These fascinating Great Fire of London facts answer many common questions teachers and children have about the blaze.
In the small hours of the morning of Sunday 2nd September 1666.
Almost five days (although smaller fires flared up for several days afterwards, and some buildings smouldered for months).
The fire was extinguished by the dawn of Thursday 6th September 1666.
More than 13,000 homes as well as scores of churches and businesses were burned down. St Paul's Cathedral and Bridewell Palace were also consumed by the blaze. Roughly 5/6, or more than 80%, of the properties in London were destroyed.
Teachers: you could teach and learn more about the damage caused by the fire with these Great Fire of London lesson plans and resources for KS1. They're packed full of even more Great Fire of London facts!
Official records vary, although most claim the death toll was in single figures – eight or fewer. Many historians believe that these figures are too low. It is likely that the deaths of many poor people went unrecorded.
It is believed that in the early hours of the morning, as Londoners slept, a glowing ember fell from the oven of a bakery on Pudding Lane, landing on a pile of fuel nearby.
Thomas Farriner, the baker of Pudding Lane, was blamed for starting the fire – although there were many other reasons why the fire took hold so easily and spread so quickly.
The blaze spread quickly between the timber-framed buildings and narrow streets on the North bank of the river Thames.
That year, London had experienced a long, hot, dry summer – perfect conditions for a fire to spread.
The buildings in the area around the bakery on Pudding Lane were full of flammable goods such as rope, tar, timber and oil.
The narrow streets and houses crammed close together allowed the fire to quickly spread from one building to another, until almost all of London was ablaze.
The Monument commemorates the Great Fire of London. Designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, it stands at 202 feet tall, as it stands exactly 202 feet from the bakery in Pudding Lane where the fire began.
Teachers: you might like to use this list of Great Fire of London facts in class, or to help your children with their homework! If you would like to expand your teaching and learning about London and the Great Fire, you could use our fantastic Great Fire of London Cross-curricular topic bundle, which contains four complete schemes of work for History, Geography, DT and Art.
Learn all about the life and work of Kandinsky, who spent his career developing a 'language' for expressing sounds, ideas and feelings through his ...
View full details
This free Science Ocean Animals lesson plan pack contains three lessons to help your class identify and describe a variety of ocean animals from lo...
View full details
This free mini-scheme will give your class the chance to make paper toys. They will practise the important skill of cutting whilst they make easy p...
View full details
This free ‘Exploring Paris’ mini-scheme will take your class on a fun trip to one of the most famous cities in the world! Help your class to locate...
View full details
This fun and engaging KS2 Ancient Greece Topic for Year 5 and Year 6 will take your class back to one of the most fascinating civilisations in hist...
View full details
Leave a comment