From Robert Wilde,
Your Guide to European History.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

September 3rd
By midnight September 2rd/3rd the conflagration had spread along half a mile of riverfront and was moving outward west and north to the city walls. Citizens started to flee en masse, taking what they could carry, burying the rest or hiding it in sewers and abandoning their doomed homes. The hills surrounding London were soon filled with refugees watching their city burn. Accounts claim that, even at midnight, the flames kept London as bright as the day.

The fire spread throughout the 3rd, despite the efforts of the Duke of York – who was given command of fire-fighting that morning – and better organisation. The Royal Exchange (400 meters north of Pudding Lane) was on fire by 2:00 pm, Lombard Street, the financial heart of early modern London, turning to ash by 3:00pm and Castle Baynard at Blackfriars (over 1000 meters west of Pudding Lane) was ablaze by 9:00 pm. The only success came at Leadenhall in the north-east, were a combination of low wind and the leadership and wealth of one citizen – which enabled him to hire sufficient labour to create a working firebreak – stopped the blaze advancing.

People Seek A Scapegoat
Chaos, panic and fear were rife, but fire wasn't the only cause. A hundred years previously Henry VIII's break with Catholicism had prompted decades of religious strife, leaving a largely Protestant London that lived in fear and suspicion of Catholics. Fifteen years previously Parliament had executed King Charles I; monarchy had only returned to England six years before the fire. In addition, in 1666 many worried that Dutch and French forces would attack the country, while the date itself – 666 – panicked others.

As the Great Fire raged, seemingly destroying London's capital city, xenophobia, paranoia and religious bigotry were fanned as much as the flames. The fire was the work of Catholic spies or French agents, it was God's punishment for killing the king or turning from the Pope, it was the embodiment of every anger and hatred people had. Many did remain calm, seeing the fire as little more than a random act of God, but suspected foreigners and Catholics were attacked and real foreigners and Catholics were locked up for their own protection.

September 4th
By sunrise September 4th, the fire was at its peak, an estimated ten times as strong as twenty-hours previously. The success at Leadenhall was repeated on the 4th by other teams working in the west - one led by Samuel Pepys – who now used gunpowder to clear great gaps. The Customs House may have gone, but the fire was stopped before reaching the Navy Offices and The Tower of London, home to a gunpowder store which would have done much more than burn. However, in the north the flames remained unchecked, raging across Cheapside and the city market, and in the east they jumped across the River Fleet in spite of attempts to clear the bridge and nearby buildings. Some flames reached the Temple – well over a mile from Pudding Lane and the fire's easternmost extent - but they were initially doused. By the midnight of the 4th/5th September, St. Paul's Cathedral was surrounded and literally melting: the lead roofing flowed down the streets and building stones exploded from the heat.

September 5th: The Fire Is Contained
On the 5th two events conspired to save London: firefighters started to actively, some might say overzealously, use gunpowder to clear (perhaps excessively large) firebreaks and, more crucially, the powerful east wind dropped, robbing the fire of much vitality. Firefighters were finally able to effectively douse and contain the blaze and throughout the day London's great conflagration was broken into more and more smaller, isolated, fires. There was still a great struggle – Pepys reports than even the King was seen helping – but the tide had turned, at least for as long as the wind abated. At around two a.m. on the morning of the 6th flames returned at The Temple were, famously, locals dealt with the fire after making sure excitable teams with gunpowder couldn't get near!

Small fires still burnt by midday on Thursday 6th 1666, but they posed little risk of spreading to new areas. The Great Fire of London was officially considered to have been extinguished after four and a half days.