13 Sep London marks great fire anniversary

To mark the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, which paved the way for the building of the modern city a 120 metre long wooden replica of 17th-century London, mounted on a barge on the Thames, was set alight.

Thousands of spectators along the river to watch as the flames devoured the replica buildings floating on the water close to the City.

The Great Fire started in Thomas Farrinor’s bakery on Pudding Lane and an estimated 70,000 of the 80,000 residents were left homeless by the disaster…more

By the time the fire was extinguished, a total of 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches and Saint Paul’s Cathedral had been destroyed.

The London of today, with its characteristic English Baroque architecture in grey Portland stone, was built from the ashes of the wooden city, though the old street layout was retained to respect property rights.

The London’s Burning programme saw flames being projected on to St Paul’s Cathedral – one of the capital’s most familiar monuments that was completed 44 years after the Great Fire