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The Fire of London.
CHAP. XXVIII.
An Account of the dreadful Fire of
London, Ann. 1666.
the Damage done by it; Computed.
The Rebuilding thereof;
With the several Acts of Parliament made for
that Purpose.
The Contents of them.
An Act of Common Council, for preventing and
suppressing Fires.
Insurance of Houses from
Fire.
WE have hitherto been employed in a general
Perambulation of our City; walking as it were about it from Place to Place, to
view and
observe the publick and most remarkable Parts and Buildings of it. In the next
Place
we should take another and a more particular Cognizance of the said City, in
every
Ward, and of every Street, Lane, Church, Hall and more notable House in each.
But
before we come to do that, we shall enter into one Consideration more of London,
representing it not as before we saw it, in its Strength and Glory, but in its
Ruins: and
shew you a rueful Spectacle of this noble Metropolis in Flames, and soon after
lying
flat in its Ashes.]
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London considered in its late Ruins by Fire.
J. S.
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For as in the Year 1665. it pleased God to send a sweeping Plague upon this
City, by
which there dyed in London and the Liberties, in one Year, 68596 Persons,
besides
those that dyed of other Diseases: So the very next Year a sad and lamentable
Fire brake
out on a Sunday Morning, being the Second Day of September: which by Wednesday
Morning, being the Fifth Day, burned down to the Ground all the Buildings and
Edifices which stood upon the Quantity of 300 Acres of Ground.]
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The Extent of the Fire.
R. B.
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But in the Inscriptions on the Monument, set up in remembrance of this Fire, it
is
computed to be 436 Acres lying in Ruines.
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J. S.
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Of the Beginning, Progress, and End of this Fire.
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It was about one or two a Clock in the Morning, this sad and deplorable Fire
happened
first of all at a Baker's House in Pudding-Lane near New Fish-Street. Which,
falling
out in a Part of the City close built with Wooden Houses, and a narrow Lane,
propagated it self so far before Day, and with such Violence, that it bred a
kind of
Distraction and Stupidity in the Inhabitants and Neighbours near it; so that
they took not
that Care which they might otherwise have done, to stop the further Diffusion of
it, by
pulling down Houses, as ought to have been done. Whereby it came to pass, that
in a
short Time it grew too big to be mastered by any Engines or other Labour. And
being
fomented by a violent Easterly Wind, it kept burning in such a raging manner all
Sunday and Sunday Night, that it spread it self by Monday Morning, up
Grass-Church
street to Lombard street, and to St. Swithins Church in Candlewick street, and
downwards from Candlewick street to the Waterside, as far as the Three Cranes in
the
Vintry; and Eastward, tho' more slowly it crept beyond Belinsgate. The Vastness
of
this Fire was such, that it made the amazed and distracted People, mind only to
preserve
their own Goods and Commodities, and to secure their particular Concerns (and
even
that few could do by Reason of the hasty Rage of the Flames) none scarcely
making
any Attempts now to quench it. It continued all Monday and Tuesday with such
Impetuosity, that by Ten of the Clock on Tuesday Night, the Houses and Churches
all
along Cornhill, Cheapside, Pauls Church Yard, Ludgatestreet, Fleetstreet, and so
almost all the Breadth of the City from South to North, to St. Dunstan's Church
on this
side Temple Bar, were utterly consumed. About which Time the Wind slackened,
and
that Night by the Vigilancy, Industry and indefatigable Pains of his Majesty and
his
Royal Highness the Duke of York, calling upon all People, and encouraging them
by
their Personal Assistances, and blowing up of Houses, at length a Stop was put
to the
Fire in Fleetstreet, the Inner Temple and Fetter Lane; at Holbornbridge, Pie
Corner,
Aldersgate, Criplegate, at the lower End of Basinghalstreet, by the Postern, at
the upper
End of Colemanstreet, at the End of Bishopsgatestreet, and Leadenhallstreet, at
the
Standard in Cornhill, at the Church in Fanchurchstreet, in Mincing Lane near
Clothworkers Hall, about the middle of Marklane, and at the Tower Dock. But on
Wednesday Night it suddenly brake out afresh in the Inner Temple. Which
happened,
as is supposed, by Flakes of Fire falling into the Gutters of the Buildings.
But his
Royal Highness in Person fortunately watching there that Night, and by his
seasonable
Commands for the blowing up some of the said Buildings, it was extinguished
before
Day, after it had laid level with the Ground Tanfield Court, Parsons Court, and
the
Buildings in the Churchyard, and done some little damage in the Church and Hall.
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Out of a true exact Relation, print. 1666.
J. S.
How and whither it spread.
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Upon New Fishstreethill Eastward, near the Place where the Fire began, is
erected a
most noble and lofty Triumphal Column, (commonly called the Monument) resting
upon a Square Basis of Stone, having large Inscriptions engraven on it of the
Story of
the Fire. Wherein among other Things is mentioned, that the City was set on
Fire by
Popish Treachery. Which Words were afterwards by publick Order erazed. But
upon
the Revolution they were engraven again: and so they stand.]
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The Monument erected in Memory of the Fire.
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The Damage done by this Fire is thus computed. Burned and consumed Twelve
Thousand Houses, within the Walls of the City, and above one Thousand more
without
the Walls, but all of them within the Freedom and Liberty of London; that is, in
all
13000, or as others 13200 Houses. There were also destroyed the Cathedral
Church of
St. Pauls, which at that Time was new building, and as to the Stone Work, almost
finished: Also eighty seven Parish Churches, and Six consecrated Chapels; most
of the
principal and publick Edifices: As the great Guild Hall, wherein were nine
several
Courts belonging to the City; the Royal Exchange; the Kings Custom House;
Justice
Hall, where the Sessions were kept Eight or Nine Times in the Year for the Trial
of
Murderers, Felons and other Malefactors; the Four Prisons; Four of the principal
Gates
of the City; and Fifty Halls of Companies: most of which were most magnificent
Structures and Palaces. The whole Damage sustained by this Fire is almost
incredible.
Yet to make some Computation, that which follows is the Method that hath been
taken.
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The Damage done by the Fire.
R. B.
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