Generations of schoolchildren have learned that the Great Fire of London sparked into life at Thomas Farriner’s bakery. But the precise origin of the blaze has now been traced to a spot that does not sit within the infamous Pudding Lane, but is in fact located on a nearby street.
The discovery – based on a planning document from 1679 found within the bowels of the London Metropolitan Archives and published in Country Life magazine – comes nearly 350 years after the fire devastated London between 2 and 5 September 1666, sweeping through 436 acres of the city and destroying 13,200 houses, 87 churches and the old St Paul's Cathedral. Miraculously, only around six people are thought to have been killed, though the exact number is unknown.
Academic unearths the exact location of the start of the Great Fire of London
17th century documents found by Dorian Gerhold show that the blaze originated in what is now Monument Street - not Pudding Lane
The Great Fire of London is known to have begun in the early hours of September 2, 1666 at the bakery of Thomas Farriner Photo: Alamy
By Patrick Foster
10 Feb 2016
The Telegraph
Generations of schoolchildren have learned that the Great Fire of London sparked into life at Thomas Farriner’s bakery. But the precise origin of the blaze has now been traced to a spot that does not sit within the infamous Pudding Lane, but is in fact located on a nearby street.
The precise location of the king's baker Thomas Farriner's oven was in the foreground of this picture taken on Monument St with the Monument clearly seen in the background
The discovery – based on a planning document from 1679 found within the bowels of the London Metropolitan Archives and published in Country Life magazine – comes nearly 350 years after the fire devastated London between 2 and 5 September 1666, sweeping through 436 acres of the city and destroying 13,200 houses, 87 churches and the old St Paul's Cathedral. Miraculously, only around six people are thought to have been killed, though the exact number is unknown.
In 1666 the Great Fire of London laid the city to waste, with many people escaping to safety over the Thames. Fears that the flames might cross the river and set fire to the south side of the city luckily proved unfounded (Above) Flames take hold of the buildings on London Bridge Photo: Getty Images
The blaze is known to have begun in the early hours of September 2 1666 in Farriner’s property, where it is thought that the baker had left fuel close to his oven – to dry out for the next day’s baking. Farriner and his family escaped through an upstairs window, although the family’s maid was not so lucky, and became one of only a handful of Londoners to die in the fire.
While Pudding Lane survives to this day, the true location of Farriner’s property has been lost in the mists of time. A commemorative stone placed on the site in 1680, which blamed Catholics for the fire, was removed in about 1750, because crowds of sightseers blocked the narrow passageway.
The Monument, the Doric column erected to remember the fire, bears an inscription that states only that the blaze began 202 feet away - the same distance as the height of the memorial itself.
The inscription on the Doric column (Julian Simmonds/The Telegraph)
Now the site has been rediscovered, after Dorian Gerhold, an academic who is researching buildings erected in the capital before 1720, unearthed a 1679 survey of the site of Farriner’s bakery.
At a spot towards the rear of the property, a note reads: “Mr Fariners grounde there the Fyer began.”
The Monument, the Doric column designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke and erected in 1677 to remember the fire, bears an inscription that states only that the blaze began 202 feet away - the same distance as the height of the memorial itself Photo: Glyn Thomas Photography / Alamy
Viewing platform at the top of the 202ft Monument to the Great Fire of London
Mr Gerhold was able to cross reference the plot with later maps of the area – including the 1886 plans for the creation of Monument Street – a road that leads to the famous column.
Those plans, combined with measuring 202 feet from the Monument itself, show that the oven was located on what is now the cobbled surface of Monument Street, 60 feet east of Pudding Lane.
This map shows the location of Pudding Lane, the Monument tower and the spot in Monument Street identified as the location where the fire began. This location would have been part of Pudding Lane at the time of the fire, but its boundaries were moved when Monument Street was constructed in the late 19th century
Mr Gerhold said that at first he did not realise the significance of his discovery.
He said: “I assumed it was known. It was only later when I tried to check it that I realised that no one else knew.
"The site had been left empty, because there was an assumption that – like with the Twin Towers in New York – they shouldn’t build on it. Someone applied to use the land as storage, so people were sent to do a report, and that is what I found.”
Stephen Porter, an expert on the blaze and the author of The Great Fire of London, said that Mr Gerhold’s report, which will be published in the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Transactions journal later this year, was a “deft piece of research”.
He added: “This is sound evidence and Dorian’s methodical account is also reliable. From this we know the location of the plot and the shape of Farriner’s property, which is good, and we now know with a reasonable degree of certainty where the fire started.
"This is a deft piece of research which identifies for us the location and layout of where the Great Fire began and helps us to understand the origins of the fire and how the disaster could have begun.”
