadenhall Market.

Then come back out to Gracechurch Street, turn south. Walk approximately four blocks south; when Gracechurch veers right, you veer down the left fork, crossing over Eastcheap, and down Fish St. Hill. Continue south to The Monument, which marks the starting point of the Fire. You can climb to the top for a wonderful view. This is where we finished our walk.
http://www.themonument.org.uk/

Posted by
4684 posts

On Sunday evening, they're going to burn a wooden model of the 1666 City that's floating on the Thames between Blackfriars and Waterloo Bridges.

Posted by
3898 posts

Philip, I'd like to see that! Too bad I will not be in London then.

Posted by
34010 posts

Sam Pepys' account of the day is at http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1666/09/

On that website you can read the entire book, a day at a time, choosing your month and year.

We have before used it to follow the current day, the current day is now at Wednesday the 2nd of September three years earlier in 1663. The person who sets up the daily readings does a top notch job.

Posted by
10298 posts

ok well I know where I'm going to spend a bit of time today . . . with the Diary and some of these BBC links. Thanks all!!

Posted by
3898 posts

Philip, from the website link you gave, it seems the event will take place at 20:30 London time. For those of you in the U.S. wanting to watch the livestream, that will be 3:30 Eastern Standard Time. And 2:30 Central Time, for us here in Nashville.

Posted by
51 posts

Thanks, Phillip, for providing the link. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

Posted by
34010 posts

What a crying shame that most of the stream cast was close-ups of Lauren Laverne and which ever talking head or pair of talking heads she happened to have on the pier with her instead of watching the art installation.

Good knowledge but poor show, IMO. Introduce people and then go back to the art, not keep the art somewhere hidden away and chatting with inane questions.

LL is normally excellent. Somebody wasn't thinking when they wrote her script.

Very interesting idea, and impressive, but how much more impressive if we had had a little commentary on what was happening and then just watched.

Posted by
3898 posts

I agree, Nigel. I couldn't believe they would frequently cut away from the live burning of the artwork. They could have had the interviews with the people involved with building the artwork AFTER the entire burning was over. Sometimes they would have a split screen, with the burning in the left frame, and the interview in the right frame, but that distracted greatly from the moment and mood of the fire. And sometimes they would cut away completely for a long while, like when they went into a basement somewhere, to see the remains in storage that were salvaged from Old St. Paul's. We were hardly ever just given a full-frame of the fire burning and only that.

It seems pointless to do the burning as a tribute to the Great Fire Anniversary, and then not focus on it so that it sets the proper solemn mood.