1. Share with your partner anything you know about the Great Fire of London.

2. We know about the Great Fire through the diary of a man called Samuel Pepys. In his diary he wrote: “It made me weep to see it.” Discuss with your partner why the fire would cause him to cry.

3. 2 nd September 1666 So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower…and there I did see the houses at the end of the bridge all on fire. So down [I went], with my heart full of trouble, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who tells me that it began this morning in the King's baker's house in Pudding Lane, and that it hath burned St. Magnus's Church and most part of Fish Street already. So I rode down to the waterside… Everybody is trying to move their goods or fling them into the river or bring them onto boats. Poor people stay in their houses until the fire touches them. Then they run into the boats. I saw the fire rage every way, and nobody trying to quench it, but instead trying to save their goods.

5. There happened to break out a sad and deplorable fire in Pudding Lane near New Fish Street, which falling at the hour of night and in a quarter of the town so close built with wooden pitch houses caused it to spread so far… The inhabitants and neighbours did not take care to put out the fire by pulling down the houses as they should; so this lamentable fire grew too strong to be mastered by any engines. Also a strong east wind came and kept the fire burning…

6. The houses over 300 years ago were made from The baker, Thomas Farrinor, didn’t clean out his oven properly and so some smouldering embers set alight some nearby firewood. His bakery, on Pudding Lane was set on fire. He and his family got away. The houses in the area where the fire started were crowed together. The fire started in Pudding Lane, where there was a baker’s shop. wood.

7. There are many reasons why the fire spread so quickly. The buildings were mostly made of wood. The buildings were very close together. A strong wind blew the flames to other houses. There had been no rain, so London was very dry. There were only a few fire engine carts. The houses had tar on their roofs. The water squirters were too weak to quench the flames. They couldn’t carry water fast enough to put the fire out.

8. The Great Fire changed London dramatically. London before the fire was not a very nice place to be. The houses were all crowed together and made of wood which burned easily. After the fire, thousands of people were made homeless. New houses were built using bricks and stones. They were built with ‘fire breaks’ - a big space between sets of houses so if another fire happened the flames wouldn’t be able to jump across to other houses. Lots of important buildings had been destroyed in the fire. Wren, an architect designed many new important buildings and he also designed St Paul’s Cathedral.

9. Outside Monument Station on the Underground, you will see a huge tower – a monument. It is the tallest column in the world at 202feet. The height of the column is the same distance from the base to the baker’s house where the fire started, in Pudding Lane.

10. Write a diary, imagining that you were in one of the houses near the river. 3 rd September 1666 Dear Diary, I feel so happy to be alive. My family and I managed to escape the terrible fire. We were all so terrified. During the night I woke up and could smell burning. I ran to the window to see the houses down the street on fire. I ran into my parents room screaming, “Fire! Fire!”. What did you see? What did you smell? What did you hear? Comment on why you think the fire spread so quickly. How did you and your family react to the fire?