Read the full article in the latest issue of Country Life magazine, on sale now.
Great Fire of London did not originate in Pudding Lane, academic reveals - Telegraph
The discovery – based on a planning document from 1679 found within the bowels of the London Metropolitan Archives and published in Country Life magazine – comes nearly 350 years after the fire devastated London between 2 and 5 September 1666, sweeping through 436 acres of the city and destroying 13,200 houses, 87 churches and the old St Paul's Cathedral. Miraculously, only around six people are thought to have been killed, though the exact number is unknown.
Academic unearths the exact location of the start of the Great Fire of London
17th century documents found by Dorian Gerhold show that the blaze originated in what is now Monument Street - not Pudding Lane
The Great Fire of London is known to have begun in the early hours of September 2, 1666 at the bakery of Thomas Farriner Photo: Alamy
By Patrick Foster
10 Feb 2016
The Telegraph
Generations of schoolchildren have learned that the Great Fire of London sparked into life at Thomas Farriner’s bakery. But the precise origin of the blaze has now been traced to a spot that does not sit within the infamous Pudding Lane, but is in fact located on a nearby street.
The precise location of the king's baker Thomas Farriner's oven was in the foreground of this picture taken on Monument St with the Monument clearly seen in the background
The discovery – based on a planning document from 1679 found within the bowels of the London Metropolitan Archives and published in Country Life magazine – comes nearly 350 years after the fire devastated London between 2 and 5 September 1666, sweeping through 436 acres of the city and destroying 13,200 houses, 87 churches and the old St Paul's Cathedral. Miraculously, only around six people are thought to have been killed, though the exact number is unknown.
In 1666 the Great Fire of London laid the city to waste, with many people escaping to safety over the Thames. Fears that the flames might cross the river and set fire to the south side of the city luckily proved unfounded (Above) Flames take hold of the buildings on London Bridge Photo: Getty Images
The blaze is known to have begun in the early hours of September 2 1666 in Farriner’s property, where it is thought that the baker had left fuel close to his oven – to dry out for the next day’s baking. Farriner and his family escaped through an upstairs window, although the family’s maid was not so lucky, and became one of only a handful of Londoners to die in the fire.
While Pudding Lane survives to this day, the true location of Farriner’s property has been lost in the mists of time. A commemorative stone placed on the site in 1680, which blamed Catholics for the fire, was removed in about 1750, because crowds of sightseers blocked the narrow passageway.
The Monument, the Doric column erected to remember the fire, bears an inscription that states only that the blaze began 202 feet away - the same distance as the height of the memorial itself.
The inscription on the Doric column (Julian Simmonds/The Telegraph)
Now the site has been rediscovered, after Dorian Gerhold, an academic who is researching buildings erected in the capital before 1720, unearthed a 1679 survey of the site of Farriner’s bakery.
At a spot towards the rear of the property, a note reads: “Mr Fariners grounde there the Fyer began.”
The Monument, the Doric column designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke and erected in 1677 to remember the fire, bears an inscription that states only that the blaze began 202 feet away - the same distance as the height of the memorial itself Photo: Glyn Thomas Photography / Alamy
Viewing platform at the top of the 202ft Monument to the Great Fire of London
Mr Gerhold was able to cross reference the plot with later maps of the area – including the 1886 plans for the creation of Monument Street – a road that leads to the famous column.
Those plans, combined with measuring 202 feet from the Monument itself, show that the oven was located on what is now the cobbled surface of Monument Street, 60 feet east of Pudding Lane.
This map shows the location of Pudding Lane, the Monument tower and the spot in Monument Street identified as the location where the fire began. This location would have been part of Pudding Lane at the time of the fire, but its boundaries were moved when Monument Street was constructed in the late 19th century
Mr Gerhold said that at first he did not realise the significance of his discovery.
He said: “I assumed it was known. It was only later when I tried to check it that I realised that no one else knew.
"The site had been left empty, because there was an assumption that – like with the Twin Towers in New York – they shouldn’t build on it. Someone applied to use the land as storage, so people were sent to do a report, and that is what I found.”
Stephen Porter, an expert on the blaze and the author of The Great Fire of London, said that Mr Gerhold’s report, which will be published in the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Transactions journal later this year, was a “deft piece of research”.
He added: “This is sound evidence and Dorian’s methodical account is also reliable. From this we know the location of the plot and the shape of Farriner’s property, which is good, and we now know with a reasonable degree of certainty where the fire started.
"This is a deft piece of research which identifies for us the location and layout of where the Great Fire began and helps us to understand the origins of the fire and how the disaster could have begun.”
Read the full article in the latest issue of Country Life magazine, on sale now.
Great Fire of London did not originate in Pudding Lane, academic reveals - Telegraph
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