Oh the depressing and calamitous spectacle! So wrote one eyewitness after the Nice Fireplace of London in 1666, when an opportunity spark from a baker’s oven led to a four-day conflagration which burned down 13,000 houses and left round 100,000 of London’s inhabitants homeless.
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The hearth, which noticed the King and his brother manning the buckets together with diarist Samuel Pepys, and cannon blasting homes all the way down to create firebreaks, modified the face of town ceaselessly. However in the event you go to London in the present day, you’ll be able to nonetheless uncover a number of the Nice Fireplace of London places – so with my daughter studying about it at school, we got here up with a Nice Fireplace of London stroll to go to them.
As a result of if seventeenth century London with its picket homes and slender streets is a world away from in the present day’s metropolis, there’s nonetheless loads of historic corners to find within the metropolis’s streets.
Nice Fireplace of London Stroll: Cease 1
The place else must you begin however Pudding Lane, dwelling to the bakery the place the hearth itself started. Conspiracy theories have abounded through the years however the first spark got here from an oven belonging to Thomas Farynor or Farriner, whose household woke up to thick smoke in the course of the evening.
His maid was the primary casualty of the hearth when she refused to leap from the window – the ultimate dying toll was recorded at six, though it appears possible there have been extra.
At this time Pudding Lane within the Metropolis of London is a reasonably unexciting little avenue however there’s nonetheless a plaque marking the spot the place the hearth started – or a minimum of ‘close to this website’.
This specific one was added in 1986 though there may be an unique signal within the Museum of London assortment.
Whilst you’re right here, maintain a watch out for the concrete blocks marked with the traces of the youngsters’s music London’s Burning – ‘London’s burning, London’s burning. Fetch the engines, fetch the engines. Fireplace hearth! Fireplace hearth! Pour on water, pour on water’.
Bonus marks if there are sufficient of you to sing it as a spherical.
Take a look at my four-page mini information to the Nice Fireplace of London, together with quirky trivia and a few extra sudden websites
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Simply steps away is essentially the most well-known spot commemorating the hearth – recognized merely because the Monument.
On the junction of Monument Road and Fish Road Hill, it was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and completed in 1677. The most recent restorations had been completed in 2009, with new golf leaf on the flaming orb on the high.
Standing 202 toes excessive, it’s 202 toes from the spot the place the hearth began on Pudding Lane – in the event you laid it down, it could attain proper to the bakery.
In addition to studying the plaque on the backside, you may also climb the 311 steps to the gallery on the high to look out throughout town.
There are Latin inscriptions on three sides of the monument – and one phrase was faraway from the north panel in 1830 blaming the Catholics and ‘Popish frenzy’ for the hearth.
Nice Fireplace of London places: Have to know
If you wish to climb the Monument, grownup tickets value £6, and £3 for kids aged 5 to fifteen and you should buy them on the day (take money to be on the protected facet). You can too get joint tickets for the Monument and the Tower Bridge Exhibition, for £12.80 and £6.40, in addition to household tickets.
It’s open each day from 9.30am-1pm and from 2pm-6pm, with final entry half-hour earlier than the tip of every session. It’s closed completely from December 24-26, however do test on the web site earlier than you go to in case it’s pressured to shut due to the climate or another purpose.
Solely 33 persons are allowed inside at any time, with a free certificates for these which make the climb. Evidently, it will get very chilly on the highest!
For extra nice views in London with youngsters, try my different high picks
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Subsequent, head west from the Monument in direction of St Paul’s Cathedral – one of many symbols of the rebuilt London and one of many iconic landmarks of town.
In your method, maintain a watch out for a number of the different remnants of seventeenth century and medieval London, together with the shields on the livery halls.
The unique medieval St Paul’s was in a foul state of restore earlier than the hearth, broken by a lightning strike which hit the nave and used as a secure throughout the English civil struggle.
Earlier than the hearth, no-one might agree whether or not to revive the unique, demolish it utterly or a compromise between the 2… till the hearth took the choice out of everybody’s fingers.
The warmth of the flames was so intense the stone cracked and exploded, even the lead on the roof melted. Some Londoners had taken shelter inside reasoning that stone wouldn’t burn as simply because the picket homes, however the warmth was too intense – to not point out the truth that the cathedral had a picket roof.
At this time it’s onerous to think about London’s skyline with out Christopher Wren’s well-known dome, one of many highest on the earth, and you’ll go to besides on Sundays or when it’s closed for particular providers – click on right here to guide tickets.
Head to the Whispering gallery, the place a whisper on one facet could be heard on the opposite – I bear in mind doing this with my dad and mom as a baby, and it looks as if magic that this needs to be doable.
There are two extra galleries above with fabulous views in the event you’re blissful to climb 528 steps. The Whispering Gallery is 259 steps, in the event you don’t fancy the whole climb.
You can too see tombs of well-known Britons within the crypt, together with Wren himself, Lord Wellington and Lord Nelson plus memorials to Florence Nightingale, Samuel Johnson and poet John Donne, the one one to have survived the hearth.
When you don’t fancy going inside, you’ll be able to stroll across the exterior to admire the dome, have a look at the statues and the churchyard – it’s additionally appeared in a number of movies, from Mary Poppins to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There’s additionally an overview of the unique cathedral so you’ll be able to think about what it’d as soon as have been like.
