1666

МБОУ  «Подпорожская СОШ №8»

Номинация “The UK – History and Culture”

Секция “Mysterious London”

1666

Выполнили:

Карева Мария, Черенкова Анастасия, 9-б класс

Научный руководитель:

Мещерякова Н.А.

Сontents:

1. What was England like in 1666.
2. Before the Fire – early 1666.
3. Samuel Pepys 
4. Sunday 2nd September – The fire starts
5. Monday 3rd September – The Fire Spreads
6. Tuesday 4th September – The Fire at full fury!
7. Wednesday 5th September – Hope at Last!
8. The Aftermath
9. Rebuilding

1. What was England like in 1666.

In 1666 King Charles II had only been king for 6 years. There were many who did not fully trust the king and a good number who opposed his restoration and believed in a republic. Some would go as far as armed rebellion or attempts at assassination. There were at least half a dozen plots against the King in those first 6 years. Charles responded by introducing a robust organisation of spies and informers. Because of these attempts to overthrow the king there was great fear of more Catholic papist plots like the Gunpowder plot of 1605 and the more recent attempts on the king’s life.

Mistrust was not just confined to home spun plots and enemies. In 1666 England was at war with both Holland and France over domination of the seas and of world trade and everyone was paranoid about foreign spies. As a result all foreigners were viewed with suspicion and stories abounded about atrocities inflicted by these other nations.

This was also a time of superstitions and a period when people believed in omens and magic. The fire occurred during a time when people were tried and hanged for witchcraft – something like 1000 people had been executed as a witch in the century before 1666. It was also a year particularly associated with evil omens and signs. So there was a solar eclipses in the 1666. Comets had been seen in the skies the year before. There were lunar eclipses. All these events were harbingers of doom.

Doom seemed likely to many that year. Although even in our own time every few years people predict that the world will end, many people really believed that 1666 was the end of the world!! This was in part linked to the fact that in the Book of Revelations there is a passage that says that the number of the beast of the devil is 666. Several famous astrologers have also predicted a great plague in 1665 and a fire in 1666. No doubt many others predicted other events that DID NOT happen so we should not read much into these predictions that did come to be true BUT of course such predictions added to the feelings of anxiety and paranoia that seemed to prevalent at this time.

Of course many people lived their lives concerned with the simple facts of existence. In a time of widespread poverty just getting through each day was a struggle. Nevertheless you can well imagine what, taken as a whole, this mix of fears and anxieties produced in the average man in the street. It did not take much to stir up the London mob and there was more than enough provocation due to the Great Fire.

2. Before the Fire – early 1666.

London, in early 1666, was a city still suffering from the great plague. People fell ill one after another and in a few days died. Whole families died. Soon crowds of people, terrified, tried to run away from London. The country people did not let them come near their homes. Many died on the roads. In the city the houses of sick were guarded so that no one could come in or go out. Baskets were hung out of the windows for the food for the people inside. A large red cross was painted on the door, to tell everybody: “The plague is in the house”.

At night “the Death Cart” went round the streets. The driver rang a bell and shouted: “Bring out your dead!” All life in London was a standstill, the ships stopped coming, the streets were empty and grass grew between the stones. By the end of summer there were not enough people alive to bury the dead. In a few months nearly 100 000 died, about ¼ of the population.

And this is what the famous writer Daniel Defoe says about London in the Plague Year: “The face of London was now strangely altered… Sorrow and Sadness sat upon every face… the voice of Mourning was heard in every street; the shrieks of women and children at the windows, and doors at their houses, where their dearest relations were, perhaps, dying or just dead – the streets which were usually crowded, now were desolate, and so few people were seen in them now…” The death rate was slowing down but new cases were still happening even up to the time of the fire. The King and his court has evacuated the city and the government was run from Oxford through the winter and early spring. Yet in the summer of 1666 life was returning to the city. The markets were open and trade was thriving once more.

It was the winter cold that saved the city and the people. By December many of those who had gone from London returned. Houses and theatres, shops and inns opened again. On 1st, February 1666 the Royal court returned to London and people were hoping to come back to their normal life.

