D2.His.14.6-8: Explaining the Many Causes and Effects of the Great Fire of London, 1666

Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Last winter (an invented example), a school's spring concert was canceled. The principal said: a snowstorm closed the roads; the heating in the auditorium had been broken for a month; and many of the singers were sick with the flu. Which one was THE cause?"

   Let students argue for a minute, then point out that each reason alone might not have canceled the concert, but together they did. Write the two key words: a cause helps make something happen; an effect is what happens as a result. Ask for one effect of the cancellation (for example, families made other plans). Tell students that historians almost always find several causes and several effects for one event.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Introduce the Cause-and-Effect Web. Explain the new words in the table: a condition is something that was already true before the event, like the way a city was built; the spark (or trigger) is what starts the event on the day; a short-term effect comes soon after, and a long-term effect lasts for years. A chain is when an effect becomes the cause of something new.

   The Cause-and-Effect Web (an SVHS teaching tool): kinds of causes and kinds of effects

   Part of the web	What it means	Question to ask
   Conditions	Long-lasting situations that made the event possible, such as how a city was built	What was already true before the event began?
   Weather and nature	Natural forces at the time, such as wind, rain or drought (a long time without rain)	What was nature doing?
   The spark	The single event that set it off (historians also call it the trigger)	What happened first, on the day?
   Human choices	What people did or did not do once it started	Who decided what, and what if they had chosen differently?
   Timing and luck	When it happened and what went wrong by chance	Why did it happen then, and not another time?
   Short-term effects	Results that came within days or months	What happened right away?
   Long-term effects	Results that lasted years or changed how people lived	What was different years later?

   Read Source 3 aloud. It comes from a history of London written by Walter Besant in 1903, more than two hundred years after the fire. Explain these words first: pitched means coated with pitch, a sticky tar that burns easily; stories are the floors of a building; combustible means able to catch fire and burn; warehouses are buildings for storing goods; rosin is a sticky substance from pine trees; hemp and flax are plant fibers, and cordage is rope; brimstone is sulfur; water machines were pumps that sent water from the river into the city's pipes.

   1It began in the dead of night—Sunday morning, 3 A.M., September 2, 1666—at the shop of one Farryner, a baker, in Pudding Lane, one of those narrow lanes which run to north and south of Thames Street. All the houses in that lane were of wood, pitched throughout, and as the stories jutted out, the houses almost met at the top. [...] Close to the house was an inn called the “Star,” the courtyard of which was full of hay and straw. In a very short time Pudding Lane itself was completely destroyed; it would seem as if the people were distracted and attempted little or nothing except their own escape. When day broke the fire had caught Thames Street, which was full of warehouses containing everything combustible, as butter, cheese, brandy, wine, oil, sugar, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, rosin, brimstone, cordage, hops, wood, and coal. The only means of combating a fire fed by such materials was to blow up the houses, and this the people vehemently opposed at first. As for the supply of water, there was none at all adequate to the situation, and the water machines of London Bridge were quickly destroyed with the houses on the Bridge. [...]

   Then read Source 1, from the diary of John Evelyn, a gentleman who knew King Charles II and watched the fire. A diary is a daily record a person keeps. Explain: conflagration means a huge fire; to quench is to put out; consternation is shock and alarm; scaffolds are wooden or metal frames put up around a building for repairs.

   12d September, 1666. This fatal night, about ten, began the deplorable fire, near Fish street, in London.

   23d September, 1666. I had public prayers at home. The fire continuing, after dinner, I took coach with my wife and son, and went to the Bankside in Southwark, where we beheld that dismal spectacle, the whole city in dreadful flames near the waterside; all the houses from the Bridge, all Thames street, and upward toward Cheapside, down to the Three Cranes, were now consumed; and so returned, exceedingly astonished what would become of the rest.

   3The fire having continued all this night (if I may call that night which was light as day for ten miles round about, after a dreadful manner), when conspiring with a fierce eastern wind in a very dry season, I went on foot to the same place; and saw the whole south part of the city burning from Cheapside to the Thames, and all along Cornhill (for it likewise kindled back against the wind as well as forward), Tower street, Fenchurch street, Gracious street, and so along to Baynard's Castle, and was now taking hold of St. Paul's church, to which the scaffolds contributed exceedingly. The conflagration was so universal, and the people so astonished, that, from the beginning, I know not by what despondency, or fate, they hardly stirred to quench it; so that there was nothing heard, or seen, but crying out and lamentation, running about like distracted creatures, without at all attempting to save even their goods; such a strange consternation there was upon them, so as it burned both in breadth and length, the churches, public halls, Exchange, hospitals, monuments, and ornaments; leaping after a prodigious manner, from house to house, and street to street, at great distances one from the other. For the heat, with a long set of fair and warm weather, had even ignited the air, and prepared the materials to conceive the fire, which devoured, after an incredible manner, houses, furniture, and every thing. [...]

