", Records on the Great Fire of London 1666 from the UK Parliamentary Collections, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Fire_of_London&oldid=1141001049, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia pending changes protected pages, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 21:25. [17] Building with wood and roofing with thatch had been prohibited for centuries, but these cheap materials continued to be used. Who first invaded Britannia? After Marks of weakness, marks of woe. After enjoying the poem, please scroll down a little further to find out some more facts, that will help you discuss the subject with your child for a little longer. 1. The Great Fire itself is was such a huge moment in our history. Consolidate pupils' learning about The Great Fire of London with these three catchy songs from our Music pages. Charles's next, sharper message in 1665 warned of the risk of fire from the narrowness of the streets and authorised both imprisonment of recalcitrant builders and demolition of dangerous buildings. However, the building was covered in wooden scaffolding, undergoing piecemeal restoration by Christopher Wren. Download / print the notes including activities templates and worksheets (pdf), Be the news reporter interview a character and find out what happened! There was no fire brigade in London in 1666 so Londoners themselves had to fight the fire, helped by local soldiers. The fire started at 1 am and ended on the evening of September 5. Great skills builder . There were around 350,000 people in London before the Great Fire. The year was 1666,Late one September night,The bakers shop in Pudding LaneGlowed with an orange light.The baker's oven was on fire The flames began to spread.Thomas the baker was upstairsHe was asleep in bed. These companies hired private firemen and offered incentives for clients who took measures to prevent firesfor example, a cheaper rate for brick versus wooden buildings. A firehook was a heavy pole perhaps 30 feet (9m) long with a strong hook and ring at one end, which would be attached to the roof trees of a threatened house and operated by means of ropes and pulleys to pull down the building. Day 1 - The Great Fire of London Diary Entry Missing word. lucky, and she did not escape. 330acres is the size of the area within the Roman wall, according to standard reference works (see, for instance, Sheppard, 37), although Tinniswood gives that area as a square mile (667acres). What happened during The Great Fire?3. In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear. "[69], Suspicion soon arose in the threatened city that the fire was no accident. After his death, it became apparent that he had been on board a ship in the North Sea, and had not arrived in London until two days after the fire started. The fire as seen from a boat in vicinity of Tower Wharf. Three courtiers were put in charge of each post, with authority from Charles himself to order demolitions. And what if they escaped? Before ovens were invented all food had to be cooked on fires. He went by coach to Southwark on Monday, joining many other upper-class people, to see the view which Pepys had seen the day before of the burning City across the river. Poor souls they could not have imagined the new disaster that was to befall them in 1666. [144] Tenants who did remain in London saw a significant decrease in the costs of their lease. . Only 51 churches and about 9000 houses were rebuilt. I pulsed like blood through the citys veins. Houses now had to be faced in brick instead of wood. The sky was red with huge flames from the fire. The information in the day-by-day maps comes from Tinniswood, 58, 77, 97. [28], The crucial factor which frustrated firefighting efforts was the narrowness of the streets. In 1982 he published The Great Fire of London, his first novel. Paul Perro's poem, written in 2009, is fun and easy to read. Find out more about its history. Versions of the report that appeared in print concluded that Hubert was one of a number of Catholic plotters responsible for starting the fire. The flames spread through the house, down Pudding Lane and into the nearby streets. 'A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London' by Dylan Thomas tells of a speaker's inability to comprehend great losses. A modern and lively poem for kids about The Great Fire of London, 1666. Bonfire Night Crafts. In 1666 there were no professional fire fighters. soon put that out in the poem.). Museum of London registered charity number 1139250, Follow us on Twitter for news, views and conversation about London, Join us on Facebook and share your views on current London issues, Browse our YouTube videos of teaching resources, London history, fashion and more, See objects from our collection, snapshots of events and share your visits with us on Instagram. Thomas wasn't your average baker, though - he was King Charles II 's baker. This model text is a letter written in role as a person who has escaped from the Great Fire of London. [104] The light turned out to be a flareup east of Inner Temple, large sections of which burned despite an effort to halt the fire by blowing up Paper House. Bonfire Night Activities. [12] The City was traffic-clogged, polluted, and unhealthy, especially after it was hit by a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the Plague Year of 1665. According to Michael Hebbert, this process "accelerated the development of scientific survey and cartographic techniques", including the development of ichnographical city maps. By the time that Charles took over command from the ineffectual Lord Mayor, the fire was already out of control. [99] There were many separate fires still burning, but the Great Fire was over. The use of the major firefighting technique of the time, the creation of firebreaks by means of removing structures in the fire's path, was critically delayed due to the indecisiveness of the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth. [2] Field argues that the number "may have been higher than the traditional figure of six, but it is likely it did not run into the hundreds": he notes that the London Gazette "did not record a single fatality" and that had there been a significant death toll it would have been reflected in polemical accounts and petitions for charity. During guided reading, children will explore the stories 'Coming to England', 'Bloom' and 'Vlad and the Great Fire of London'. The Great Fire of London raged for four days in 1666, destroying much of the city and leaving some 100,000 people homeless. This scheme of work is also part of a Topic Bundle. A Modern Charlotte Mason. Hanson, 81. What happened to convicts who were transported to penal colonies instead of being executed? The resulting strong inward winds fueled the flames. It had also pushed outwards beyond the wall into squalid extramural slums such as Shoreditch, Holborn, and Southwark, and had reached far enough to include the independent City of Westminster. I grew louder. [162][163] Another monument marks the spot where the fire is said