The Great Fire of London, 1666

The Great Fire of London was one of the great catastrophes to hit the reign of Charles II. Following the horrendous Great Plague of 1665, the only silver lining in this conflagration is that it seems to have eradicated the plague. Great! But we don’t really know how many people died, as the records don’t seem to take into account the poor people living in the area at the time. The official death toll was six, and with so huge an inferno, and in so densely-packed an area, that number seems a bit strange. Check out the History in Numbers page about the Great Fire.

I was planning on writing a long, detailed post, but my friend, Susan Abernethy, sent me her article. It’s so good, I thought I’d just share the link with you and some extra images, links, and books you can get about the Great Fire. You can read Susan’s post here: The Great Fire of London.

If you’d like to get the kids interested in the Great Fire, may I suggest showing them this interactive Flash game from the Museum of London?

The Telegraph recently compiled images of, “10 buildings that survived the Great Fire of London”

Now then, here are some images that you may find of interest.

Here is is a manoeuvrable seventeenth-century fire engine on wheels – the precursor of our modern fire engines:

Image: wikipedia

If you are a 17th-century history buff you must visit the Monument to the Great Fire of London: http://www.themonument.info/ But, if you do go, remember, there is no lift, and you will have to walk up over 100 steps!