The Great London Fire - Episode 2

Good morning, we are going to continue our series on the Great London Fire and the run time for the second episode is 44:32.  The fire had begun in the Pudding Lane Area.  It had swept through the poorer areas and was heading up towards the posher areas of London.

Chaos and panic swept through the capital.  It is day two of the fire.  The fire continues its destructive path.  It moves towards Gracechurch Street and it wipes out the street in a matter of hours.  It is making its way to the Financial District on Lombard Street and the Royal Exchange.  If it reaches this area, then it will ruin the English economy. 

People are panicking and the city is in chaos.  There are bottlenecks for people trying to escape through the gates of London.  Everyone, rich and poor is under threat of fire.  Nobody will be allowed into London.  The banker, Robert Viner, is now coming face to face with the fire.  He was friends with the King and now his home was in danger.  Viner had his family, important documents, cash, and jewelry sent to Windsor Castle twenty miles away.  Viner would lose his house and his neighborhood.  However, the Great Fire was not done with him yet.  Rich people had the cash to pay people to get their goods out of harm’s way.  The poor had no option but to gather what they could.

The Great Fire continued to spread north and it finally reached the Royal Exchange.  3,000 merchants had their livelihoods destroyed in a matter of moments.  The royal exchange was where the East India Trading Company stored its goods.  It is here, that Dan catches up with Ronald Hutton to learn about the impact of this loss would be on the economy.  Hutton compares the loss of the exchange to the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, and merchant banks going up in smoke.  It would have been the place where people came to make money and move goods.  The poor would have lost their jobs while the rich would have lost money when this went up into flames.

The fire continues to spread and Samuel Pepys writes about the front lines.  On the third day, the fire continues to spread and it will only take one man to stop it: the King.  Half of the city’s buildings have been destroyed.  Day three was the most destructive and had made its way to Cheapside, the most fashionable part of town.  Bookseller, Joshua is packing his books to get them to safety.  Buildings are burning in every direction and the wall of flame is 30 feet high.  Cheapside is fully ablaze.

Citizens were running in every direction, some were fleeing to the city while others were trying to use the river to put out the fire.  Charles II stepped in and took charge.  He sets up a command post.  Charles II and his brothers James threw themselves into the fight, passing along buckets and helping with the fire engines.  This would have won the people over.  When Charles II took the crown, he was a man engaged in scandal after scandal.  He was a man looking for fun.  However, the people wanted stability, someone who would be able to keep a pulse on the nation.  The Great Fire would be the PR opportunity of a lifetime for the King.

The fires continued to move to the north.  Buildings over 300 years old were destroyed.  The flames seemed to leap from building to building.  New fires were breaking out all over London.  Rob Bell walks with an expert on how fires spread.  The key to the London fires was the embers.  Embers would have been carried into the wind, spreading the fire far and wide.  Buildings in the poorer areas of London were not well maintained, and these would have provided fuel for the fire.  What else does our trio of historians learn about the London Fire?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

Oh yes, the documentary got better when Ronald Hutton joined our trio.  He is always good for commentary.  This is another good episode for research purposes and clip purposes for the classroom.