   • Conditions: why the spark did not stay small

     Source 3 says the fire began "at the shop of one Farryner, a baker, in Pudding Lane." Why did a fire in one shop not stay small? Find the conditions.

     Result: The spark was the fire in the baker's shop. The conditions were already there: "All the houses in that lane were of wood, pitched throughout," and the upper floors jutted out so that "the houses almost met at the top," which let flames cross the lane. Next door, an inn's courtyard was "full of hay and straw." Each condition alone did not start a fire, but together they turned one small fire into a big one.

   • Weather: what nature was doing

     In Source 1, paragraph 3, what does Evelyn say about the weather while the fire spread?

     Result: Two weather causes: the fire was "conspiring with a fierce eastern wind in a very dry season," and "a long set of fair and warm weather" had dried everything out. The wind pushed the flames; the dry weeks had "prepared the materials to conceive the fire." He also notes one condition at St. Paul's Church: the scaffolds around it "contributed exceedingly."

   • Human choices: what people did

     Source 3 says one way to stop the fire was "to blow up the houses" in its path, making a gap with nothing left to burn. What did people do?

     Result: "This the people vehemently opposed at first." That is a human choice, and it acted as a cause: because people would not lose their houses on purpose, the fire kept finding houses to burn. A choice like this is often the easiest kind of cause to imagine going differently.

   • A chain: an effect that became a cause

     Source 3 ends: "the water machines of London Bridge were quickly destroyed with the houses on the Bridge." Is this a cause or an effect?

     Result: Both. It was an effect of the fire, which burned the bridge houses. It then became a cause: with the pumps gone, "there was none at all adequate" water to fight the fire. Fire, then no pumps, then a bigger fire: that is a cause-and-effect chain.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Source 4, a list of ten causes written by an earlier London historian named Strype and quoted by Besant. Explain first: the long vacation was the summer break of the law courts; chapmen were traders; engines were hand-pumped fire pumps; wares are goods for sale; timber is wood used for building; negligence means carelessness. Pairs write each of the ten causes into one box of the Cause-and-Effect Web, then share.

   1“First, They consider the time of the night when it first began, viz. between one and two of the clock after midnight, when all were in a dead sleep.

   2Secondly, it was Saturday night when many of the most eminent citizens, merchants, and others were retired into the country and none but servants left to look to their City Houses.

   3Thirdly, it was in the long vacation, being that particular time of the year when many wealthy citizens and tradesmen are wont to be in the country at Fairs, and getting in of Debts, and making up accounts with their Chapmen.

   4Fourthly, the closeness of the Building, and narrowness of the street in the places where it began, did much facilitate the progress of the Fire by hindering of the Engines to be brought to play upon the Houses on Fire.

   5Fifthly, the matter of which the Houses, all thereabouts were, viz. Timber, and those very old.

   6Sixthly, the dryness of the preceding season: there having been a great drought even to that very day and all the time that the fire continued, which has so dried the Timber, that it was never more pat to take Fire.

   7Seventhly, the Nature of the Wares and Commodities, stowed and vended in those Parts, were the most combustible of any other sold in the whole City: as Oil, Pitch, Tar, Cordage, Hemp, Flax, Rosin, Wax, Butter, Cheese, Wine, Brandy, sugar, etc.

   8Eighthly, an easterly wind, which is the driest of all others, had blown for several days together before, and at that time very strongly.

   9Ninthly, the unexpected failing of the water thereabouts at that time: for the engine at the North end of London Bridge, called the Thames Water Tower, was out of Order, and in a few hours was itself burnt down, so that the water pipes which conveyed the water from thence through the streets were soon empty.

   10Lastly, an unusual negligence at first, and a confidence of easily quenching it, and of its stopping at several probable places afterwards, turning at length into a confusion, consternation, and despair: people choosing rather by flight to save their goods, than by a vigorous opposition to save their own houses and the whole City.”