England was at war with Holland and France. The Second Anglo–Dutch War was fought between England and the United Provinces from 4 March 1665 until 31 July 1667. England tried to end the Dutch domination of world trade. After initial English successes, the war ended in a decisive Dutch victory.And in summer 1666 there were two important battles: 1 June/4 June - Inconclusive Four Days Battle, one of the longest naval engagements in history. And 25 July - English fleet beats Dutch at St. James's Day Battle.

And that meant that in the summer the fleet put to sea looking for an engagement that would decide the war. That fleet needed provisions and one of the bakers that supplied the all important ship’s biscuit was Thomas Farriner of Pudding Lane. At the time accusations of conspiracy would fly around the city as rapidly as the fire itself. Catholics were to blame, or French or Dutch spies or maybe republicans. Then again maybe it was the will of God. London was a cesspit of sin and the wrath of God would be visited upon it. That at least was the predictions of astrologers before the fire. This year – 1666 – was full or porent of doom and the unrighteous would soon suffer hell fire. That is what people said.

Eventually the truth came out. It was not the judgement of heaven or the evil act of malicious enemies. No it was merely a baker forgetting to put out his ovens. Thomas Farriner was to blame. Not that he ever admitted to this himself of course.

But we should not blame Farriner. Really it was the case that the city of London  in 1666 was ready for this disaster. Most houses in this crowded and congested city were wood and thatch leaning precariously towards each other. The city contained hundreds of workplaces, many of which were fire hazards foundries, smithies, glaziers and was full of warehouses which had stores and cellars of combustibles. That summer of 1666 had been one of the hottest in living memory making the buildings dry as tinder. Finally there was a strong wind blowing north westerly for the first three days fanning on the fire.

3. Samuel Pepys 

Samuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. The detailed private diary Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century, and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.

According to his diary Pepys walked all over the city, clambering up half burnt out church towers to get a feel for the devastation. He witnessed the teeming throngs of thousands in their encampments around the city such as Moorfields and then returned to the area around his office and his house expecting that they would be inflames but was relieved to see that this was not the case. You can feel his relief in that passage from his diary.

4. Sunday 2nd September – The Fire Starts

In 1666 London was a bonfire ready to light. It was built of wood and thatch buildings – teetering tenements that leaned close together. It was full of foundries and bakers, glaziers and tanners all with fires. Its warehouses stored vast quanities of combustible material. It had little in the way of effective fire fighting procedures. The summer had been long and hot and the city was dry. All it took was a spark.

Thomas Farriner (or Faynor) was the King’s baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. He baked ships biscuits for the Navy. On Saturday 1st September he had retired to bed but someone – himself, his maid or his journeyman had forgotten to put out the fire. Wood, ready for the morning’s baking was stacked nearby. Between midnight and 1am on Sunday morning 2nd September it is assumed that a spark from the fire must have ignited the wood. This spread and soon the bakery was in flames. Thomas and his family escaped out of an upstairs window BUT their maid did not escape. Afraid to cross the gap to the roofbehind she stayed behind and perished.

Call the Mayor

The fire spread  quickly and soon the entire street was on fire. Around the time that Pepys was woken on Seething Lane a little to the east, the Mayor Thomas Bloodworth was summoned and on inspecting the fire made the quote that would come back to bite him later: “Pish! A woman could piss it out”. He returned to bed without giving any orders to pull down any houses to create fire breaks.

Those trying to fight the fire struggled on but effort were hampered by the fact the pump nearest Pudding Lane was broken. There was some attempt to bring fire engines to the scenes but these were huge and heavy and could not reach the scene.

Pepys takes action but the Mayor does not!

