# Great Fire of London **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-fire-of-london/764758 "2016-09-02T04:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-fire-of-london/764758/1 "2016-09-02T04:21:11Z")
I’ve heard about this and never knew any details. I’m quite impressed at Charles II hands on approach. The London Mayor was useless and panicking. Charles II put the former mayor in charge. Then he assigned his brother the Duke of York to take charge of fighting the fire. At one point Charles II was helping with the firefighting pumps. This was summer of 1666. His coronation was April 1661. Still a relatively young king. I assume it helped assigning the Duke of York to fight the fire? He had authority to tear down private buildings and create firebreaks. A fascinating piece of history. It’s quite a contrast to politicians today. State Governors meet with their diaster response teams. They usually don’t get hands on. > **[Charles II of England](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England)** > > Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685)\[c\] was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. > Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I's execution at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. Howe... > **[How French spies burnt London to the ground](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3770046/How-French-spies-burnt-London-ground-s-Britons-thought-Great-Fire-started-350-years-ago-week-mesmerising-hour-hour-account-reveals-took-savage-revenge-foreigner-caught.html)** > > Three hundred and fifty years ago this week, we tell the story of one of the most dramatic events in British history, The Great Fire of London (left), as it unfolded hour by hour. > [@](#): > > Early afternoon: Charles II and the Duke of York set off downstream in a barge to see the fire for themselves. They were horrified by the enormity of the damage. > > Charles summoned a former Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Browne, and instructed him to begin the demolition of buildings between the fire and the Tower of London. > > It was essential to prevent the fire reaching the Tower as it held huge quantities of gun powder. > [@](#): > > Charles II joined his brother at the pumps and both men stood for hours in ankle-deep water. Day was now as dark as night, under a vast cloud of smoke and dust, and the ground shook with explosions. One nobleman, Lord Berkeley, had begun using the gunpowder at the Tower of London to blow up the houses along Tower Street. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-fire-of-london/764758/2 "2016-09-02T04:27:39Z")
Wikipedia article > **[Great Fire of London](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London)** > > Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}51°31′N 0°05′W / 51.51°N 0.09°W / 51.51; -0.09 > > > > The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London... ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-fire-of-london/764758/3 "2016-09-02T04:47:47Z")
One of the unfortunate results of the fire is that very few buildings survive in the City from before 1666. The two main exceptions are the Tower of London and [Staple Inn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_Inn). On the other hand, there are all the beautiful churches in the City designed by Sir Christopher Wren, including of course St Paul’s Cathedral, which would not have been built except for the fire. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-fire-of-london/764758/4 "2016-09-02T05:12:33Z")
Samuel Pepys diary is online. I want to read his entries about the fire. [http://www.pepysdiary.com](http://www.pepysdiary.com) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-fire-of-london/764758/5 "2016-09-02T05:15:56Z")
The entries about the fire start here. [http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1666/09/](http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1666/09/) Fascinating, riveting reading. I may not get to sleep tonight. 😉