The Great Fire Of London Samuel Pepys Apr 2026

At 2:00 a.m., he walked from his home on Seething Lane (near today’s Tower Hill) toward London Bridge. He saw the fire “ in the form of a letter U, with a great tower of flame. ” He did not panic. Instead, he went to the Tower of London and ordered the garrison to blow up surrounding houses to create a firebreak. The Lieutenant of the Tower refused. He needed royal permission.

It worked. The fire, starved of fuel, slowed for the first time in four days. the great fire of london samuel pepys

The summer of 1666 had been a cruel one. A drought had turned the River Thames into a sluggish trickle. Wooden buildings were desiccated tinder. Worse, the city had just survived the Great Plague of 1665, which killed 100,000 people. London was exhausted, bankrupt, and terrified. The last thing anyone wanted was another act of God. At 2:00 a

By the time the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bludworth, arrived, the fire had already consumed half a dozen houses. Bludworth took one look and spoke the most infamous words in London’s history: “ Pish! A woman might piss it out. ” Then he went back to bed. Instead, he went to the Tower of London

He wrote in his diary: “ We did cause the fire to be put out between the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. But it was a desperate stop. ”

And if you stand there at 2:00 a.m. on a quiet night, you might imagine a man in a nightshirt, smelling smoke, and deciding—against all reason—to go see for himself.

By Thursday, September 6, the wind shifted. Rain began to fall. The Great Fire was over. The statistics are numbing: 13,200 houses destroyed. 87 churches reduced to skeletons. St. Paul’s Cathedral a hollowed ruin. 70,000 people homeless, camping in the fields of Moorfields and Finsbury. Total damage: over £10 million (roughly £2 billion today).