In the morning Samuel Pepys realised that the fire was spreading fast and would soon be out of control. He hurried to White Hall to see the king. Charles II ordered him to tell the Mayor to pull down houses and to take the offer of extra troops from The Duke of York’s guards (commanded by his brother, James). Pepys hurried to see Bloodworth. He found the mayor in a state of hysteria, complaining that no one would obey him. Bloodworth refused the offer of troops. This was because the City had deep suspicions about the crown and indeed had been strongly for parliament during the civil war of only 20 years before. City officials had a fear of royalist troops in the city and wanted to avoid that.  Bloodworth also ignored the king’s orders about pulling down buildings, fearful that he would be held financially responsible.

The King views the scene

The King sailed down the river in the afternoon and was appalled at the spread of the fire and even more astonished that his orders had been ignored. He overrode the authority of the mayor in the area west of the fire and started the process of having house pulled down.

Too late

Even the King’s intervention was too late. Strong winds from the south and east was driving the fire on. In the evening Pepys took a boat to an alehouse on the south bank of the Thames and stayed there till darkness fell. He wrote later that they could see the fire on London Bridge and across the river, “as only one entire arch of fire from this to the other side of the bridge, and in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long: it made me weep to see it.”

The fire soon took hold and by the 2nd September, 300 houses had collapsed and the strong east wind spread the flames further, jumping from house to house. The fire soon swept through the warren of streets lined with houses, the upper stories of which almost touched across the narrow winding lanes. Efforts to bring the fire under control by using buckets quickly failed. Panic began to spread through the city. Londoners start to flee. Getting his priorities right, Pepys buried a big cheese and wine in his garden!

Jane called up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City. So I rose, and slipped on my night-gown and went to her window, and thought it to be on the back side of Mark Lane at the farthest; but, being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off, and so went to bed again, and to sleep. . . . By and by Jane comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down tonight by the fire we saw, and that it is now burning down all Fish Street, by London Bridge. So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower; and there got up upon one of the high places, . . .and there I did see the houses at the end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire on this and the other side . . . of the bridge. . . . Samuel Pepys Diary for 2nd September 1666.

Extent of Fire damage on 2nd September (with thanks to Wikipedia for the image)

5. Monday 3rd September – The Fire Spreads

 About four o’clock in the morning, my Lady Batten sent me a cart to carry away all my money, and plate, and best things, to Sir W. Rider’s at Bednall-greene. Which I did riding myself in my night-gowne in the cart; and, Lord! to see how the streets and the highways are crowded with people running and riding, and getting of carts at any rate to fetch away things. Samuel Pepys Diary for 3rd September 1666.

By Monday morning, with the fire 24 hours old, the flames are spreading quickly west and north. Yet still no real efforts to contain the fire have been made.

The Duke of York is given command

The Lord Mayor appears to have abandoned any effort to fight the fire. After his failures of Sunday, Bloodworth is not mentioned in any accounts and is not certain what he was doing or where he went. Technically direct authority over the city of London lay in the Mayor’s hands and most definitely NOT the King. Indeed on the Sunday the mayor had turned down offers of direct help from the king. Charles ignored this and did send troops. ON Monday with the Mayor having thrown in the towel, Charles decided to take definitive action and appointed James, Duke of York and his own brother the task of coordinating the firefighting efforts. James took to the task at once and deployed regiments of his own soldiers on the street. He had to contend with two main problems in order to get near the fire:

Paranoia and Blame

The people of London, terrified of the fire and furious at the destruction did what most men and women do at such times. They try and find someone to blame. In London in September 1666 there were plenty of people to blame. England was at war with both France and Holland in the Second Anglo Dutch War. So any foreigners  - especially from Holland or France were set upon in the streets and accused of Arson. They were searched and if matches found were beaten or even threatened with hanging. Astrologers who had predicted a terrible calamity on 1666 were also suspects as were manufacturers of fireworks. Fear of witchcraft meant that some women were attacked – even a poor girl who was caught carrying a chicken in her petticoat which was mistaken for a fireball that she was about to throw. Because of fears of another Gunpowder type plot Catholics were also accused to starting the fire.

Save what you can!

