General Chat

Dear All

Hello

Hope you are okay.


On 2 September 1666, the Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane, shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September and spread rapidly west across the City of London.


The fire was not put out until three days later.

During this time, the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall was completely gutted.

It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral
and most of the buildings of the City authorities.

It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants


The death toll is not known as records were not verified.


Despite radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire.


Our London ancestors must have been truly terrified at witnessing such
devastation. The aftermath of rebuilding homes, livelihoods
and communities would have been so very difficult.


Dedicated to those who died in the Fire and those who
suffered injuries in whatever form.



Take gentle care all
Sincere wishes
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

I loved reading Samuel Pepys' diaries about the plague and the Great Fire Elizabeth, recently when in Cambridge, saw a diary of Samuel Pepys, written in 1665, it was in immaculate condition. It must of been terrible for the poor folk of London :-(

In retrospect some would say it was a blessing.

It was the main factor in bringing the "Great Plague" of the preceding year under control.

The 'Great Fire. did not stop the 'Great Plague' in 1665 as the the area affected by the fire was too small. The disease was still prevalent in other parts of the city.

It's widely accepted by both historians and medical researchers that the Great Fire of London played a major part in bringing the Great Plague under control.
The Plague was most rife (for obvious reasons) in the slum areas, the very areas directly affected by the Great Fire.
The slums were densely populated and the squalor associated with those areas was immense - this was an ideal breeding ground for the plague from whence it spread. The Great Fire played a major part in eradicating the disease because it destroyed the very breeding grounds from where the plague spread.

Thanks for your information Errol but my reading of the history of the fire tells a different story. The number of plague victims at the time of the fire was already dropping in the City of London, which was not the slums, I believe that the slums were probably more to the east of the area.

The growth in the number of victims was in decline - in other words, people were both contracting the disease and dying from it but at a slower rate. More and more people were dying but the death rate was not as high statistically. However, the Great Fire burned down a great many of the city slums, areas where the disease had been rife and thus played a great part in helping to curtail further spread of the disease.

well it was nothing to do with me - I was away that day

The Great Fire was in the City of London and as Joeva says not a slum area.
At that time the slums of London were on the other side of the river in Southwark.
Hackney was still open countryside.

Some of my ancestors owned property in the City of London and that time and were in a great deal of a hurry to rebuild 'cos of no money coming in. AS the new building code demanded expensive brick ( at least for the ground floor) my lot sold up and moved to what is now Islington.

The climb to the top of the monument still gives an interesting view.

How many steps is it up the Monument? Seem to remember it is 113. Yes, lots to see if you can get up.

I was certain John Milton was also in London during the Great Fire. But can see nothing about that - only that the house he grew up in was raised to the ground. Also, that he wrote something the following year about the fires of hell that was supposed to have been inspired by what happened. I think Milton would have been blind by then (when I consider how my light is spent, ere half my days), and tended to live in his cottage out in Buckinghamshire

I never thought the old St Pauls was a patch on what we see today :-)

I've been to the top of the Monument

You must have only gone to the first floor John ! :-D There are 311 steps tp the top of the Monument :-D