   Key for the teacher. Timing and luck: paragraphs 1 (the middle of the night), 2 (Saturday night, with many leading citizens out of town), 3 (the long vacation, when many were away at fairs) and 9 (the water engine at London Bridge was out of order). Conditions: paragraphs 4 (buildings close together and narrow streets), 5 (old timber houses) and 7 (the goods sold in that area burned easily). Weather: paragraphs 6 (the drought) and 8 (the dry east wind). Human choices: paragraph 10 ("an unusual negligence at first, and a confidence of easily quenching it"). Accept other boxes when pairs give a reason: for example, paragraph 9 can count as a condition, because the engine was already broken before the fire began.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Source 6, Evelyn's diary for September 7 and 13, on their own and answer in writing:

   1. Find two effects of the fire in paragraph 1. Label each short-term or long-term and quote the words.
   2. Paragraph 2 describes a panic. What does Evelyn say caused it, and what did it cause? Write it as a chain: cause, then effect, then effect.
   3. Paragraph 3 describes Evelyn's plan for a new city. Explain how the fire caused him to make it.

   Explain first: a proclamation is an official public order from a ruler; provisions are food and supplies; hostility here means war; Islington and Highgate were villages just north of London.

   1I then went towards Islington and Highgate, where one might have seen 200,000 people of all ranks and degrees dispersed, and lying along by their heaps of what they could save from the fire, deploring their loss; and, though ready to perish for hunger and destitution, yet not asking one penny for relief, which to me appeared a stranger sight than any I had yet beheld. His Majesty and Council indeed took all imaginable care for their relief, by proclamation for the country to come in, and refresh them with provisions.

   2In the midst of all this calamity and confusion, there was, I know not how, an alarm begun that the French and Dutch, with whom we were now in hostility, were not only landed, but even entering the city. There was, in truth, some days before, great suspicion of those two nations joining; and now that they had been the occasion of firing the town. This report did so terrify, that on a sudden there was such an uproar and tumult that they ran from their goods, and, taking what weapons they could come at, they could not be stopped from falling on some of those nations whom they casually met, without sense or reason. The clamor and peril grew so excessive, that it made the whole Court amazed, and they did with infinite pains and great difficulty, reduce and appease the people, sending troops of soldiers and guards, to cause them to retire into the fields again, where they were watched all this night. I left them pretty quiet, and came home sufficiently weary and broken. Their spirits thus a little calmed, and the affright abated, they now began to repair into the suburbs about the city, where such as had friends, or opportunity, got shelter for the present to which his Majesty's proclamation also invited them.

   [...]

   313th September, 1666. I presented his Majesty with a survey of the ruins, and a plot for a new city, with a discourse on it; whereupon, after dinner, his Majesty sent for me into the Queen's bed-chamber, her Majesty and the Duke only being present. They examined each particular, and discoursed on them for near an hour, seeming to be extremely pleased with what I had so early thought on. [...]

   What to look for. Strong answers quote the words with a paragraph number, label effects by how long they lasted, and write chains with at least three links in the right order. In question 2, students should report Evelyn's account as he gives it, including that the attacks on French and Dutch people happened "without sense or reason" and that soldiers were sent to calm the crowds.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Read Source 2 together: Evelyn's diary for September 5, when the fire was finally stopped. Explain: aldermen were city leaders; tenacious means stubborn; avaricious means greedy; wharfs are places where ships unload; magazines here means storehouses; Evelyn's invective was an angry pamphlet he had written; Whitehall was the King's palace; St. George's Fields and Moorfields were open fields outside the City. For Source 5: Justices of the Peace were local judges; victuals are food; a quay is a stone landing place along a river; gables are the pointed tops of house walls, and a façade is the front of a building. For Source 7: mercers sold fine cloth, and silkmen and lacemen sold silk and lace. Then read Source 5, from Besant, on the homeless and the rebuilding. Students will use both in the quiz; Source 7 is for homework.

   15th September, 1666. It crossed toward Whitehall; but oh! the confusion there was then at that Court! It pleased his Majesty to command me, among the rest, to look after the quenching of Fetter-lane end, to preserve (if possible) that part of Holborn, while the rest of the gentlemen took their several posts, some at one part, and some at another (for now they began to bestir themselves, and not till now, who hitherto had stood as men intoxicated, with their hands across), and began to consider that nothing was likely to put a stop but the blowing up of so many houses as might make a wider gap than any had yet been made by the ordinary method of pulling them down with engines. This some stout seamen proposed early enough to have saved near the whole city, but this some tenacious and avaricious men, aldermen, etc., would not permit, because their houses must have been of the first. It was, therefore, now commended to be practiced; [...]

   2The coal and wood wharfs, and magazines of oil, rosin, etc., did infinite mischief, so as the invective which a little before I had dedicated to his Majesty and published, giving warning what probably might be the issue of suffering those shops to be in the city was looked upon as a prophecy.

   3The poor inhabitants were dispersed about St. George's Fields, and Moorfields, as far as Highgate, and several miles in circle, some under tents, some under miserable huts and hovels, many without a rag, or any necessary utensils, bed or board, who from delicateness, riches, and easy accommodations in stately and well-furnished houses, were now reduced to extreme misery and poverty.