Utter panic set in during Monday as the city folk realised that the destruction could be extensive. Thousands of Londoners evacuated whatever belongings they could in cart, on foot or by boat. Some folk with the eye for making a quick fortune began hiring out carts and boats at exorbitant rates. A cart which before the fire would cost a couple of shillings could be as much at £40 on that Monday! The streets were jammed with panicking people, carts, wagons and - desperate to keep order – James’  troops.

The Fire Spreads

The fire – driven on with strengthening winds had reached the North end of London bridge and destroyed it. Fortunately a fire break on the bridge – the result of a previous fire 30 years before – prevented the fire spreading further south.

Nothing, however, could prevent the fire spreading to engulf the great trade centre of the Royal Exchange on Cornhill which had been build in Queen Elizabeth’s time, nor the loss of the shops on Cheapshide.

“the whole City in dreadful flames near the water-side; all the houses from the Bridge, all Thames-street, and upwards towards Cheapside, down to the Three Cranes, were now consumed” John Evelyn

Extent of fire damage on 3rd September (with thanks to wikipedia for image)

Action at last

Whilst running around protecting foreigners and Catholics and bringing some order to the crowded streets, gradually James establishes working parties – each with orders to pull down houses to slow the spread of the fire. Furthermore wealthy citizens began paying for hired labour to help with the efforts. It was not much but we start to see the types of actions that will eventually save London.

The fire spread throughout the 3rd, despite the efforts of the Duke of York who was given command of fire-fighting that morning and began to bring better organisation to the fight. The only success came at Leadenhall in the north-east, were a combination of low wind and the leadership and wealth of one citizen which enabled him to hire sufficient labour to create a working firebreak stopped the blaze advancing. Paranoia over suspected plots meant that people start attacking foreigners in the street. James is forced to spend a lot of time saving foreigners from attacks by the London mob.

Day 3: Tuesday 4th September By sunrise September 4th, the fire was at its peak, an estimated ten times as strong as twenty-four hours previously. The success at Leadenhall was repeated on the 4th by other teams – one led by Samuel Pepys – who now used gunpowder to clear great gaps in the city and build fire breaks. In the east, the fire was stopped before reaching The Tower of London. However, in the north the flames remained unchecked, surging with avarice across Cheapside and the city market, and in the west they jumped across the River Fleet in spite of attempts to clear the bridge and nearby buildings.

People ran and pushed goods and belongings INTO ST Pauls or up against the walls hoping it would protect them. It did not! By the midnight of the 4th/5th September, St. Paul’s Cathedral was surrounded and literally melting: the lead roofing flowed down the streets and building stones exploded from the heat.

6. Tuesday 4th September – The Fire at full fury!

Now begins the practice of blowing up of houses in Tower-street, those next the Tower, which at first did frighten people more than anything, but it stopped the fire where it was done, it bringing down the houses to the ground in the same places they stood, and then it was easy to quench what little fire was in it, though it kindled nothing almost. W. Hewer this day went to see how his mother did, and comes late home, telling us how he hath been forced to remove her to Islington, her house in Pye-corner being burned; so that the fire is got so far that way, and all the Old Bayly, and was running down to Fleete-streete; and Paul’s is burned, and all Cheapside. I wrote to my father this night, but the post-house being burned, the letter could not go. Samuel Pepys Diary for 4th September 1666.

Extent of fire damage on 4th September (with thanks to wikipedia for image)

Tuesday 4th September 1666 was the worst day of the Great Fire of London. The strong wind was still blowing north and west and was driving the inferno onwards. This was the day when panic really began to set in at Westminster. The king’s court began making plans to evacuate even though the fire was still some distance away. Yet there was hope even in the midst of unbelievable destruction.

The Fire Jumps the River Fleet

James, Duke of York and his men were working flat out to try and stem the westward flow of the fire. They had hoped that the River Fleet – a refuse filled sliver running south towards the Thames – would be a barrier to the fire. This was a vain hope as the fire jumped the river and ignited buildings on its west bank and then advanced on towards the Temple and the Inns of Court. Despite the disappointment, James carried on pulling down buildings, trying desperately to create a fire break in the west.

