History of the City: The Tale of the Monument and the Great Fire of London

The Monument stands in the heart of the City of London.

Standing over 200 feet tall, the Monument commemorates one of the worst travesties in London’s history: the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The fire began in Thomas Farriner’s bakery in Pudding Lane on 2nd September 1666. The fires in Farriner’s ovens were not properly extinguished, creating sparks which then set the house on fire.

By the time the fire had been tamed some five days later, a third of all buildings in the city had been destroyed including 86 per cent of the Square Mile itself. 130,000 people were made homeless by the fire.

London re-emerged rapidly from the ashes, but one thing that London needed was a Monument to commemorate the event, and so the Monument was born.

It was built between 1671 and 1677, just over 200 feet away from the site of the bakery where the fire started.

But it’s not just a Monument to the fire. It doubles as an observatory and bears witness to a London that could have been.

Join City A.M. as we explore the fire, the Monument itself and some of the stories that surround this famous building.