Page 23 - August 2016

FEATURE: GREAT FIRE OF LONDON 1666
RESVRGAM: “We will rise again” The engraving above the doors to St Pauls Cathedral
A number of sources have been referenced throughout the report and the content of this report is limited by the availability of information. A number of witnesses who provided evidence to a committee established by Parliament after the fire described the fire originating at a bakery in Pudding Lane in the City of London. The fire spread to multiple structures over a four-day period. It destroyed 80% of the City of London including 373 acres within the City Walls and 63 acres outside them. The property destruction included 87 out of 109 churches, six chapels, 13,200 houses, three City gates and 44 livery halls .
Some 100,000 people were made homeless and six people were reported to have died in the fire, although the number of fatalities may not be accurate considering the speed at which the fire spread and the time of night at the beginning of the fire.
The spread of the fire was due to the dry conditions following a drought in 1666; the low tide and lack of water for fire fighting as the
fire developed; the building materials used in the City of London at that time and the strong easterly winds.
The “Great Fire of London 1666” is a Crisis Response Journal publication and is available from the Worshipful Company of Firefighters website www.firefighterscompany.org
Paperback - £9.99 + P&P Hardback - £24.99 + P&P Leatherbound - £166.60 + P&P
All profits from its sale will be donated to the Worshipful Company of Firefighters Charitable Trust.
For further information:
Email: gfol@firefighterscompany.org
Other sites of interest:
• www.museumoflondon.org.uk
• www.visitlondon.com/greatfire350 • www.crisis-response.com
Follow us on twitter @LondonFire1666
Page 23