by David Hebblethwaite

Created on: April 03, 2009

An open fire was the only source of heat in the seventeenth century. Every house, shop and tavern in London would have been warmed by a fire in the hearth. These establishments were built predominantly of wood. Many of the floors had straw laid on them. A plentiful supply of which was also kept in stables across the city. Commodities such as oil, coal and tar were held in warehouses.

Little wonder, then, that the authorities tightened building regulations. It would seem that those regulations, however, were not strictly adhered to. In 1664 King Charles II felt it necessary to warn against complacency urging the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, to enforce them more rigorously.

The King's words appear to have fallen on deaf ears as little or nothing was done to rectify the situation. Then on Sunday, September 2nd 1666 his fears were proven correct.

In the small hours of that morning a fire, which had not been properly doused the previous evening, took hold in the bakery of Thomas Farynor, in the appropriately named Pudding lane. The alarm was raised and the members of the house made their way to the roof from where they jumped to safety. All except one made their escape this way, a maid overcome with fear became the fire's first victim.

The blaze, fanned by an easterly wind, soon spread to neighbouring buildings. Shops and warehouses built from wood and full of flammable materials such pitch and hemp fed an increasingly fierce fire. So intense was the heat that it was impossible to get near enough to fight the flames. The fire soon spread into Thames Street and Fish Street Hill. Fortunately a fire break caused by a fire in 1663 prevented it from spreading across London Bridge.

There was no fire brigade, instead each citizen was expected to play their part in a collective effort to fight each fire. So armed with leather buckets filled from the river they had little impact. The usual method was to pull down buildings in the fire's path to create gaps in the supply of fuel. The Mayor was reluctant to use this procedure, though, as he was concerned about the cost of rebuilding.

The King handed control to his brother, The Duke of York, who was to become King James II in 1685. He immediately set watches to deter looters as the population began to flee. A more coordinated effort was employed to try to contain the blaze. For three days the fire raged until the Wednesday morning when the wind finally lessened and the flames became more manageable.

By the time the fire had

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