by angela kim, karoline szlapa, and zeshen hu. massive and disastrous fire blazed london,...
TRANSCRIPT
By Angela Kim, Karoline Szlapa, and Zeshen Hu
The Great Fire of London
Massive and disastrous fire
Blazed London, specifically Shakespeare’s
London
Lasted 3 full days and full nights
London was in flames again on 4th day
surprisingly, but stopped by the next day.
What was The Great Fire of London?
This fire occurred during the year of 1666
Devil’s luck/number
50 years after Shakespeare’s death
April 23, 1616
Few casualties as low as 6 – 16 people
Devil’s luck/number
Some Facts
Flames consumed about of London, 430
acres
Buildings include:
13, 000
churches
52
people lost their homes and were
financially ruined
What was destroyed during this fire?
houses
80%
82
guildhalls
100,000
September 1st at 10 PMBaker of King Charles II, Thomas Farynor had
a fire in his bakery located in Pudding Lane but he claimed to have put it out
Next day, September 2nd at 1AMA maid wakes Farynor that the fire spread
and the house was in flamesFarynor, his wife, daughter and manservant
escaped, but his maid burned into ashes (FIRST CASUALTY)
How did the fire begin?
Farynor believed that the fire was
intentional
Common groups were blamed such as:
French
Dutch
Papal/Catholic
Controversial Theories
Farynor’s bakery in Pudding Lane spread to Fish Hill until it reached Thames River in a duration of 2 hours
It is here that many vessels would deposit goods in warehouses, holding many combustible items like hemp, oil, hay, timber, coal, spirits, and tallow (a commonly used household fat)
8AM, London Bridge was in flames
Moving on………………………….
Technology was very basic
There were no such things as fire fighters nor fire trucks during this era
Most people used axes and buckets of water to put out the fire
What was used to put this fire out?
The fire squirtA primitive hose that consisted of a brass
squirting device, attached to portable containers of water, that were jutted out onto the flames.
The fire hookA metal grapple attached to a pole 20-30 feet
long with a rope, that was thrown at buildings to latch onto the timber, them pulled down with men and horses to create impassable fire-stopping rubble known as “fire breaks”.
Two Specialized Tools!
The buildings burned very easily since there were all wooden, and the summer had been dry
The costliness of tearing down buildings for a firebreak, mayor Thomas Bludworth was reluctant to do this, wanting permission of the owners of the homes that would be destroyed in the process first.
A key person in persuading the mayor to create a firebreak was Samuel Pepys, leader of the royal command, who explained to the navy commander that a firebreak was necessary.
By the time that the firebreak was made, however, the flames were too strong to stop, and went right over the rubble.
Why did the fire take so long to put it out?
This is Samuel Pepys.
He was the leader of the royal command.He would later write diary entries that also documented the Great Fire of London.
Most of Medieval London was destroyedMost of London as Shakespeare knew it was goneWhen buildings were rebuilt, the King had them
made out of brick, and he widened the roads between the houses
This allowed London to move out of Medieval times
The upside was that a lot of Plague-carrying rats were also killed in the flames
What happened after?
Pudding Lane is now called Monument Street.
There is a monument standing where the bakery used to stand to remember this tragic event
What is left?
Now we’ll move onto a small reenactment of the events of the Great Fire....
Thank you for watching.