Great Fire of London

On this day, in Thomas Faryner’s bakery in Pudding Lane in the east of London, a fire broke out shortly after midnight. The indecisiveness of the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, to create firebreaks by deliberately destroying buildings in the fire’s path, meant that when large-scale demolitions were finally ordered, a strong east wind had already fanned the fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. London’s buildings were close-packed and the upper floors were often overhanging allowing the fire to spread very quickly. The fire was eventually put out thanks to two key factors: the strong east wind dropped, and the Tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreaks. The ‘Great Fire of London‘ destroyed approximately 80% of the City of London and left 70,000 to 80,000 people homeless.

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On this day the first-ever wine auction was held at Garraway’s Coffee House, Change Alley in London. In that period most trades for commodities and shares took place in coffee houses and Garraway’s was no exception. In fact, Change Alley, formerly Exchange Alley would later become the London Stock Exchange. The auction itself was a candle auction. Unlike today where the highest bidder wins, in a candle auction the winner was the last person to make a bid when the flame on an inch-long candle finally burnt out. Twice destroyed by fire, first in 1666 (the Great Fire of London) and again in 1748, Garraway’s was rebuilt and continued to host exchange activities until it was finally closed and demolished in 1866 when the great alterations in Change Alley were carried out.

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