The spark
At 2:00am on Sunday September 2nd a spark that started the fire was given at the house of Thomas Farriner in pudding lane. When his workman had smelled smoke and woke the household the family fled across the nearby roofs. The only one left was a maid to scared to run, who soon became one of the four known to die in the fire.
The fire took hold rapidly because of the narrow streets dividing wooden buildings. Sir Thomas Bloodworth had been unimpressed when he was woken up with the news declaring that 'A woman might
piss it out' but by dawn London bridge was burning. An open space on the bridge had been used as a firebreak in 1632. The firebreak worked again as only a third of the bridge was burned. This save southwark from destruction and restrained the fire to the city of London, on the north bank.
On Sunday morning Samuel Pepys who lived nearby walked to the tower of London. There he saw the
fire heading west, fanned by the wind and described 'Pigeons... hovering about the windows and balconies till they burned their wings and fell down'. With bloodworth in fear, Pepys went to whitehall, to inform the king and his brother James, Duke of York, of the situation. Despite Charles II instantly ordering Bloodworth to destroy as many houses as needed to enclose the fire, early tries to create firebreaks were overcome by the strengths of the wind, which caused the fire to jump gaps of even 20 houses. Pepys had began to pack by the end of Sunday because the fire had begun to travel against the wind, towards the tower.
By the next dawn, the fire was raging north and west, and panic prevailed. The Duke of York took control of attempts to stop the fire, with militias summoned from nearby counties to help the fight, and stop thieves. But the flames continued endlessly, consuming Gracechurch Street, Lombard Street, The Royal Exchange, and heading toward the wealthy area of Cheapside. By mid afternoon, the smoke could be seen from Oxford, and Londoners had begun to flee to the open spaces of Moorfields and Finsbury Hill.
The fire took hold rapidly because of the narrow streets dividing wooden buildings. Sir Thomas Bloodworth had been unimpressed when he was woken up with the news declaring that 'A woman might
piss it out' but by dawn London bridge was burning. An open space on the bridge had been used as a firebreak in 1632. The firebreak worked again as only a third of the bridge was burned. This save southwark from destruction and restrained the fire to the city of London, on the north bank.
On Sunday morning Samuel Pepys who lived nearby walked to the tower of London. There he saw the
fire heading west, fanned by the wind and described 'Pigeons... hovering about the windows and balconies till they burned their wings and fell down'. With bloodworth in fear, Pepys went to whitehall, to inform the king and his brother James, Duke of York, of the situation. Despite Charles II instantly ordering Bloodworth to destroy as many houses as needed to enclose the fire, early tries to create firebreaks were overcome by the strengths of the wind, which caused the fire to jump gaps of even 20 houses. Pepys had began to pack by the end of Sunday because the fire had begun to travel against the wind, towards the tower.
By the next dawn, the fire was raging north and west, and panic prevailed. The Duke of York took control of attempts to stop the fire, with militias summoned from nearby counties to help the fight, and stop thieves. But the flames continued endlessly, consuming Gracechurch Street, Lombard Street, The Royal Exchange, and heading toward the wealthy area of Cheapside. By mid afternoon, the smoke could be seen from Oxford, and Londoners had begun to flee to the open spaces of Moorfields and Finsbury Hill.