   1It is generally stated that the houseless people took refuge in Moorfields. This is only partly true. There were 13,200 houses destroyed and 200,000 people turned out into the streets. One remarks that if these figures are correct the crowding in the City must have been very great. For these figures give fifteen persons to every house, great and small, one with another. [...]

   2“Pitiful huts,” Maitland says, “were erected for their accommodation, and for their immediate needs the King sent a great quantity of bread from the Navy Stores to be distributed, and neighbouring Justices of the Peace were enjoined to send in all manner of victuals.

   [...]

   3The King issued a Proclamation on the rebuilding of the City. No houses of wood were to be put up; cellars, if possible, were to be strongly arched; the principal streets were to be made broader and no narrow lanes to remain; the river was to have a fair quay or wharf running all along, with no houses except at a certain distance; trades carried on by means of fire and causing smoke to be placed in certain quarters where they would be neither dangerous nor noisome; a survey of the whole area covered by the Fire was to be made. There were also Acts passed by the Court of Common Council for the enlargement and the pitching and levelling of the streets. [...]

   [...]

   4Meantime the rebuilding went on rapidly; in a few cases a street was widened; but the narrow lanes running north and south of Thames Street show that little regard was paid to the regulations. No wooden houses were built, and the old plan of high gables and projecting windows was exchanged for a flat façade and square coping. The churches were rebuilt, for the most part slowly. Some were not rebuilt at all. The last was finished thirty years after the Fire. [...]

   1[...] But when the fire ceased, and before the embers were cooled, the people began to creep back and the rebuilding of the City began. [...] They began to rebuild their City. Within four years, ten thousand houses, twenty churches, and a great many companies’ halls had been put up again. It took thirty years to complete the building of the fifty-one churches which were put up in place of the eighty-seven destroyed.

   2One effect of the Fire was to drive out of the City many of the shopkeepers. Thus Maitland says that before the Fire, Paternoster Row was chiefly occupied by mercers, silkmen, lacemen; “and these shops were so much resorted unto by the nobility and gentry in their carriages that ofttimes the street was so stopped up, that there was no room for foot-passengers.” After the Fire, however, the tradesmen settled themselves in other parts; one supposes that they opened temporary shops, and, finding them convenient, they stayed where they were. They went to Henrietta Street, Bedford Street, and King Street, Covent Garden. Ludgate Hill, however, remained for a long time the principal street for the best shops of mercers and lacemen.

   [...]

   3One thing is certain: for the working man there was no lack of employment; thousands were wanted to clear away the rubbish, to get the streets in order, to take down shaky walls, to make bricks, to dig out foundations, to do carpenter’s work and all those things required for the creation of a new London. And as for the artificers, they were wanted to restore the stocks of the traders as quickly as might be. Labour was never in such request before in all the history of London.

   [...]

   4Twenty-five years later they were congratulating themselves on the changed and improved condition of the City. The writer of Anglia Metropolis, or the Present State of London, says:—

   5“As if the Fire had only purged the City, the buildings are infinitely more beautiful, more commodious, more solid (the three main virtues of all edifices) than before. They have made their streets much more large and straight, paved on each side with smooth free stone, and guarded the same with many massy posts for the benefit of foot passengers: and whereas before they dwelt in low dark wooden houses, they now live in lofty, lightsome, uniform, and very stately brick buildings.”

   Exit ticket: "Write one sentence that names two causes of the Great Fire from different boxes of the web and explains how they worked together."

   Teacher notes. (1) Evelyn writes as a man of his time and often describes events in religious terms ("Nothing but the Almighty power of God was able to stop them"); treat these as his words and beliefs, not as the lesson's explanation. (2) In the days after the fire many Londoners blamed foreigners, as Source 6 shows, and some blamed Roman Catholics. Besant reports that Dutch and French strangers were arrested on suspicion and released because there was no evidence, and that a Frenchman named Robert Hubert confessed and was hanged, although, Besant notes, the captain of Hubert's ship swore that Hubert did not land until after the fire began, and his confession was full of contradictions; a letter of 1666 that Besant quotes says there was "nothing of plot or design." If students ask, present the blame as an effect of fear and rumor, stated as fact without endorsing any side. (3) Each cut in the sources is marked [...]; the cuts leave out other topics and one word that has a different, offensive meaning today. (4) Besant's numbers (13,200 houses, 200,000 people) are the figures he reports; he questions the official death toll of six, which the lesson does not use.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "Heavy rain fell for a week, so the river flooded the farms." (an invented sentence) In this sentence, the flooding is

   Athe cause of the heavy rain Ban effect of the week of rain Ca condition that came before the rain Dthe spark that started the rain

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why do historians usually give several causes for an event like the Great Fire of London?

