The Great Fire of London: Day by day

Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn recorded life in London around the time of the Great Fire in their diaries. Today, these diaries are still in print. They describe a city with a complicated system of streets, lanes, yards and alleys. It was dirty and overcrowded. Disease spread easily. Most of the buildings were made of wood.

• The city is experiencing the end of a hot summer.
• Water levels of the Thames and the city wells are very low.
  

• 1.30am: A fire starts amongst some wood in Thomas Faryner's bakehouse in Pudding Lane.
• Fanned by an east wind, the fire spreads and jumps all firebreaks.
• 7.00am: Samuel Pepys hears that 300 houses have already burnt down.
• By the afternoon the fire has destroyed the entire waterfront warehousing as far as present day Southwark Bridge. The fire also spreads north towards Cheapside. Londoners begin to flee the City.

• The fire gains momentum. It spreads west towards the Fleet River and north beyond Cornhill and the Royal Exchange.
• By order of King Charles II, the Duke of York, the King's brother, is placed in control of the City and uses his guards to try to put out the fire by creating firebreaks.

• Soldiers from Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Kent are ordered into the City to help fight the fire.
• St Paul's Cathedral burns down. 'The stones of St Pauls flew like grenados, and the lead melted down the streets in a stream ...' (John Evelyn).
• The Guildhall and Bridewell Prison are destroyed by fire.
• In the east of the City, gunpowder is used to make firebreaks and save the Tower of London.
• During the night the wind drops and fire-fighters begin to control the flames.

• Pepys takes his family to Woolwich as the fire gets close to his home.
• Buildings on Fenchurch Street, Gracechurch Street and Lombard Street are burnt down.

• By morning the Great Fire of London is extinguished.

• '... up by five o'clock, and blessed by God! Find all well...' (Samuel Pepys)

The fire destroyed about four fifths of the City of London. Only a small area in the north-east survived. The damage included:

13,200 houses
St Paul's Cathedral
87 parish churches
6 chapels
Bridewell Prison
Newgate Prison
The Guildhall
3 City gates
The Custom House
4 stone bridges
Sessions House
The Royal Exchange
52 livery company halls

The cost of the fire damage to buildings and their contents was about £10 million. London's yearly income at the time was about £12,000.

Interpretation Unit, Museum of London (ed. Jane Sarre)
August 2002

Visit the Museum to see...

The Great Fire audio-visual experience. Fragments of buildings that survived the fire can be seen in the Early Stuart gallery. Remains of the old cathedral, as well as Wren's work on the new, are displayed in the Late Stuart gallery.

Find these books in your local library...

Atkins, J. The Great Fire of London (MacDonald Young Books, 1998)

Deary, T. The Slimy Stuarts (Scholastic)

Robson, P. All about the Great Fire of London (MacDonald Young Books, 1996)

Visit this website...

Investigate the Great Fire of London fact pack