On top of that, the summer of 1666 was extremely hot. Since November of 1665, an exceptional drought was dominating the London area, making everything dry as a desert. The Rising Heat: The Beginnings of the Great Fire of London All of this provided a great background for what was about to occur in that fated year of 1666. Overcrowded and overbuilt, they housed numerous bakeries, smithies, foundries, and other fire-hazardous jobs – all of which were prohibited but allowed by means shady and unknown. In summary, the slums of London were rife with illegal building materials and activities. A number of preventive measures existed – watchmen patrolled the city with the sole purpose of spotting flames, the militia was to help in emergencies, and the citizens themselves were organized to quickly put out fires by working together. The law fought to forbid these building materials, particularly the thatch roofs, but with little success.Īnd due to these facts, small fires in London’s suburbs were a commonplace occurrence.

Most of these outer suburbs were built in an old fashioned manner – from materials like wood, mud, and thatch. These slums were often squalid, poor, and very densely built up – congested homes often piled on top one another, separated only by a maze of narrow cobbled streets. The city of London, in 1666, had two faces – the city proper, the core that was surrounded by the old city wall and its poorer districts and slums, which huddled on the other side. London’s citizens were in a dreadful state and desperate – but thoroughly unaware of what awaited them next.Ĭollecting the dead for burial during the Great Plague. It came with the rats and was transmitted by the bite of a rat’s flea – in that year, only, it had taken some 70,000 lives in London. The Great Plague, as it was called, although weakened was active through 1666 as well. In 1665, Yersinia Pestis had once again ravaged this densely populated city, taking many lives and worsening the situation in every aspect.

In September of 1666 London was recovering from the last great bout of the Bubonic plague.

We’re going back to 1666, luckily only figuratively, as we follow the spreading fires in order to recount one of the biggest disasters in the history of London. So today we’re dissecting the tale of the Great Fire of London. It will be remembered as one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of England’s capital.īut there had to be more involved with it than just an eerie, devilish number, right? Medieval buildings and open flame are never a good combination, and human factor is often the key fault. And for thousands of Londoners who lived in that very year, it would prove to be life-changing.įor in the autumn of 1666 a massive and sweeping flame swept through London, consuming everything in its path and causing mass devastation. A year that carried a lot of ominous superstitions.

Pepys the great fire