   AHistorians are not sure which one cause is the real one BEvery source gives exactly the same single cause CBig events usually grow from several causes at once DListing more causes always makes an answer correct

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Evelyn (Source 2, paragraph 1), why were houses not blown up early, when seamen first proposed it?

   AThe King had forbidden anyone to destroy houses in the City BAldermen refused, since their own houses would go first CThere was no gunpowder anywhere in London during the fire DThe seamen were afraid of the flames and ran away

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail in Source 2 shows that someone had warned about one of the fire's causes before it happened?

   AThe poor were "dispersed about St. George's Fields" BIt "crossed toward Whitehall" on September 5 CHis earlier pamphlet "was looked upon as a prophecy" DThe King commanded him to look after the Fetter Lane end

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these, described in Source 2, is an effect of the fire rather than a cause?

   AThe poor were left in "extreme misery and poverty" BOil and rosin were stored in "magazines" by the river CAldermen refused to let houses be blown up early DCoal and wood wharfs stood inside the city

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Besant reports 13,200 houses destroyed and 200,000 people turned out into the streets (Source 5, paragraph 1). He says this gives "fifteen persons to every house." Is his arithmetic about right?

   ANo: 200,000 divided by 13,200 is about 150 BNo: 13,200 divided by 200,000 is about 15 CNo: 200,000 minus 13,200 is about 15 DYes: 200,000 divided by 13,200 is near 15

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which effect in Source 5 lasted for many years and changed how London was built?

   A"Pitiful huts" were put up for the homeless B"No houses of wood were to be put up" CThe King sent bread from the Navy Stores DJustices sent "all manner of victuals"

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which change described in Source 5, paragraph 4, removed one of the conditions that had helped the fire spread in Pudding Lane (Source 3)?

   AChurches were rebuilt slowly, over thirty years BSome churches were never rebuilt at all CProjecting windows gave way to a flat front DA few streets were widened, but not many

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 5, paragraph 2, the King sent bread and the Justices of the Peace sent food. What kind of effect is this?

   AA long-term effect that lasted for many years BA cause that helped the fire spread faster CThe spark that started the fire in Pudding Lane DA short-term effect: help in the first days

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Source 5, paragraph 4, says the last church "was finished thirty years after the Fire." In about what year was that?

    AAbout 1696 BAbout the year 1636 CAbout 1669 DAbout 1966

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Source 3 and Source 4 both list causes of the fire. Which cause does Besant name in Source 3 that Strype's list in Source 4 leaves out?

    AThe houses were made of wood or timber BWarehouses held oil, pitch and other burnables CThere was not enough water to fight the fire DIts start in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Evelyn writes that the people "hardly stirred to quench it" (Source 1, paragraph 3). In the Cause-and-Effect Web, which box fits this cause best?

    AHuman choices: what people did or did not do BWeather and nature: forces such as wind CConditions: how the city was built and stocked DThe spark: what set the fire off on the first day

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which pair shows an effect of the fire that then became a cause of something new?

    AThe wind blew from the east, so it was a dry season BHomes burned, so the King made new building rules CIt was Saturday night, so it was also the long vacation DThe fire started at night, so the houses were wooden

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student writes: "The Great Fire of London happened because of the wind." What is the best way to improve this sentence?

    AReplace the wind with the baker, the only true cause of the fire BLeave it as it is, since a short answer is always the clearest one CCall the wind one cause among several, like old timber houses DAdd that the fire was terrible, using a vivid adjective

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose two causes from Source 4 that come from different boxes of the Cause-and-Effect Web. Explain how they worked together to make the fire worse than either would alone.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Evelyn says seamen proposed blowing up houses "early enough to have saved near the whole city" (Source 2, paragraph 1). Explain how a different choice by the aldermen might have changed the effects of the fire, and name one cause that would still have been there.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name one cause that both Evelyn (Sources 1 and 2) and Strype (Source 4) mention, and one cause that only one of them mentions. Quote each.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Was the King's proclamation on rebuilding (Source 5, paragraph 3) an effect of the fire alone, or also a response to its causes? Explain with one rule from paragraph 3 and one cause from Source 4.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a cause-and-effect chain with at least three links that starts with the east wind and ends with an effect from Source 5. Use "so" or "because" between the links.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Was the spread of the fire caused more by nature or by people? Write 3-4 sentences that use at least one cause of each kind, with quotations.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.His.14.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.