For teachers · Key stage 1, adaptable for key stage 2

The Great Fire of London: how do we know?

An eyewitness, a newspaper and a monument that still stands. Resources for teaching the Great Fire through the diary of Samuel Pepys, who watched it from the first night to the ruins.

Age: Key stage 1 (ages 5–7). A causation enquiry for key stage 2 is at the end.
Curriculum: KS1: “events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally”, for which the Great Fire is the curriculum's own example (an example, not a requirement), and the aim that pupils “understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past”. (National Curriculum)
Enquiry question: How do we know about the Great Fire of London?
On this page: The story, for you · A suggested sequence · Words to know · Read it aloud · Cards to put in order · Questions to talk about · Other ways we know · Myths to avoid · Key stage 2 · The map

Before you use this with pupils. The extracts on this page were chosen and read for the classroom. Pepys's diary as a whole is an adult text: the rest of this site, and the full entries the date links open on pepysdiary.com (with readers' notes and comments), include his sexual behaviour and violence. Please lead any use yourself, read a full entry before showing it, and don't ask pupils to search for the diary themselves. More about this

For you: the story in brief

In 1666 England's king was Charles II, who had come back to the throne in 1660. The year before, 1665, London had suffered the Great Plague. Samuel Pepys was thirty-three and worked for the Navy Office, where he also lived, in Seething Lane near the Tower of London. From 1660 to 1669 he kept a private diary in shorthand, a quick way of writing with signs; it was first decoded in 1819–22 and printed, in part, in 1825.

The fire began in the early hours of Sunday 2 September 1666, in Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane (National Archives). Accounts of the hour differ: the London Gazette says one o'clock, others shortly after midnight or nearer two (London Gazette; British Library; Loveman). Nobody knows what started it. The London Gazette, the government's newspaper, called it “an unhappy chance” (London Gazette). A strong east wind, a dry summer and a part of town “so close built with wooden pitched houses” helped it spread (London Gazette; Pepys). People fought it with buckets, hooks, ladders and squirts, and by pulling houses down to make gaps; from Tuesday 4 September houses were also blown up with gunpowder (London Fire Brigade; Pepys). It was stopped on Wednesday 5 September and “wholy beat down” on Thursday the 6th (London Gazette).

About 13,200 houses burned, with 87 parish churches (one count gives 86), St Paul's Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and the Guildhall: about four-fifths of the City (fireoflondon.org.uk; Oxford). Around 100,000 people lost their homes; another estimate is 70,000 to 80,000 (London Museum; Oxford). Only a handful of deaths were recorded (London Fire Brigade; National Archives), and nobody knows how many people really died (fireoflondon.org.uk).

Afterwards a law, the Rebuilding Act, said the outsides of new houses must be brick or stone (Rebuilding Act). It was passed in February 1667, though its official date is 1666, because the legal year then began on 25 March. The rebuilt St Paul's Cathedral was declared complete in 1711 (fireoflondon.org.uk). The Monument, designed by Robert Hooke with Christopher Wren, is 202 feet tall and stands 202 feet from where the fire began (the Monument; the Monument). A Frenchman, Robert Hubert, confessed to starting the fire and was hanged, though he did not arrive in England until two days after it began (British Library).

Dates are as people wrote them at the time, in the old calendar then used in England, which was ten days behind ours; history books use the same dates. Years here are counted from 1 January, as Pepys counted them.

A suggested sequence

Five sessions, each building towards the enquiry question. Adapt freely.

Long ago. Where is 1666 on a timeline, beside the children's own lives and their grandparents'? Meet London, a king, and a man who kept a diary. Introduce the words to know.
An eyewitness. Read Pepys's own words aloud, then the retelling. What did he see? What did he do? Talk about it.
What happened next. In pairs, put the cards in order, draw each one, and check against the answer key. Show the map yourself on the whiteboard.
Other ways we know. A newspaper, another eyewitness, the Monument and a new law. What does each tell us that Pepys could not?
End point: how do we know? Children match each source to something it tells us (Pepys: what he saw; the newspaper: when and where it started; the Monument: where it started, and that people wanted to remember it; the law: how London was rebuilt), and say one thing Pepys could not have known.

