in the morning of September 2, 1666 began in London, England, a fire of gigantic proportions that in three days destroyed 13,200 houses and several public buildings, razing about 176 hectares of the city. Due to its magnitude, this event was also known as "The great fire of London", that is, "the great fire of london”. The London catastrophe had a profound impact on late 17th-century England.
The great fire in London started when the royal baker sir Thomas Farriner, whose residence and bakery were located in puddingLane, he forgot to put out the flames on the stove used to prepare his products. At around two o'clock in the morning on September 2, 1666, one of Farriner's employees noticed that the fire was raging through the house and woke up the boss and his family. Everyone in the house managed to save themselves, except for the maid, who died on the spot.
The flames from Farriner's house quickly spread to neighboring houses. The rapid spread of fire was due to the precarious conditions in which London found itself in the 17th century. London, at that time, was a city with an urban structure still with medieval characteristics. The houses were very close together and built on the basis of oak wood. The roofs were sealed with dry tar to avoid the permeability of the rains. These factors acted as fire accelerators. After all, there was no fire department capable of controlling the intensity of the fire. Those in charge of solving the city's fires were the citizens themselves.
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Some conventional methods were used to contain the fire, such as water jets and dampers. However, the method that would prove most effective, the demolition of buildings, was delayed by the then mayor ThomasBloodworth. It wasn't until the fire had consumed thousands of homes that Bloodworth authorized the demolitions. London had a population of 500,000, and around 100,000 were left homeless. Official death data indicate only six direct victims of the fire, but if they are computed those who subsequently died from the consequences of the fire, this number may increase significantly.
One of London's architectural emblems was also destroyed in that fire, the Saint Paul Cathedral, which was later rebuilt through the architect's project Christopher Wren. O King Charles II, who ruled England in the year of the fire, started the rebuilding of London later that year, a rebuilding that followed for the next five decades. It is noteworthy that, between 1672 and 1677, “The Monument” was built (see image at the top of the text), that is, an obelisk-shaped monument in memory of the Great Fire.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FERNANDES, Claudio. "September 2nd – Great Fire of London"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/incendio-londres.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
