Stories from the Great Fire of London: A Self-Guided Tour

In September 1666, London burned for four days in one of history’s most infamous disasters. On this walking tour, you’ll trace the fire’s path of destruction, and hear eyewitness accounts from those who watched their city transform to ash and smoke.

Starting in front of the monument to the Great Fire of London, you’ll follow its devastating progress from its origin in Pudding Lane. You’ll learn how the city’s narrow medieval streets helped it spread so rapidly, consuming 13,200 houses and 87 churches, and how a few buildings miraculously survived. As you walk the modern thoroughfares that rose from the ashes, you’ll hear how various folk reacted, from Lord Mayor Thomas Bloodworth’s shameful inaction to King Charles II’s heroic 30-hour firefighting efforts.

As you make your way to Temple Church, you’ll walk in the footsteps of diarists Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, whose accounts bring the terrible destruction to life. Along the way, you’ll pass numerous pubs and cafés where Pepys recorded his famous observations over a pint of ale in the aftermath of the catastrophe that reshaped London forever.

On this hour-long walking tour, you’ll have a chance to:

  • Visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Christopher Wren’s masterpiece rose from the ashes of the old medieval church that collapsed in the flames

  • Examine the Golden Boy of Pye Corner, marking the spot where the fire was finally stopped

  • Take in Cloth Fair’s houses dating back to 1597, which somehow survived when almost everything around them burned

  • Learn about the conspiracy theories that followed the fire, including accusations against French watchmakers and Cromwellian plotters

  • Stand inside St. Bartholomew the Great, one of the few medieval churches that outlasted the inferno

  • See the last preserved fragment of London’s Roman wall, which withstood both the Great Fire and the Blitz centuries later

By the end of this tour, you’ll have a better understanding of how a simple accident, compounded by poor leadership and unfortunate weather, transformed London from a medieval wooden city into the stone metropolis we know today.

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