When you do go in, Harry Potter followers can even see Wren’s Geometric Staircase within the south-west tower which appeared Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Nice Fireplace of London places: Have to know
Tickets to St Paul’s cathedral value £25 for adults, and £10 for kids in the event you guide prematurely, and guests spend round two hours inside on common. Prebooking is really helpful, with open-dated tickets at present out there.
There are household excursions in addition to multimedia guides. When you’re a UK taxpayer, you’ll be able to add reward support to your buy and get free entry for the remainder of the yr.
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Head north in direction of the Museum of London close to Barbican on London Wall – a small a part of the unique Roman wall nonetheless stays close by, and you’ll monitor all of London’s historical past on this free museum, from the earliest settlements to modern-day.
EDIT: The museum is now briefly closed till reopening in its new website at Smithfield in 2026, though the Museum of London Docklands continues to be open
Cease on the household desk close to the doorway and choose up the exercise sheets – there’s one on the plague and Nice Fireplace if you wish to head straight to the gallery devoted to this a part of historical past.
When you’ve bought time, there’s a separate fairly chilling video show in an earlier gallery on the primary look of the Black Loss of life within the 14th century.
However the Nice Fireplace reveals alone are fascinating, with shows and one other video telling the story of the hearth plus unique artefacts.
Search for and also you’ll see a fireplace hook suspended from the ceiling in addition to a fireplace insurance coverage image which might have been displayed exterior homes.
There are additionally photographs of the homes, slender on the backside however wider on the high so neighbours might even shake fingers by means of their home windows with out stretching (and which helped the flames leap from constructing to constructing) in addition to examples of leather-based buckets and helmets to attempt on, and evaluate to extra fashionable equivalents.
There’s additionally the unique plaque which was displayed on Pudding Lane, and which places the blame squarely on the Catholics in a plot to destroy town, to not point out studying in regards to the story of the Frenchman Robert Hubert who was hanged for beginning the hearth, after confessing to it… regardless of not having carried out it.
It’s now accepted he was harmless, and was described as ‘not nicely in thoughts’.
Nice Fireplace of London places: Have to know
Entry to the Museum of London is free – it’s price noting that there’s a separate Museum of London Docklands, with its personal fascinating galleries and non permanent exhibitions so don’t get the 2 blended up.
For extra particulars on visiting London’s free museums with youngsters, try this publish.
The museum will probably be transferring to its new dwelling with extra space in West Smithfield, with reopening deliberate in 2026.
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Head west to Chancery Lane for yet another remnant of medieval London which survived the good hearth – you’ll be able to stroll again all the way down to St Paul’s and take the tube one cease, or catch a bus, if legs are getting drained by this level.
Staple Inn is one in every of solely 4 unique Tudor timber-framed buildings left within the Metropolis of London – you’ll spot the black and white timbered constructing not removed from the tube exit on Excessive Holborn, which dates again to the mid sixteenth century.
The hearth stopped simply earlier than it reached this level. The entrance was then hidden underneath fireproof plaster for hundreds of years earlier than being restored.
Nice Fireplace of London places: Need extra?
For extra unique buildings, there’s additionally 41 Fabric Truthful not removed from the Barbican and Museum of London, the oldest home within the Metropolis of London, constructed a while between 1597 and 1614, which survived because it was protected by the thick priory partitions of St Bartholomew’s close by.
Not distant is St Bartholomew’s Gatehouse which additionally dates from the sixteenth century, though the stone under is even older – one other survivor protected by the priory. You can too discover extra concepts scattered round London right here.
Or head east in direction of the Tower of London to All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church within the Metropolis of London – initially based within the seventh century.
Samuel Pepys climbed its tower to look at how the hearth was spreading, recording his observations in his well-known diary – it survived solely due to the firebreaks created when surrounding buildings had been demolished. Fortunately the hearth didn’t attain the gunpowder saved within the close by Tower both.
Go to Samuel Pepys’ dwelling. A lot of what we all know in regards to the Nice Fireplace comes from Pepys’ well-known diary – Seething Lane is the place he lived and wrote, famously burying a cheese within the again backyard to guard it from the flames. He’s buried at close by St Olave’s Church.
Discover the Golden Boy of Pye Nook. Though this was added after the hearth, it‘s price visiting as you discover. Set on the nook of Giltspur Road and Cock Lane in Smithfield, it marks the spot the place the Nice Fireplace supposedly stopped, fairly neatly working from Pudding to Pye…
When you’re in central London, head over to Goodwin’s Courtroom, one of many previous alleyways simply off St Martin’s Lane, the place you’ll be able to spot a fireplace mark, a small gold and pink crest excessive up on the wall – courting from round 40 years after the Nice Fireplace, it was one in every of a number of displaying your own home was protected in case of fireside, within the days earlier than hearth brigades.
Take a look at this publish for my high 49 free issues to do in London with youngsters, the very best Roman websites in London and extra uncommon issues to do in London with youngsters, in addition to my self-guided strolling tour of London’s landmarks
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Monument picture courtesy Depositphotos, all different photographs copyright MummyTravels