early morning hours, the Great Fire of London breaks out in the house of King Charles II’s baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. It soon spread to Thames Street, where warehouses filled with combustibles and a strong easterly wind transformed the blaze into an inferno. When the Great Fire finally was extinguished on September 6, more than four-fifths of London was destroyed. Miraculously, only 16 people were known to have died. The Great Fire of London was a disaster waiting to happen. London of 1666 was a city of medieval houses made mostly of oak timber. Some of the poorer houses had walls covered with tar, which kept out the rain but made the structures more vulnerable to fire. Streets were narrow, houses were crowded together, and the firefighting methods of the day consisted of neighborhood bucket brigades armed with pails of water and primitive hand pumps. Citizens were instructed to check their homes for possible dangers, but there were many instances of carelessness. So it was on the evening of September 1, 1666, when Thomas Farrinor, the king’s baker, failed to properly extinguish his oven. He went to bed, and sometime around midnight sparks from the smoldering embers ignited firewood lying beside the oven. Before long, his house was in flames.…
The Great Fire of London is often praised as one of the worst fires in human history. Burning nearly the entire city to the ground, The Great Fire of London was one of the most influential events that changed the course of London for the rest of history. The fire destroyed 85% of the city, wiped out nearly 13,200 houses, and caused ten million dollars in damage. Although the fire caused considerable damage, the city was also able to rebuild incredibly quickly ("Facing up to Catastrophe"). The…
This would of forced the City to pay back the damages to all of its citizens. So instead, an inferno caused by a forgetful baker, fueled by a strong wind and indecisive leadership, was blamed on Catholics and a young Frenchmen for over 150 years. Overlooked however, is the role of Sir Bloodworth; though Sir Bloodworth might not have had a personal hand in starting the fire, abusing his civic duty allowed the destruction of the Fire to increase before authoritative action was taken by Charles…
Tuesday saw the greatest destruction. The fire storm fanned by easterly gale force winds, jumped fire breaks and continued onward to the west. It destroyed the Dukes command post at Temple Bar and destroyed the luxury shopping street of Cheapside. The greatest loss on this day was St. Pauls Cathedral. Most people thought the churches thick stone walls and the natural fire break of an empty surrounding plaza would protect it from the fire. However the church was undergoing restoration by…
Throughout its existence, Christ Church Cathedral has underwent many different attempts at architectural changes though remodelling attempts and rebuilds, however, the most well documented, and possibly controversial attempts to restore Christ Church to a reflection of its former glory was undergone by George Edward Street from 1871-1878. G. E. Street is best known for his work involving Church buildings, something which he seemed to specialise in throughout his career. A well established…
in the midst of some of the most momentous events in English history. Pepys bore witness to and recorded the second Anglo-Dutch war, the Great Fire of London, and what the Restoration or even the Great Plague was like experience. And while these events can be found in history books, Samuel Pepys’ diary brings something to the table that a group of…
the decline around September of 1666 when the Great Fire erupted. The Great Fire killed bacteria that ended major plagues in London because the fire destroyed plague ridden houses and burning is scientifically proven to kill…
As it uses the diary as its source, it is reliable. This article first describes the events right before Pepys wrote his diary, when Cromwell died, and the government was unsteady. It then gives an overview of each month Pepys wrote his diary during. Some of the events include the great fire of london, and Pepys’ bladder stone operation. Finally, the article concludes with some events after Pepys stopped writing the diary, such as his travels with his wife Elizabeth and her death, as well as his…
focused on more than just religion based ideas. The Enlightenment produced countless essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, and revolutions. Writers also sought to examine society and human nature and enlighten their readers in a way that captured the era’s ideals. Daniel Defoe and Jean de la Fontaine are two of many writers to successfully capture multiple major ideals. Daniel Defoe, one of the countless writers in the Enlightenment Era, was open minded in writing his works. Defoe…
In Herlihy first essay the “ Bubonic Plague…”he questions if the Black Death was even a plague. He goes back and does his research and notes the medieval chroniclers failed to mention the mass deaths of rats and other rodents, a necessary forerunner to the plague - epizootics, also didn't mention certain characteristic that aren't typically seen in a plague. His theory about the plague was that the “plague was just combinations of several diseases; “sometimes [they] worked together to produce…