September 2 1666 – 12 Elul 5426
The Great Fire of London broke out when the king’s baker, Thomas Farriner, apparently left his oven burning overnight. Smoldering embers ignited a pile of wood, sparking a blaze that swept through the city. Most houses were built of timber with thatched roofs, and for four days the fire raged, consuming more than 13,000 homes and nearly a hundred churches and cathedrals.
The celebrated architect Sir Christopher Wren drew up plans for rebuilding the charred city: wider streets, stone construction, and modern systems for water and sewage. About ten years after the fire, he also undertook the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It was only in 1986—320 years later—that the Bakers’ Guild officially acknowledged that Farriner had caused the fire.
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