Support: read every text aloud; act out the cards; let children draw before they write; offer sentence starters such as “Pepys saw…”, “We know because…”, “The newspaper says…”.

Take care: a fire that destroys homes, and “what would you save?”, can be hard for children who have lived through a house fire or lost a home. Know your class.

Words to know

past: the time before now
long ago: a very long time before now: the Great Fire was more than 350 years ago
diary: a book where someone writes what happens each day
eyewitness: someone who saw something happen
newspaper: printed news; in 1666, the London Gazette
king: in 1666, King Charles II
baker: someone who makes bread; the fire began in a bakery
the City: the old City of London
London Bridge: then the only bridge over the River Thames in London, with houses on it
monument: something built to remember an event; the Monument remembers the Great Fire
bucket: used to carry water to throw on the fire

Read it aloud: Pepys’s own words

From his diary for Sunday 2 September 1666, as it was printed in 1893; the spelling is his. Read the first part, then the line he wrote that evening, watching from across the river.

Some of our mayds sitting up late last night to get things ready against our feast to-day, Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City. So I rose and slipped on my nightgowne, and went to her window, and thought it to be on the backside of Marke-lane at the farthest; but, being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep.
Samuel Pepys, Sunday 2 September 1666 · the whole entry

That evening, watching the fire from across the river:

in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long: it made me weep to see it
Samuel Pepys, Sunday 2 September 1666 · the whole entry

What the words mean

mayds: maids: women who worked in his house
feast: a big dinner; he had guests coming that day
the City: the old City of London, mostly inside its walls
nightgowne: a dressing gown
Marke-lane: Mark Lane, a street close to his house
unused to such fires as followed: he had never seen a fire like the one that came next
in a bow up the hill: in a curve, up the hill from the river
weep: cry

The same, in plain words (our retelling)

Very early on Sunday morning, Jane, one of the maids, woke everyone up. She had seen a big fire in the City. Samuel Pepys put on his dressing gown and looked out of her window. He thought the fire was far enough away, so he went back to bed! But the fire grew. That evening he watched it from across the river. It made a huge arch of flame, more than a mile long, and it made him cry.

If you want more

What happened that morning, for a longer reading or for older pupils.

By and by Jane comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down to-night by the fire we saw, and that it is now burning down all Fish-street, by London Bridge. So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower, and there got up upon one of the high places, Sir J. Robinson’s little son going up with me; and 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 …
Samuel Pepys, Sunday 2 September 1666 · the whole entry

So down, with my heart full of trouble, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who tells me that it begun this morning in the King’s baker’s’ house in Pudding-lane, and that it hath burned St. Magnus’s Church and most part of Fish-street already.
Samuel Pepys, Sunday 2 September 1666 · the whole entry

by and by: soon after
presently: straight away
the Tower: the Tower of London
Fish-street: a street leading to London Bridge
the Lieutenant of the Tower: the officer who ran the Tower
the King's baker's house in Pudding-lane: the house of a baker who made bread for the King, in Pudding Lane
St. Magnus's Church: a church at the end of London Bridge

Cards to put in order

Print, cut out and shuffle the eight cards below. In pairs, children read them (or hear them read), put them in order, and draw each one in its box. Then check against the answer key, which has the day and Pepys's own words for each.

Across the river, he sees a huge arch of fire. He cries.
He climbs a church tower. Fires are everywhere. His house is safe.
Jane wakes everyone. There is a fire! Pepys goes back to bed.
People throw their things in the river. Pigeons stay by their homes.
Pepys buries his cheese in the garden to keep it safe.
Pepys climbs up high at the Tower. He sees houses burning.
Pepys tells King Charles II about the fire.
The fire is out. St Paul's Cathedral is in ruins.

