The Great Plague and the Great Fire of London

In two successive years of the 17th century London suffered two terrible disasters.

In the spring and summer of 1665 an outbreak of Bubonic Plague spread from parish to parish until thousands had died and the huge pits dug to receive the bodies were full. Bubonic Plague was known as the Black Death and had been known in England for centuries. It was a ghastly disease. The victim’s skin turned black in patches and inflamed glands or ‘buboes’ in the groin, combined with compulsive vomiting, swollen tongue and splitting headaches made it a horrible killer.

City records indicate that some 68, 596 people died during the epidemic, though the actual number of deaths is suspected to have exceeded 100, 000 out of a total population estimated at 460, 000. King Charles II and his court fled from London in the early summer and did not return until the following February; Parliament kept a short session at Oxford. The disappearance of plague from London has been attributed to quarantine and to the Great Fire of London in September 1666.

The Great Fire of Londоn destroyed much of the centre of London, but also helped to kill off some of the black rats and fleas that carried the plague bacillus. A fire started on September 2nd in the King’s bakery in Pudding Lane near London Bridge.

The fire soon took hold: 300 houses quickly collapsed and the strong east wind spread the flames further, jumping from house to house. The fire swept through the warren of streets lined with houses, the upper stories of which almost touched across the narrow winding lanes. Virtually all the civic buildings had been destroyed as well as 13, 000 private dwellings, but amazingly only six people had died. Only one fifth of London was left standing!

Although the Great Fire was a catastrophe, it did cleanse the city. The overcrowded and disease ridden streets were destroyed and a new London emerged. A monument was erected in Pudding Lane on the spot where the fire began and can be seen today, where it is a reminder of those terrible days in September 1666.

Sir Christopher Wren was given the task of re-building London, and his masterpiece St. Paul’s Cathedral was started in 1675 and completed in 1711.