to have died out: the Golden Boy of Pye Corner in Smithfield. [150], According to Jacob Field, "the reaction to the Fire revealed England's long-standing hostility to Catholics, which manifested itself most visibly at times of crisis". It really shaped this City and so it still feels relevant. The moving human mass and their bundles and carts made the lanes impassable for firemen and carriages. It was the worst fire in London's history. [71][72][73] There was a wave of street violence. [137], The Crown and the City authorities attempted to negotiate compensation for the large-scale remodelling that these plans entailed, but that unrealistic idea had to be abandoned. He decided that he must help, Put on his boots and cloak,And he marched out of his palaceTowards the fire and smoke.He helped some fire-fighters whoHad started to despair,And everyone was really gladThat the good king was there. Others were amateurs who published nothing else, like John Tabor, a Hampshire rector whose Seasonable Thoughts in Sad Times makes one glad he didnt venture further into literature: Upon Septembers second day i the year/ Much talkt of Sixty six, did there appear / By two i th morning these consuming Flames, / Which did break out first in the Street of Thames, Classical and biblical images abound. Describe the effects of the Great Fire of London on the people and on London. [7] The City was then, as now, the commercial heart of the capital, and was the largest market and busiest port in England, dominated by the trading and manufacturing classes. This is probably because most deaths were not recorded. He found that houses were still not being pulled down, in spite of Bloodworth's assurances to Pepys, and daringly overrode the authority of Bloodworth to order wholesale demolitions west of the fire zone. If we have inadvertently included a copyrighted poem that the copyright holder does not wish to be displayed, we will take the poem down within 48 hours upon notification by the owner or the owner's legal representative (please use the contact form at http://www.poetrynook.com/contact or email "admin [at] poetrynook [dot] com"). [14][7], The city was essentially medieval in its street plan, an overcrowded warren of narrow, winding, cobbled alleys. We'll encounter Samuel Pepys and learn how he documented The Fire in his famous diary. Exhortations to bring workmen and measure the plots on which the houses had stood were mostly ignored by people worried about day-to-day survival, as well as by those who had left the capital; for one thing, with the shortage of labour following the fire, it was impossible to secure workmen for the purpose. As a result, the fire not only devastated the City of London; it also proved detrimental to Charles II's reign and increased instability throughout England. Five fantastic and weird dolls discovered in our fashion collections. But the most remarkable thing about this literature of loss is that almost as soon as it saw the light of day it evolved into a literature of renewal. KS1 English History. Curriculum topics available: The Great Fire of London. The overnight, making bread, and somehow they caused a fire. The Fire of London by John Dryden As when some dire usurper Heav'n provides To scourge his country with a lawless sway, His birth perhaps some petty village hides, And sets his cradle out of fortune's way, Till fully ripe his swelling fate breaks out, And hurries him to mighty mischiefs on: His Prince, surpris'd at first, no ill could doubt, These objects from our collections tell the story of the Great Fire. Great Fire of London: September 1666 - Children's song with words by Al Start Go Kid Music - Al Start 6.74K subscribers Subscribe 1.8K 554K views 6 years ago Don't forget to subscribe to my. The fire reached its peak on 4 September 1666, spreading from the Temple in the west to near the Tower of London in the east. All quotes from and details involving John Evelyn come from his, Spelling modernised for clarity; quoted by Tinniswood, 80. It received many submissions alleging a conspiracy of foreigners and Catholics to destroy London. A song about rebuilding London following The Great Fire. The typical multistory timbered London tenement houses had "jetties" (projecting upper floors). A communal toilet seat from the 12th century reveals the underside of life in medieval London. [66][67] John Evelyn, courtier and diarist, wrote: The conflagration was so universal, and the people so astonished, that from the beginning, I know not by what despondency or fate, they hardly stirred to quench it, so that there was nothing heard or seen but crying out and lamentation, running about like distracted creatures without at all attempting to save even their goods, such a strange consternation there was upon them. It was the diarist Samuel Pepys who realised how great the threat was, and took the news to the king. As well as reporting the big, important events during the Great Fire of London, Pepys also documented smaller details that would have otherwise been forgotten: pigeons falling from the sky, people throwing their belongings in the river, and the ground feeling like hot coals. John Dryden in his poem Annus Mirabilis dreams of a city of gold whose streets will be paved with silver. [50][51], The fire spread quickly in the high wind and, by mid-morning on Sunday, people abandoned attempts at extinguishing it and fled. When firefighters arrived at the address, they found the building almost entirely engulfed in flames. [120] Trained bands were put on guard and foreigners arrested in locations throughout England. They used buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks. [53][54], By Sunday afternoon, the fire had become a raging firestorm that created its own weather. The fears of the homeless focused on the French and Dutch, England's enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War; these substantial immigrant groups became victims of street violence. Great Fire of London. [41], A fire broke out at Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane[a] a little after midnight on Sunday 2 September. The makeshift camps outside the City wallswere so full of sleeping refugees that the area was the Counterfeit of the Great Bed of Ware. Explore. The Great Fire of London started on Sunday, 2 September 1666 in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane belonging to Thomas Farynor (Farriner). [153] The fire resulted in the emergence of the first insurance companies, starting with Nicholas Barbon's Fire Office. They had a narrow footprint at ground level, but maximised their use of land by "encroaching" on the street with the gradually increasing size of their upper storeys. Enter Your E-mail Address here: London was a big city in 1666. Flew, through every wooden door. 3. London Bridge, the only physical connection between the City and the south side of the river Thames, had been noted as a deathtrap in the fire of 1633. [100], In Moorfields, a large public park immediately north of the City, there was a great encampment of homeless refugees.