History - Fire? What Fire?

In 1666 life in London had become unbearable. Consisting mostly of wooden houses crammed closely together and over-run with rats, the city was a death-trap waiting to happen. 

London housed mostly the poor and middle-classes, nevertheless there were some people of position and influence who had the opportunity to leave. One such person was J S H Hutchingson who, early in 1666 had enough of smelly London and had a house built for himself situated at Delrow which is substantially the house which we see today. At the time he could not have known of the conflagration that was to come. On Sunday 2nd September 1666 the Great Fire of London started in Pudding Lane and in the course of only three days destroyed some 70,000 homes.

© Philip Eastburn