THEThe GREAT Great FIRE OF LONDON Fire [700 words of - 2London sides] Karin Doull - Karin Doull Introduction The Great Fire of London is a favourite National Curriculum teaching topic. This paper draws on the latest resources and teaching ideas to suggest how you can meet both the NC history requirements and the wider ones of the National Curriculum, particularly in integrated programmes that include teaching about the Great Fire of London. We begin with the historical background that provides an essential reference frame for teaching the subject. This leads in to a detailed account of the teaching of one of its sessions, resources and a scheme of work. The final elements are a teacher’s account of teaching The Great Fire through dance, Dos and Dont’s and What the co-ordinator might do. The Historical Context All England knew that that this was in this yeare there dyed of the In 1665 a bright comet blazed a portent of evil and great woe to Plague above ninety thousands. through the skies prompting John befall the land and so it proved to http://recordoffice.wordpress. SCAN ME Gadbury (London 1665) to list the be. Plague stalked the land through com/2012/11/23/comets- dire effects of such visitations: 1665 decimating the inhabitants of plague-and-fire-as-seen-from- London and sending those able to pleasley-1665/ ...Threatening the world with leave scurrying to the country. The INTERACTIVE PRINT famine, plague and war. To effects were felt throughout the The Fire Princes, death! To Kingdoms, country as a curate in Derbyshire Despite these disasters, through the noted: SCAN ME Layar.indd 1 03/09/2013 10:31many crosses. To all estates, summer of 1666 things began to inevitable losses. To Herdsmen, improve. The court of King Charles rot. To ploughmen, hapless In this yeare after the blazeing II returned to London and the city seasons. To sailors, storms. To starr is the warr at sea with the once again began to go about Cities, civil treasons. Hollander and the greate Plague its normal business. The summer www.ianridpath.com/halley/ at London and many other had been long and dry. A season halley2.htm places in this nation. In London of drought had covered the city 34 Primary History 66 Spring 2014 The Historical Association Key Stage 2 Time-line of the fire 1600 1610 1620 1630 1640 1650 1660 1670 1680 1690 1700 1620 1603 1642 1660 1666 1685 1689 Pilgrim James I Civil War Charles II Great James II Glorious Fathers sail becomes starts becomes Fire of becomes Revolution to America King King London King – end of the Stuarts 1605 1625 1649 1665 Guy Fawkes Charles I Charles I is beheaded Great Plague tries to becomes – England becomes of London blow up King a republic Parliament in a blanket of heat until the very Figure 1: Map of the Great Fire of London – its extent air seemed dry. There were other unsettling concerns worrying the citizens of London. Rumours ran through the city whispering of war with the ‘Hollanders’ and ever- present danger from the French. Into this seething caldron of intrigue and suspicion was to come one ‘small mistake … with great consequences’. (Samuel Pepys) During the night of 2 September 1666 a fire started in the premises of the King’s baker in Pudding Lane. Thomas Farrinor’s bakery was to St Paul’s Cathedral be the first lost to the devastating Pudding Lane, home of Thomas Farrinor conflagration that was to become Seething Lane, home of Samuel Pepys Great Fire of London. The Tower of London London Bridge Farrinor and his family were woken by a journeyman crying that the building was on fire. They retreated Bloodworth, the Lord Mayor, vacillated and smoke from the city could upstairs and all jumped to safety when asked to demolish properties be seen as far away as Oxford from a window except for an around the bakery and water sources and reached up four miles into unnamed maidservant. She became quickly got cut off. As the flames the air. Within the space of the first human casualty of the took hold, fanned by a strong wind, a three days the majority of the fire. Small scale fires were a hazard firestorm ran on to London Bridge and inhabitants of the city were of city life. Heating, lighting and through the city. Foreigners were set turned into refugees, huddling in cooking involved open flames and upon and attacked as rumours spread makeshift tented cities through most houses were timber framed of an enemy plot to fire the city. one of the coldest winters in with plaster and lathe interiors record. While a new city would providing ideal fuel for fires. The fire raged for three days, affecting emerge from the rubble it would Industry nestled next to residences. the homes of more than seven-eighths take time to rebuild for as John Firefighting, although quite well of the city, some 13,200 dwellings. Evelyn said ‘I went againe to the organised, relied on the use of In addition to St Paul’s 87 parish ruines, for it was now no longer water and demolition. Sir Thomas churches were destroyed. The flames a Citty.’ (10 Sept 1666) Primary History 66 Spring 2014 The Historical Association 35 An example of how this topic Websites might be taught: Key Question: www.pepys.info/fire.html What happened on the night of 2 September 1666? Samuel Pepys website with accounts from his diary and that of John Evelyn. The recipe for small Learning Intention: cakes from the seventeenth century can also be Show understanding that the past has been found here. A good quality copy of the London interpreted in different ways Gazette can also be found on this site Assessment www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/timeline/ criteria: accessvers/index.html Can the children British Library time-lines with evidence from recognise that Pepys’ diary and London Gazette – also other there may pieces of literature from the time. be different viewpoints about www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG-wA9U9dwQ what or who Animated version of the fire by Lisle Marsden caused the spread Primary, Grimsby. An excellent example of what of the fire? can be achieved with Lego men, tissue paper and narrators. www.fireoflondon.org.uk/ Teachers’ resources – image bank – a really useful source of evidence. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/ lessons/lesson47.htm Fire of London resources including Charles’ proclamation, hearth tax return from Pudding Resources lane with Farrinor’s name on it and Hollar’s map after the fire HA website: The Great Fire of London topic pack: www.youtube.com/user/ www.history.org.uk//go/GreatFireTopicPack ThePlayHouseOnline/videos Series of three videos, before, during and after Fire bucket from the Great Fire of London: the fire. www.history.org.uk//go/FireBucket http://puddinglanedmuga.blogspot.co.uk/ You can find a complete scheme of work for The blog of the group that created the wonderful this topic, and more exemplar lessons, on video of London before the fire – reading down the HA website at: www.history.org.uk/ the blogs allows you to identify which building is the bakery www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn6E_4g4UAw 1. Script for role play with various characters Peter Ackroyd’s Fire of London video with Pepys 2. Video “During the Great Fire” and Evelyn (00.00-05.10 mins) ~ aimed at adults online www.youtube.com/user/ and you need to use extracts but creating strong ThePlayHouseOnline/videos images to help children visualise the situation. 3. i>clickers (if available) / voting cards if not (green/red laminated cards) www.fireoflondon.org.uk/game 4. Images for Thomas Farrinor/Samuel Pepys/ This uses original sources to help explain different Thomas Bloodworth/ King Charles II/east aspects of the fire. Two characters lead you wind through events creating problems for children to 5. Sketch map of area solve. I think I would use this after or alongside 6. Figure 3 taught sessions to supplement class activities. 36 Primary History 66 Spring 2014 The Historical Association Activity: Timings Teaching strategies Children’s responses 3 minutes Whole class watch ‘During the Great Fire’ 7-10 minutes What impression does this give you of the fire? No one is trying to fight the fire/ people trying to save themselves Points to listen for: and their goods/ running to the ~ initially not worried as think it is localised river/people don’t think it is very ~ takes hold swiftly serious to start with/ the fire is ~ people are overwhelmed huge and takes over everything/ ~ drastic action needs to be taken King comes to help Thomas Farrinor/Samuel Pepys/ Who were some of the main characters involved? Thomas Bloodworth King Charles II/ fire and wind And fictional cat! 5 minutes Pose the question to the class Children might refer back to the Why did the fire spread so disastrously? video of London and refer to the physical characteristics of the city: Wooden houses close together/ open fires/ narrow alleyways for Could anything have been done to stop the fire to jump. spread of the fire? 15 -25 minutes Suggest that we need some evidence. Explain that we will listen to accounts from different people and vote to see if we think that they have been responsible for not stopping the fire from spreading. (Teaching Assistant and Classroom Teacher in role as judge and witness) Children listen to accounts from different characters and vote at the end of each piece of evidence on the question Did you contribute to the spread of the fire? (either using yes /no on I>clicker or green for no/ red for yes with voting cards) Characters to be interviewed: ~ Thomas Farrinor ~ Samuel Pepys ~ Thomas Bloodworth ~ King Charles II ~ east wind After listening to the entire evidence children vote again by placing stickers on images of characters to see who the class think is most to blame.