10 Average Questions about The Great Fire of London

Answer: September 2, 1666

Ironically, Londoners were at first not alarmed when the fire started, as fires were so frequent an occurrence in the city of tightly-packed wooden buildings. After the fire ended, an area of one and a half miles by half a mile was reduced to ashes - 373 acres inside the city walls and 63 acres outside. Amazingly, only six deaths were reported, although the actual figure was probably higher.

Answer: embers from a baker's oven

In one of the biggest "Oops!" moments of history, Thomas Farynor, baker to King Charles II in Pudding Lane, failed to extinguish the fire in his oven on the night of September 1. Embers from the oven hopped over to the stack of firewood that was nearby, and by 1:00 am, the house and shop were aflame. Farynor's assistant awoke to find the house filled with smoke and raised the alarm. Farynor, his family, and one servant escaped via an upstairs window and climbed to safety along the roof tops. Unfortunately, the maid was too frightened to climb out of the window and stayed in the burning house, sealing her fate.

Answer: wine and cheese

Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist and Secretary of the Admiralty, sat and observed the progress of the fire from a safe vantage point across the Thames. In his words, the fire was "a most malicious bloody flame, as one entire arch of fire... of above a mile long.

It made me weep to see it. The churches, houses, and all on fire and flaming at once, and a horrid noise the flames made, and the cracking of houses at their ruin ...Over the Thames with one's face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of firedrops.." At one point, he ran home and quickly buried his most prized possessions, some wine and parmesan cheese. We can assume that after the fire, Sam dug up his yard and had himself a nice feast.

Answer: all of these

The Great Fire could not have chosen a better place in which to develop; the London of 1666 was one big firetrap. Sparks from the burning Farynor house fell on hay and straw in the yard of the Star Inn, and from there the fire spread to St. Margaret's church and then entered Thames Street. On Thames Street were warehouses packed with such flammable materials as oil, spirits, tallow, hemp, straw, and coal.

Helping the fire along was a brisk wind that blew that morning, spreading sparks farther and faster than if there had been no wind. Most of the buildings themselves were constructed of highly combustible material such as wood and straw, and were packed tightly together in the narrow streets.

This both made it easier for the fire to spread to adjacent structures and hampered the efforts of firefighters trying to maneuver their heavy and cumbersome equipment. Today, cities and buildings are designed with fire safety in mind; consideration is given to factors such as accessible exits and access for firefighters.

Answer: 4 days

After the fire was over, fully 80 percent of the city was destroyed, including over 13,000 houses, 89 churches and 52 guild halls. 100,000 people, or a sixth of London, was left homeless.

Answer: all of these

As they say, every cloud has a silver lining, and this particular cloud was no exception. After the Great Fire, people realized that the crowded wooden houses that crammed the streets were a great accomplice to fire and redesigned buildings of brick and stone. New insurance companies arose, and people began to insure their homes and businesses against fire.

The insurance companies quickly realized that their losses could be minimized by employing men to put out fires, and the idea of the paid firefighter was born.

As an added bonus, Londoners soon realized that the Great Plague that had taken over 17,000 lives the previous year seemed to have abated. It is theorized that by destroying the close packed, vermin-infested houses and other buildings, the fire also put an end to the plague.

Answer: Robert Hubert

After the fire, as with most disasters, people started looking for someone to blame. As the English were always looking to blame the French for something, this fit nicely into the search for a scapegoat. Someone started a rumor that the fire was part of a Catholic plot, and foreigners were looked upon suspiciously. Eventually, a French watchmaker named Robert "Lucky" Hubert was settled on as a scapegoat.

It helped that the guy was what we call "slow", and confessed to starting the fire on behalf of the Pope.

Despite overwhelming evidence in his favor, he was convicted and hanged at Tyburn. By the way, guess who was on his jury? Three members of the Farynor family (remember, the guy who really started the fire?)

Answer: John Dryden

John Dryden (1631-1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and dramatist. In 1663 he was made a member of the Royal Society. However, his 1667 poem, "Annus Mirabilis", is considered to be the work that cemented his reputation. The poem, written in pentameter quatrains, puts forth the suggestion that the Great Fire was part of a year of miracles rather than a year of disasters. Dryden emphasized the fact that the city of London was rebuilt from the ashes, literally, and that there were so few deaths attributed to the fire.

Answer: Christopher Wren

After the fire, someone had to put the city of London together again, and this task fell to Christopher Wren, considered the most influential British architect of all time. Born in Wiltshire in 1632, Wren originally planned to become a scientist. At the young age of 25 he was offered the Chair of Astronomy at London's Gresham College, and in 1662 became one of the founding members of the Society of Experimental Philosophy, which became known as the Royal Society under the patronage of Charles II. Sir Christopher first tried his hand at architecture in 1663 when his uncle, the Bishop of Ely, got him the job of designing Pembroke College Chapel at Cambridge University. He did such a good job at this that he was then given the job of designing the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. Wren's design, based on the structure of the ancient Roman Theatre of Marcellus, was an instant hit and established his reputation as an architect. Therefore, he became the logical choice for rebuilding the entire city following the devastation of the fire.
Wren's original plans involved rebuilding the city in brick and stone in a grid plan with continental piazzas and avenues. However, because many buildings had survived to basement level, legal disputes over land ownership ended the idea of the grid plan. Instead, London was eventually rebuilt to its existing street plan, but brick and stone replaced the shabby and dangerous wooden buildings that had dominated the city pre-Great Fire.
Wren also took on the task of redesigning the crumbling St Paul's Cathedral. Work on the new cathedral began in 1675 and was completed 35 years later. One of England's most beautiful buildings, this was perhaps Wren's crowning achievement.

Answer: it burned itself out and was stopped by firebreaks

Most fires, if left alone, will eventually burn themselves out; however, this is not usually a desirable option. In the case of the London fire, it stopped when it reached the stone walls surrounding the city, and, with nothing left to feed off of, died out.