September 6, 1666 - The Great Fire of London

Randi MannDigital Reporter
Published on Sep. 6, 2020, 12:51 PM
Updated on Sep. 6, 2022, 5:06 AM

From Sunday, Sept. 2 to Thursday, Sept. 6, 1666, The Great Fire of London swept through the central parts of the city.

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features stories about people, communities, and events and how weather impacted them.

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On Sunday, Sept. 2, 1666, a four-day fire destroyed the City of London inside the old Roman city wall.

The fire blazed through the city, taking 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches and St Paul's Cathedral with it.

There were only six verified deaths, but some historians challenge this, as the fire destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants.

The Great Fire started at Thomas Farriner's house, a local baker. The man in charge, Lord Mayor of London Sir Thomas Bloodworth, was too indecisive in taking action and the fire spread out of control.

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Learn all about the series of unfortunate events that led to the destruction of The Great Fire on today's "This Day In Weather History”.

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