Historical Investigation - What were the long term consequences of the Great Fire of London in 1666 for the city?

Authors Avatar

What were the long term consequences of the Great Fire of London

in 1666 for the city?

History 20I

Historical Investigation

Word Count: 1734

Lisa Xie

April 2nd, 2012

A. Introduction

The face of London, in the city's long history reaching back almost 2000 of years, went through many drastic changes. It started out as a mere fortification and small port built by the Romans in the first century BC, however quickly grew into an important hub for trade as it was conveniently placed at the Thames within easy reach to major ports such as Richborough.
The rulers of Londinium, as it was called back then, soon discovered how they could use the city’s adventurous position to widen and increase the city’s influence and by the middle of the third century it was made the provincial capital.
London was burned down more than once in its history, the first great fire was recorded in 851 when he Danish invaded England. Most of the city was destroyed, however King Alfred rebuild it in 883 seeing the importance of claiming such adventurous position in times of war.2

Lunduntown, King Alfred's London, had not much in common with Londumium, the city lost a great deal of its military design and was reshaped in an early medival style.

London from that point on was constantly tortured by small to grand scale fires, the fires in 1087 and 1135 being the most notable.

However none of them could rival the destruction the Great Fire of London caused that began to burn 2nd of September 1666 at 10 o'clock in the evening and lasted for four days.

The destruction this disaster brought however marked the birth of the modern day London.

B. Summary of the Evidence

  • Four-fifths of London were destroyed in the inferno of 1666
  • The layout of the city before the Fire was in no way suited to accommodate such a great number of people and gave a claustrophobic feeling to the city3
  • The city centre along with many important landmarks such as St. Paul's Cathedral burned down
  • King Charles II was quick to initiate the reconstruction of London, calling for designs for new London, within 10 days 5 plans arrived, remarkably, although all were created separately from each other they shared the common key feature of wider streets and a clearly arranged street system
  • Though Sir Christopher Wren's plan was not chosen, he incorporated his ideas into the plannings as a member of the council responsible for the redesign
  • The redesign marked the start of the London's 'Age of Elegance' however it was not the King who dictated reconstruction but private investors and businessmen2
  • Due the reconstruction being led by rich citizens the districts were not evenly developed with the consequence of the West End becoming a noble quarter and Seven Dials deteriorating into a slum located in the heart of the city3
  • First modern day real estate market was established
  • Limitations set by the Act for Rebuilding the City of London in 1667 for the new buildings – all houses must be brick or stone4
  • A great number of the 100,000 to 200,000 people that the fire left homeless did not return into the city walls after being forced to move into suburbs
  • This caused the limitations that were set on the growth of suburbs to be lifted and a new suburban trend started
Join now!

C. Analysis

The Great Fire of London destroyed and ironically advanced the City like no other event.

Its appearance had changed several times before and often fire has been the cause, however this time not only a part of London was destroyed. Four-fifths had burned down within only three days, many of its great landmarks lay in ashes like St. Paul's Cathedral and many of the parish's churches. With few exceptions the buildings in 17th century London were constructed with wood and hay, enabling the fire  to cause such a massive devastation.

King Charles II, the current monarch, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay