By Angela Kim, Karoline Szlapa, and Zeshen Hu

The Great Fire of London

Massive and disastrous fire

Blazed London, specifically Shakespeare’s

London

Lasted 3 full days and full nights

London was in flames again on 4th day

surprisingly, but stopped by the next day.

What was The Great Fire of London?

This fire occurred during the year of 1666

Devil’s luck/number

50 years after Shakespeare’s death

April 23, 1616

Few casualties as low as 6 – 16 people

Devil’s luck/number

Some Facts

Flames consumed about of London, 430

acres

Buildings include:

13, 000

churches

52

people lost their homes and were

financially ruined

What was destroyed during this fire?

houses

80%

82

guildhalls

100,000

September 1st at 10 PMBaker of King Charles II, Thomas Farynor had

a fire in his bakery located in Pudding Lane but he claimed to have put it out

Next day, September 2nd at 1AMA maid wakes Farynor that the fire spread

and the house was in flamesFarynor, his wife, daughter and manservant

escaped, but his maid burned into ashes (FIRST CASUALTY)

How did the fire begin?

Farynor believed that the fire was

intentional

Common groups were blamed such as:

French

Dutch

Papal/Catholic

Controversial Theories

Farynor’s bakery in Pudding Lane spread to Fish Hill until it reached Thames River in a duration of 2 hours

It is here that many vessels would deposit goods in warehouses, holding many combustible items like hemp, oil, hay, timber, coal, spirits, and tallow (a commonly used household fat)

8AM, London Bridge was in flames

Moving on………………………….

Technology was very basic

There were no such things as fire fighters nor fire trucks during this era

Most people used axes and buckets of water to put out the fire

What was used to put this fire out?

The fire squirtA primitive hose that consisted of a brass

squirting device, attached to portable containers of water, that were jutted out onto the flames.

The fire hookA metal grapple attached to a pole 20-30 feet

long with a rope, that was thrown at buildings to latch onto the timber, them pulled down with men and horses to create impassable fire-stopping rubble known as “fire breaks”.

Two Specialized Tools!

The buildings burned very easily since there were all wooden, and the summer had been dry

The costliness of tearing down buildings for a firebreak, mayor Thomas Bludworth was reluctant to do this, wanting permission of the owners of the homes that would be destroyed in the process first.

A key person in persuading the mayor to create a firebreak was Samuel Pepys, leader of the royal command, who explained to the navy commander that a firebreak was necessary.

By the time that the firebreak was made, however, the flames were too strong to stop, and went right over the rubble.

Why did the fire take so long to put it out?

This is Samuel Pepys.

He was the leader of the royal command.He would later write diary entries that also documented the Great Fire of London.

Most of Medieval London was destroyedMost of London as Shakespeare knew it was goneWhen buildings were rebuilt, the King had them

made out of brick, and he widened the roads between the houses

This allowed London to move out of Medieval times

The upside was that a lot of Plague-carrying rats were also killed in the flames

What happened after?

Pudding Lane is now called Monument Street.

There is a monument standing where the bakery used to stand to remember this tragic event

What is left?

Now we’ll move onto a small reenactment of the events of the Great Fire....

Thank you for watching.