The Great Fire of London
A fire that began in a Pudding Lane bakery spread across the densely built City of London during dry, windy weather. Over four days it consumed most of the medieval city, destroyed thousands of homes and major civic and religious buildings, and displaced roughly 100,000 people. Recorded deaths were few, but records almost certainly understate the full human cost.
What existed before
London was still recovering from the plague year of 1665. Inside the old city walls, narrow streets held timber-framed buildings, warehouses, workshops, and combustible goods close together. Parishes kept hooks, ladders, buckets, and simple pumps, but there was no professional municipal fire brigade.
Trigger and cause
The fire began around 1 a.m. at Thomas Farriner’s bakery. The precise ignition is unknown; a spark or ember from an oven is a plausible explanation. A dry summer, strong easterly wind, delayed firebreaks, and tightly packed wooden buildings transformed a local fire into a citywide disaster.
Aftermath
Relief, temporary shelter, and the immense work of tracing property claims began immediately. Although ambitious plans proposed rebuilding London on a new grid, legal and financial realities meant that most streets followed their earlier routes.
Why it matters
The fire shows how building materials, street form, governance, weather, and emergency decisions combine to create urban risk. It also demonstrates that reconstruction can transform safety standards while preserving the underlying geography of a city.
Uncertainty note
The often-repeated official death total is not a reliable measure of all who died. The source of ignition is also not known with certainty. Contemporary accusations against foreign or religious minorities were unsupported and led to persecution.