Set piece · The Fire
The Great Fire of London, as Pepys saw it
A thirty-three-year-old naval official, Samuel Pepys, looked out of a window of his house at the Navy Office in Seething Lane, decided the fire was “far enough off”, and went back to bed. Over the next three days he watched it eat the City and wrote down almost everything he saw.
Sunday 2 September 1666
The City: Starting in a Pudding Lane bakery before dawn, the fire is driven west along the riverside warehouses by a strong east wind.
about three in the morning · His house at the Navy Office, Seething Lane
He gets up in his nightgown and looks out from her window.
Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City
2 Sep 1666His house at the Navy Office, Seething Lane
He judges it no nearer than the back of Mark Lane, just west of his house.
being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep
2 Sep 1666The Tower of London
Told that 300 houses have gone, he climbs the Tower; the Lieutenant says it began at the King's baker's in Pudding Lane.
there I did see the houses at that end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire on this and the other side the end of the bridge
2 Sep 1666On the river between the Old Swan and the Steelyard
People stay until the flames reach them, then scramble into boats or throw their goods in the river.
the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their houses, but hovered about the windows and balconys till they were, some of them burned, their wings, and fell down
2 Sep 1666Whitehall, the King's closet in the Chapel
He goes by boat to Whitehall with the news; the King sends him to the Lord Mayor.
did tell the King and Duke of Yorke what I saw, and that unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down nothing could stop the fire
2 Sep 1666Cannon Street
He passes on the King's order; the Mayor says he is pulling houses down but the fire outruns him.
At last met my Lord Mayor in Canningstreet, like a man spent, with a handkercher about his neck.
2 Sep 1666it being darkish · An ale-house on Bankside, opposite the Three Cranes
As darkness falls the flames join into one arc from the bridge across the City.
in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long: it made me weep to see it
2 Sep 1666
Monday 3 September 1666
The City: Driven by the east wind, the fire spreads north and west across the City, and the streets fill with people and carts carrying goods away.
about four o'clock in the morning · Sir William Rider's house, Bethnal Green, then a village north-east of the City
He rides out in his nightgown on the cart to stow his valuables with a friend.
About four o’clock in the morning, my Lady Batten sent me a cart to carry away all my money, and plate, and best things, to Sir W. Rider’s at Bednall-greene.
3 Sep 1666
Tuesday 4 September 1666
The City: The worst day, as St Paul's and Cheapside burn and the fire reaches Fleet Street in the west and Tower Street in the east.
Tower Street
The fire is now a few streets from the Navy Office; Mr Howell's trays and dishes lie in the gutters.
Sir W. Pen and I to Tower-streete, and there met the fire burning three or four doors beyond Mr. Howell’s
4 Sep 1666in the evening · The Navy Office garden
A second pit: what he cannot carry, he buries.
in the evening Sir W. Pen and I did dig another, and put our wine in it; and I my Parmazan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things
4 Sep 1666
Wednesday 5 September 1666
The City: The wind drops, and blowing up houses stops the fire at most points; the City within the walls is largely burnt out.
Barking Church (All Hallows by the Tower)
The fire has been stopped at the foot of his lane; he climbs the tower to look out.
I up to the top of Barking steeple, and there saw the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw
5 Sep 1666Cheapside, by Mercers' Chapel
Walking home he pockets a souvenir of glass melted by the heat.
took up (which I keep by me) a piece of glasse of Mercers’ Chappell in the streete
5 Sep 1666
Thursday 6 September 1666
The City: Mostly out; a new outbreak at Bishopsgate is quickly beaten, but cellars still burn.
On the Thames off the Temple
Coming back by water from Westminster, filthy and still without a clean shirt.
A sad sight to see how the River looks: no houses nor church near it, to the Temple, where it stopped.
6 Sep 1666
Friday 7 September 1666
The City: The fire is out, leaving ruins from the Tower to the Temple; the merchants meet at Gresham College in place of the burnt Royal Exchange.
St Paul's Cathedral
He walks the ruins west to Fleet Street, where his father's house has gone too.
a miserable sight of Paul’s church; with all the roofs fallen, and the body of the quire fallen into St. Fayth’s
7 Sep 1666
Sources for the map: Pepys's diary (opens in a new tab) · London Gazette No. 85 (1666) (opens in a new tab) · Evelyn's diary (opens in a new tab) · OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenStreetMap data, via the Nominatim geocoder, 2026 (opens in a new tab). Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.