The Great Plague began in the London parish of St Giles-in-the-Fields in April 1665. The weather was unseasonably hot that year and the plague spread swiftly through London. The worst hit parishes were the poorer areas outside the City walls, such as Southwark and Whitechapel. The rich, many clergy and doctors, and the court left London to escape, leaving the poor to face the disease. By the end of July over 1000 people were dying each week, and in September more than 8000 people died in one week.
Once the weather cooled in October the disease began to lessen and people gradually returned to London. In total, around 100,000 people had died. Londoners began to rebuild their lives, only for the city to be ravaged again, this time by fire, less than a year later.
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Did the fire stop the plague?