London, England: Monument to the Great Fire

Go for a tour of London these days, and the year 1666 comes up sooner rather than later. It was the year of the Great Fire of London, and it must have been quite terrible. 

It started on September 2 when a bakery caught on fire. The key point of the story at this point is that most of the city was constructed with wood. It didn't take long for the flames to spread like, well, wildfire. The mayor of London was slow to use the typical firefighting technique of the time, which was to clear away blocks to create firebreaks. That didn't help, and neither did a nasty wind that spread the sparks around. It took gunpowder and a break in the wind to stop the fire after four destructive days. Essentially the north side of the city was wiped out. 

It was difficult to determine the death toll of the fire, since few records were kept about the entire population. Historians think the estimates of a low number of fatalities may need a major boost. 

A few years later, the city of London decided to authorize a monument to preserve the memory of the fire. A design was approved in 1671, and the finished product arrived six years later. It was built on the site of the first church that was burned in the fire, and only 202 feet from where the fire started on Pudding Lane. Not surprisingly, it stands 202 feet high.

If you'd like the full story of the fire, there's a two-hour video available on YouTube. This one might be more to your liking at a little over six minutes.