The Great Church Burns

St Paul’s Cathedral was one of the wonders of the Christian World. Its spire (which fell down after a storm some years before) had been one of the highest in the world and it still loomed over the city. It was natural that people should put their faith in its vastness.

As the fire rolled west towards the cathedral that Tuesday those living in the area, including the booksellers that populated the region around it hurried to push belongings into the vault and interior and up against the walls hoping the churchyards and the stone walls would protect them. This proved a vain hope.

The church had been neglected during the years of the Commonwealth and in 1666 Christopher Wren had erected scaffolding to help him restore it. That same scaffolding caught fire. The fire spread to the roof and soon the structure was inflames – a vast fireball in the centre of the flaming city.

The fire was so hot that the roof tiles melted and lead ran down the street. The tombs and coffins burst asunder and corpses literally fell and leapt out of them including a remarkably preserved bishop of two hundred years before who landed on his feet and became, after the fire, a celebrity visited by celebrities and common folk.

Samuel Pepys lends a hand.

The first glimmer of hope that the fire could be contained started when parties of soldiers, one led by Samuel Pepys, rolled barrels of gunpowder from the Tower into the streets nearby and started blowing up whole blocks of housing. This proved one of the only effective means of stopping the fire. In the east – where the fire had been approaching the Tower itself – the fire was under control but in the west the fire incinerated Cheapside and the city markets and rolled on by the Cathedral and seemed as unstoppable as ever.

In the fields around the city a vast population settled down to sleep rough through the third night of the fire, many believing that the end of the world had truly come.

7. Wednesday 5th September – Hope at Last!

Home; and whereas I expected to have seen our house on fire, it being now about seven o’clock, it was not. But to the fire, and there find greater hopes than I expected; for my confidence of finding our Office on fire was such, that I durst not ask anybody how it was with us, till I come and saw it not burned. But going to the fire, I find by the blowing up of houses, and the great help given by the workmen out of the King’s yards, sent up by Sir W. Pen, there is a good stop given to it.   Samuel Pepys Diary for 5th September 1666.

Extent of fire damage on 5th September – same area as on 4th (with thanks to wikipedia for image)

The Wind Drops

On Wednesday the 5th September the strong wind which since Sunday had been blowing the fire west and north finally abated. The army contingents had now created significant fire breaks by virtue of blowing up housing. The effect of these two combined was such that the fire stopped spreading and no significant growth in the area affected by it was reported this day.

Pepys Explores London

According to his diary Pepys walked all over the city, clambering up half burnt out church towers to get a feel for the devastation. He witnessed the teeming throngs of thousands in their encampments around the city such as Moorfields and then returned to the area around his office and his house expecting that they would be inflames but was relieved to see that this was not the case. You can feel his relief in that passage from his diary.

Retribution

That Wednesday night a rumour went about on Moorfields that 30,000 French and Dutch (who the Londoners believed had caused the fire) were on the way to finish the job, and slaughter the population. The mob rose up and attacked anyone suspicious and the King had great difficulty restoring order.

Over at last

The fire smouldered on into Thursday but by midday it was considered completely under control and thoughts turned to trying to determine the cause, assess the damage and plans for rebuilding. It is estimated that the destruction included 13200 houses, 87 churches, 44 Guild Halls, St Paul’s Cathedral, Baynard’s Castle, the Royal Exchange, Newgate prison and many other important sites. Maybe 1 person in 3 or 4 of greater London was made homeless. Something like £14 Billion of damages in today’s terms was caused. Although many were made scapegoats, and one poor Frenchman was hung for confessing to starting the fire even though it was clear he was mentally ill and could not have done it, it was eventually put down to the will of God.

Day 4: Wednesday 5th September              

 Day 5: Thursday 6th September

On the 5th two events conspired to save London: firefighters started to actively, use gunpowder to clear firebreaks on a wider scale. More crucially, the powerful east wind dropped. There was still a great struggle. Pepys reports than even the King was seen helping but the tide had turned. Small fires still burnt by midday on Thursday 6th 1666, but they were soon under control.

