The Great Fire of London: How a Tiny Spark Changed a City Forever
A burning bakery, a buried cheese, exploding houses and a very unlucky city. Welcome to the Great Fire of London!
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to discover that your entire city is on fire. Houses are collapsing, people are running through the streets carrying their belongings, and the sky is glowing bright orange.
That’s exactly what happened in London in September 1666, when a small fire in a bakery turned into one of the biggest disasters in British history.
But how did it happen? Why couldn’t anyone stop it? And what does a giant lump of cheese have to do with it all?
How did the Great Fire of London start?
In the early hours of Sunday 2 September 1666, a fire broke out in a bakery on Pudding Lane, near London Bridge.
The bakery belonged to Thomas Farriner, who made bread and hard biscuits for the King’s navy. Historians think a spark from his oven may have started the fire, although nobody knows for certain.
Unfortunately, London was a bit of a fire hazard waiting to happen.
Most houses were built from wood, the streets were extremely narrow, and buildings were squeezed so tightly together that their upper floors sometimes almost touched.
To make matters worse, the summer of 1666 had been unusually hot and dry. The wooden buildings were like kindling, and strong winds helped the flames race through the streets.
Within hours, the fire was completely out of control.
Four days of flames
The Great Fire spread across the City of London from 2 to 6 September 1666.
People desperately tried to save their homes using leather buckets of water, axes and strange devices called fire squirts, which worked a bit like giant syringes.
There wasn’t even a proper fire brigade!
Eventually, firefighters and soldiers began pulling down houses to create gaps that the flames couldn’t cross. They even used gunpowder to blow up buildings.
Combined with the wind finally dying down, these enormous firebreaks helped stop the disaster.
But by then, the damage was extraordinary.
The Great Fire of London in numbers:
- 13,200 houses destroyed
- 87 churches burnt down
- Around 100,000 people left homeless
- Approximately four-fifths of the old City of London devastated
- Fewer than 10 deaths officially recorded, although the true number remains uncertain
Among the buildings destroyed was the original St Paul’s Cathedral, which was later replaced by the magnificent domed building we recognise today.
9 surprising and slightly strange facts about the Great Fire of London
1. Pudding Lane wasn’t named after dessert
Despite its delicious-sounding name, Pudding Lane wasn’t famous for chocolate puddings or custard.
The word ‘pudding’ was once used to describe animal intestines. Nearby butchers used the lane to transport animal waste down towards the River Thames.
Not quite as appetising as sticky toffee pudding!
2. A man buried his cheese to save it
Samuel Pepys, a famous London diarist, was so worried about losing his prized possessions that he buried his expensive Parmesan cheese and some wine in his garden.
He also sent other valuables away to safety.
Imagine watching your city burn and thinking, ‘Quick! Save the cheese!’
3. The Lord Mayor went back to bed
When the fire first started, London’s Lord Mayor, Thomas Bludworth, was called to investigate.
Unfortunately, he didn’t think it was particularly serious and went back to bed.
By the time everyone realised just how dangerous the fire had become, it was spreading too quickly to control.
4. A group of schoolboys helped fight the fire
On 3 September, a group of schoolboys helped stop the flames spreading at St Dunstan-in-the-East.
Without modern fire engines or equipment, Londoners had to rely on teamwork, buckets and whatever tools they could find.
It turns out you didn’t have to be a grown-up to help save the city.
5. London Bridge had already suffered another fire
A large fire in 1633 had destroyed several buildings on London Bridge.
Strangely, this earlier disaster helped prevent the Great Fire of 1666 from spreading all the way across the bridge into Southwark.
Sometimes a gap between buildings can make all the difference.
6. The heat was so intense that metal melted
When St Paul’s Cathedral caught fire, the heat was extraordinary.
Its lead roof melted, sending streams of hot metal flowing down the streets.
Booksellers had stored their valuable books inside the cathedral, believing the enormous stone building would protect them. Sadly, the cathedral and the books were destroyed.
7. A tiny golden boy marks a famous spot
Near Smithfield, there’s a peculiar little golden statue known as the Golden Boy of Pye Corner.
It commemorates a place traditionally associated with the end of the Great Fire.
Because the fire started in Pudding Lane and was said to have ended at Pie Corner, some people believed it was a punishment for eating too much!
The statue was even given an inscription blaming the disaster on gluttony.
Of course, neither pudding nor pies caused the fire, and historians know the flames spread beyond Pie Corner.
8. The first witness was only identified hundreds of years later
In 2023, historians announced that they’d identified the man thought to have first discovered the fire.
His name was Thomas Dagger, a young baker working at Thomas Farriner’s bakery.
He woke to smoke and helped other people escape through an upstairs window.
Sadly, a maidservant who worked in the building did not survive.
9. The fire didn’t actually stop the Great Plague
You might have heard that the Great Fire ended the Great Plague by killing all the rats.
It’s a popular story, but it’s a myth.
The plague had already been declining, and many areas badly affected by the disease weren’t even touched by the fire.
Unfortunately, rebuilding London didn’t magically solve the city’s sanitation problems either.
How did the Great Fire change London?
Although the Great Fire was a terrible disaster, it also led to some important changes.
When London was rebuilt, new rules encouraged safer buildings made from brick and stone rather than timber. There were also regulations about the size and construction of houses.
Architect Christopher Wren designed the new St Paul’s Cathedral and many other churches.
The disaster also encouraged the development of fire insurance and, eventually, more organised firefighting services.
You can still visit the Monument to the Great Fire of London today. It stands 202 feet tall, the same distance from the site where the fire began.
What can the Great Fire teach us about our environment?
The Great Fire is a fascinating example of how weather, buildings and human decisions can combine to create a disaster.
A long, dry summer made the wooden houses more flammable. Strong winds carried burning material from one building to another. Narrow streets made it difficult for people to escape or fight the fire.
Today, architects, scientists and town planners think carefully about how we design safer cities, especially as heatwaves, droughts and extreme weather become important challenges.
The lesson? Understanding our environment and planning ahead can make a huge difference.
One last burning question…
Could the Great Fire of London happen again?
Thankfully, modern fire brigades, building regulations, smoke alarms and safer construction materials make a disaster on the same scale much less likely.
But the Great Fire is still a powerful reminder that even the smallest spark can have enormous consequences.
And if there’s one other thing we can learn from Samuel Pepys, it’s that some people really, really love their cheese.