The Great Fire Of London Samuel Pepys – Latest
He wrote in his diary: “ We did cause the fire to be put out between the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. But it was a desperate stop. ”
But God, or perhaps a careless baker, had other plans. The fire began at 1:00 a.m. on September 2, in the king’s bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane. Farriner claimed he had raked his ovens clean and doused the embers. But a stray spark found a pile of faggots (sticks) in an adjacent stable. the great fire of london samuel pepys
This is the story of the Great Fire of London as told through the ink-stained fingers of the man who refused to look away. To understand Pepys’s terror, you must first understand the city he loved. London in 1666 was a medieval labyrinth of over 350,000 souls crammed into a one-square-mile area. The houses were built almost entirely of oak timber, pitch, and tar. They leaned so close together across the narrow alleys that neighbors could shake hands from opposite upper windows. He wrote in his diary: “ We did
Charles II, often dismissed as a pleasure-seeker, proved his mettle. He handed Pepys a simple command: Go back and tell the Lord Mayor to start pulling down houses. No excuses. The fire began at 1:00 a
But for the real Pepys experience, visit —his parish church, where he is buried alongside his wife, Elizabeth. The church survived the fire. Pepys himself paid for a new steeple.
That is the real legacy of Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London: not the ashes, but the witness who refused to turn away. If you walk to the corner of Pudding Lane and Monument Street in modern London, you will find The Monument (a 202-foot Doric column built by Christopher Wren). Look at the inscription on the west side. It blames the fire on “the treachery and malice of the Popish faction” (a lie, later removed).
Fire was a constant, grim companion. The previous year, Pepys had watched a smaller blaze and noted drily in his diary: “ A great fire in the city... but it was quenched. ”