 Only one fifth of London was left standing! Virtually all the civic buildings had been destroyed as well as 13,000 private dwellings, but amazingly only six people had died.

Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. Eighty-nine parish churches, the Guildhall, numerous other public buildings, jails, markets and fifty-seven halls were now just burnt-out shells. The loss of property was estimated at £5 to £7 million. King Charles gave the fire fighters a generous purse of 100 guineas to share between them. Not for the last time would a nation honour its brave fire fighters.

8. The Aftermath

There was something of a witch hunt during and after the fire looking for the culprits and the London mob chased down any foreigners or just someone who looked a bit odd. A mentally ill Frenchman watchmaker called (Lucky) Hubert admitted to causing the fire and although it was shown that he could not have done so he was still hung. In the end calm prevailed and it was realised by those in government that it had just been an accident made worse by the condition of the city.

Do you remember Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”? Our sin dangles each like a spider over a pit of hell.

The Puritans believed that the Bible is God’s truth and that he sends signs

especially through nature: drought, floods, pestilence or disease. Could the 1665-66 plague be a sign of God’s displeasure with England?

The Great Plague and the Great Fire drastically changed the city of London. The Great Plague occurred in 1664 – 1665, which claimed over 100,000 lives of citizens of London (Leapman, 1989). The Great Fire in September 1666 destroyed everything within the walls of the City of London and some surrounding areas as well as a huge arc from the London Bridge (Leapman, 1989). This resulted in devastation in London’s dense historic centre with ninety percent of the churches and seventy percent of the houses destroyed (Leapman, 1989). These two events marked a turning point in the history of London because many of those who survived had moved out of the city and did not return. London “never regained its former importance as a centre of population” (Leapman, 1989, p. 16). The Great Fire redesigned the city of London. Due to the extensive damage, the city could be rebuilt with the planners thinking long-term (Leapman, 1989). The Georgian West End was not an exclusive area because living conditions did not allow class segregation with servants living right next to masters and mistresses (Leapman, 1989). Older districts, such as Georgian London, were unsafe, poverty stricken and unsanitary (Leapman, 1989).

9. Rebuilding

The destruction was vast. It is estimated that the destruction included 13200 houses, 87 churches, 44 Guild Halls,  St Pauls Cathedral, Baynards Castle, the Royal Exchange, Newgate prison and many other important sites. Maybe 1 person in 3 or 4 of greater London was made homeless. Something like £14 Billion of damages in today’s terms was caused.

For some this was an opportunity. Unscrupulous bankers made a fortune giving loans at huge rate of interest to assist rebuilding. Landlords discovered that they would insist on the properties they had rented out being rebuilt at the tenants cost and usually ended up with buildings of greater value. A massive legal process ensued with court cases going on for years.

Others had higher aims. John Evelyn and Christopher Wren both submitted plans for rebuilding the city. The warren of streets would be swept away and broad avenues and squares echoing the glories of Italian cities brought in. In the end though landlords insisted on their houses being rebuilt and the best that Wren achieved was the contract to design and rebuild London’s churches including the magnificent St Paul’s Cathedral.

Sir Christopher Wren was given the task of re-building London, and his masterpiece St. Paul's Cathedral was started in 1675 and completed in 1711. In memory of Sir Christopher there is an inscription in the Cathedral, which reads, "Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice". - "If you seek his monument, look round". The Great Fire began in 61.57 meters from the monument, which symbolizes the height of the column.

Wren also rebuilt 52 of the City churches and his work turned the City of London into the city we know today.

Although the Great Fire was a catastrophe, it did cleanse the city. The overcrowded and plague ridden streets were destroyed together with  the rat population which transmitted the bubonic plague which killed thousands the previous year and a new London emerged, so perhaps the Great Fire wasn't such a terrible disaster after all?

 Monument   Near the site of the original bakery where the fire had started a monument was constructed. On it read the words:Here by ye permission of Heaven, Hell broke loose on this protestant city.A modern version of the monument (near the Underground Station that shares its name) is still there today.