Answer key, for you

Sunday, about 3 in the morning · Sunday 2 September 1666
Jane, one of the maids, wakes everyone: she can see a big fire in the City. Pepys looks out of her window, decides it is far enough away, and goes back to bed.
being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep 2 Sep 1666
Sunday morning, at the Tower · Sunday 2 September 1666
Jane tells him she has heard that more than 300 houses have burned down. He climbs up high at the Tower of London and sees the houses at the end of London Bridge on fire.
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 1666
Sunday morning, on the river · Sunday 2 September 1666
From a boat he watches people throw their things into the river and climb into boats. Even the pigeons do not want to leave their homes.
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 1666
Sunday, at Whitehall Palace · Sunday 2 September 1666
He goes to tell King Charles II what he has seen. Unless houses are pulled down, he says, nothing can stop the fire.
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 1666
Sunday evening, across the river · Sunday 2 September 1666
From an alehouse on the other side of the river he watches the fire make an arch of flame more than a mile long. It makes him cry.
in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long: it made me weep to see it 2 Sep 1666
Tuesday evening, in his garden · Tuesday 4 September 1666
He and his neighbour, Sir William Penn, dig a hole and bury their wine. Pepys buries his Parmesan cheese too, to keep it safe.
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 morning, at the end of his lane · Wednesday 5 September 1666
The fire has reached the church at the bottom of his lane. He climbs its steeple and sees fires everywhere. His own house is still standing.
I up to the top of Barking steeple, and there saw the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw 5 Sep 1666
Friday, at St Paul's Cathedral · Friday 7 September 1666
The fire is out. He walks through the ruins and sees St Paul's Cathedral with its roofs fallen in.
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

Words in his quotations:

loth: not wanting to
balconys: balconies
Parmazan cheese: Parmesan cheese
steeple: a church's tower
desolation: ruin and emptiness
Paul's church: St Paul's Cathedral
the quire: the part of a church where the choir sits
St. Fayth's: St Faith's, a church underneath St Paul's

Questions to talk about

Why did Pepys go back to bed? Would you have?
How did he find out how big the fire was? (He climbed up high, went on the river in a boat, and listened to people.)
Why did he go to see the King? What did he tell him?
What did people do to save their things?
Why do you think he buried his cheese?
How do we know all this, more than 350 years later? Who wrote it down, and when?
Pepys was there. Why does that matter? And what could he not see or know?

Other ways we know

Pepys is not our only way of knowing. Each of these tells us something he could not.

A newspaper. The London Gazette, the government's newspaper, printed an account the week after: On the second instant at one of the clock in the Morning there hapned to break out a sad & deplorable Fire, in Pudding-lane neer New Fishstreet (London Gazette, 3–10 September 1666) (“the second instant” means the 2nd of this month.)
Another eyewitness. John Evelyn also kept a diary. On 3 September he watched from across the river and saw the whole city in dreadful flames near the waterside (Evelyn, 3 September 1666). He wrote his diary up later, so his dates are less exact than Pepys's.
Something you can still see. The Monument stands near Pudding Lane: 202 feet tall, and 202 feet from where the fire began (the Monument).
The law. The Rebuilding Act, passed in February 1667, said the outsides of new houses must be built of brick or stone (Rebuilding Act).

What this topic builds for later

Ofsted found that most schools teach the Great Fire in depth at key stage 1, but rarely plan what pupils should take from it into later years (Ofsted 2023). This topic can give them: London as a place with a long past; the idea of a king; an eyewitness; a diary and a newspaper as sources; putting events in order; and the difference between what someone saw and what they were told.

Writing a fictional account of the fire, such as a pretend diary, can become a literacy exercise rather than history, as Karin Doull warns in the Historical Association's Primary History (Historical Association).

Myths to avoid

Some of these appear in published resources. Each is followed by what the evidence says.

