The Great Fire

Press, 2 March 1982, Page 16

The Great Fire

In many ways the history of bread has been connected with our own history. The Great Fire of London is thought to have been started accidentally by the King’s Baker. He opened the door of his oven to get a light for his pipe and sparked off the fire, from his bakery in Pudding Lane. A great deal of the city of London was burnt by the huge fire in 1666. It lasted

for almost four days and whole districts were burnt to the ground. More than 13,000 buildings were destroyed and many people were left homeless. The only way to stop the fire was to blow up buildings in its path, leaving nothing to burn. Some good came from the fire. A plague or disease had spread through the city the year before, killing many people. The fire destroyed

the area from which the plague had started, and got rid of the disease. Sir Christopher Wren then rebuilt much of London and designed some of the beautiful buildings that are among the city’s main attractions today. He designed St Paul’s Cathedral, to replace the cathedral that had been burnt down, and several other London churches.