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Detail of the Great Fire of London by an unknown painter, depicting the fire as it would have appeared on the evening of Tuesday, 4 September from a boat in the vicinity of Tower Wharf. The Tower of London is on the right and London Bridge on the left, with St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance, surrounded by the tallest flames.

 In the middle of the 17^th century London was the largest city in England with a population of 500,000 people. At this time most London streets were narrow and dirty, with closely packed wooden houses and shops. Sometimes there were fires in the city, but they were usually very small. Then came 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London. The heart of England's capital, the City of London was destroyed by fire.

 The great fire of London began as a small fire on Pudding Lane, the house and shop of Thomas Farynor, baker to King Charles II., near London Bridge. Farynor forgot to put water on his fire before going to bed. He woke at 1a.m. on the 3rd September to find his house on fire. Farynor and his family escaped through the roof. His maid was too frightened to climb along the roof and she became the first victim of the fire.

Central London in 1666, with the burnt area shown in pink.

 The strong wind from the river that blew that night sent sparks that ignited the Church of St. Margaret and the neighbouring houses. The citizen firefighting brigades had little success in containing the fire with their buckets of water from the river. By 8 o'clock in the morning, the fire had spread halfway across London Bridge. The only thing that stopped the fire from spreading on the other side of the river, was the gap that had been caused by the fire of 1633.

 The standard procedure to stop a fire from spreading had always been to destroy the houses on the way of the flames, creating “fire-breaks”, to deprive a fire from fuel. But Lord Mayor Bludworth was hesitant, worrying about the cost of rebuilding. By the time a Royal command came down, the fire was too out of control to stop.

 The fire blazed uncontrollably for another 3 days, until it died out near Temple Church. Then, it suddenly sprang to life again, continuing towards Westminster. The Duke of York had the presence of mind to order the Paper House demolished to create a fire break, and the fire finally died down.

 After 5 days of the fire 80% of London was destroyed, including 13,000 houses, 89 churches, and 52 Guild Halls. More than 250.000 people found themselves homeless and financially ruined. But the fire did great good, it burnt old wooden houses and dirty, narrow streets where the plague ruled a year ago. Wide streets and brick houses appeared in London after the Great Fire.

Surprisingly, the Great London Fire has no reported death toll. It destroyed more than 13,000 structures.

On Charles' initiative, a Monument to the Great Fire of London, designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, was erected near Pudding Lane. Standing 61 metres tall and known simply as "The Monument", it is a familiar London landmark which has given its name to a tube station. In 1668 accusations against the Catholics were added to the inscription on the Monument which read, in part:

«Here by permission of heaven, hell broke loose upon this Protestant city.....the most dreadful Burning of this City; begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction...Popish frenzy which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched...»

  The Monument to the Great Fire of London to commemorate the Great Fire of London, designed by Sir Christopher Wren

Words and word combinations:

 

     lore – знания, учения

     ravage - опустошать

      rife - распространенный

narrow - узкий

dirty - грязный

to destroy - разрушать

king's baker -  королевский пекарь

baker's wife  - жена пекаря

  to escape – убегать

  a maid servant  - служанка

to be frightened  - испугаться

to clamber over the roof – выбираться через крышу

  victim of the fire – жертва пожара

gap – брешь, проход,

  the Duke of York – герцог Йорка

accusation - обвинение

to commemorate – служить напоминание

to do great good – принести большую пользу

plague - чума

 

Assignment