What happened
The fire broke out in Thomas Farriner’s bakery on Pudding Lane in the early hours of 2 September. Driven by strong east winds through tightly packed timber houses, it jumped firebreaks for four days until the wind dropped and gunpowder demolitions halted it.
Background
London had just endured the great plague of 1665, and its old City was a maze of timber and thatch long recognized as a fire risk. Verified deaths were few — traditionally put in single figures, though historians suspect the true toll among the poor was higher — but some 70,000 to 80,000 of the City’s inhabitants were left homeless.
Consequences
Rebuilding acts required brick and wider streets; Christopher Wren rebuilt St Paul’s and dozens of parish churches, and the Monument commemorates the fire. A false rumor blaming Catholic arson long persisted — a Frenchman, Robert Hubert, was hanged on a confession now regarded as false.