“The Fire ended the plague.” Plague deaths were already falling, the worst-hit parishes outside the walls did not burn, and people still died of plague afterwards (London Museum).
“Only six people died.” That is about the number recorded: sources give six or nine (London Fire Brigade; National Archives). Nobody knows how many really died (fireoflondon.org.uk).
“The fire spread across thatched roofs.” Thatched roofs had long been banned in the City, and most roofs were tiled (London Museum).
“London Bridge burned down.” The houses at its north end burned (Pepys).
“The baker was to blame.” or “Robert Hubert started it.” The cause is unknown. Hubert was not in England when it began (British Library).
“Pepys was a firefighter.” He watched, took the news to the King, saved his goods and suggested bringing in workmen from the dockyards. On 6 September he helped put out a small new fire at Bishopsgate, but fighting the fire was not his job (Pepys).
“Afterwards London was rebuilt in brick for the first time, to Wren's new plan.” There were brick buildings before 1666, and Wren's plan for new streets was not used (London Museum; National Archives).
“A woman might p*** it out.” This rude line, said to be the Lord Mayor's, is often credited to Pepys. It is not in his diary. What Pepys records the Lord Mayor saying is Lord! what can I do? I am spent: people will not obey me. 2 Sep 1666.

Key stage 2: why did the fire spread so far?

One causation question, with five sources. Pupils sort the evidence into the weather, the buildings and what people did (the grid below prints), then decide which mattered most. Ask what each writer could and could not see. Before they start, they need to know that people fought fires then with buckets of water, ladders, hooks and hand squirts, and by pulling houses down to make gaps (London Fire Brigade).

Pepys, Sunday 2 September, by the river. the wind mighty high and driving it into the City; and every thing, after so long a drought, proving combustible, even the very stones of churches 2 Sep 1666
Pepys, the same day, walking home. The houses, too, so very thick thereabouts, and full of matter for burning, as pitch and tarr, in Thames-street; and warehouses of oyle, and wines, and brandy, and other things. 2 Sep 1666
Pepys, from a boat; and the Lord Mayor, as Pepys reports him. nobody, to my sight, endeavouring to quench it, but to remove their goods, and leave all to the fire 2 Sep 1666; I have been pulling down houses; but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it. 2 Sep 1666
The London Gazette. in a quarter of the Town so close built with wooden pitched houses (London Gazette, 3–10 September 1666); and a violent Easterly wind fomented it (the same).
John Evelyn. conspiring with a fierce eastern wind in a very dry season (Evelyn, 3 September 1666); and the people hardly stirred to quench it (the same), without at all attempting to save even their goods (the same).

pitched: coated with pitch, a sticky black tar that burns easily
combustible: able to catch fire
drought: a long time without rain
endeavouring to quench: trying to put out
pitch and tarr: sticky black stuff used on ships and roofs, which burns easily
oyle: oil
fomented: fed, made stronger
conspiring: working together
indefatigable: tireless

Sort the evidence
The weather	The buildings	What people did

A point to draw out: the sources do not agree about what people did. Pepys saw people saving their goods rather than fighting the fire, and the Gazette says some thought that if their efforts had gone into the stopping of the fire, and not to the saving of their particular Goods, the success might have been much better (London Gazette). Evelyn saw people too stunned to do either. Meanwhile the Lord Mayor was pulling houses down, and the Gazette praises the King's and the Duke of York's indefatigable and personal pains (London Gazette). Each writer saw a different part of the City, and the Gazette was the government's own newspaper.

The map

The burnt area at each midnight, laid one over another: the darker the colour, the earlier that part burned, and the red line shows how far the fire had reached when it was stopped. The dot is Pepys's house.

On this site's home page an animated version follows Pepys step by step from 2 to 7 September. It works well on a whiteboard, but open it yourself and keep to the map: the home page also offers random days from the diary, which are not for pupils. The streets are today's; the burnt areas are approximate outlines drawn from the Gazette and Evelyn.

Open the Fire map

For older pupils and for you: the Fire, step by step, on one page.