The Great Fire of London My Story


The Great Fire of London

Similar Content

Browse content similar to The Great Fire of London. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

This story belongs to Finley and his grandad Laurence.

0:00:230:00:27

It's a tiny tale about how children, just like you,

0:00:280:00:32

lived in the olden days, about 350 years ago.

0:00:320:00:35

Grandad Laurence used to be a firefighter.

0:00:380:00:41

He and Finley are visiting a modern fire station.

0:00:410:00:44

Look, Finley, this is a real modern-day fire engine.

0:00:570:01:01

It's got a hose on here.

0:01:010:01:02

This fire engine carries its own water

0:01:020:01:05

and it's got ladders on the roof.

0:01:050:01:07

The ladders are for going up high buildings

0:01:070:01:10

so you can rescue people there. Then we come to the front,

0:01:100:01:13

and it's got the lights and the noise the siren makes.

0:01:130:01:17

SIREN WAILS

0:01:170:01:19

Wow!

0:01:190:01:22

Do you want to be a firefighter when you grow up?

0:01:220:01:25

-Yes.

-Yeah, you do? You know, your daddy's a firefighter.

0:01:250:01:28

Did you know your daddy's grandad was a firefighter?

0:01:280:01:31

He's your great-grandad.

0:01:310:01:33

-Oh, wow!

-I know a story about a young lad called William Taswell.

0:01:330:01:37

He lived a long time ago in London

0:01:370:01:39

and he saw one of the biggest fires in history.

0:01:390:01:43

They called it the Great Fire of London.

0:01:430:01:45

The Great Fire of London happened in the year 1666,

0:01:450:01:48

which was a long, long time ago.

0:01:480:01:51

The fire lasted over four days and it nearly destroyed

0:01:510:01:54

the City of London.

0:01:540:01:56

They didn't have big red fire engines in those days.

0:01:560:01:59

-Shall we go on an adventure to see how it happened, then?

-Yay!

0:01:590:02:03

Finley and Grandad Laurence are going on a journey of discovery.

0:02:030:02:07

Together, they're going to find out what life was like

0:02:070:02:10

all those years ago.

0:02:100:02:12

Finley and Grandad Laurence have come to

0:02:160:02:18

Weald And Downland Open Air Museum.

0:02:180:02:21

These houses and streets look similar to ones in London

0:02:210:02:24

when William Taswell was young.

0:02:240:02:26

Finley, what do you think about your costume?

0:02:260:02:30

-I like the buttons and the buckles.

-They make you look very smart.

0:02:300:02:34

That's the sort of clothes that William Taswell

0:02:340:02:37

would wear to school.

0:02:370:02:38

William went to school at the time of the Great Fire.

0:02:380:02:41

Only wealthy children like William went to school then.

0:02:410:02:45

He would wear a lace collar and a funny tall hat.

0:02:450:02:48

What do you think about your costume?

0:02:480:02:50

I think my costume is ever so heavy. And look at the trousers!

0:02:500:02:54

-They're more like a lady's dress!

-FINLEY LAUGHS

0:02:540:02:57

What's the funny hat for?

0:02:570:02:58

My funny hat is for when I have to go and fight the fires.

0:02:580:03:02

This is what this big skirt is for at the back,

0:03:020:03:04

so all the fire embers don't go down my neck.

0:03:040:03:07

It's made of leather so it doesn't burn your head too easily.

0:03:070:03:11

And...throw it!

0:03:220:03:25

When William was a boy, only the richest children had toys.

0:03:250:03:29

Even things like balls were too expensive for most families,

0:03:290:03:33

so children made simple toys or played with things that they found.

0:03:330:03:37

Finley and Grandad Laurence are playing a game called apple ball.

0:03:370:03:41

Children poked a strong stick into apples that were too rotten to eat

0:03:410:03:45

and then had a competition to see who could throw it the furthest.

0:03:450:03:49

It looks like a fun game!

0:03:490:03:51

Caught you!

0:03:520:03:53

These children are playing a game William might have played.

0:03:530:03:57

The blindfolded girl has to find her friends and catch them.

0:03:570:04:01

Do you like playing catching games with your friends?

0:04:010:04:04

William and his friends played some great games.

0:04:060:04:10

William went to school in London.

0:04:120:04:14

During the Great Fire, he wrote about what he saw in his diary.

0:04:140:04:18

A diary is a book for writing down news.

0:04:180:04:21

We know about what happened in the fire because of diaries

0:04:210:04:25

that William and other people wrote.

0:04:250:04:27

The Great Fire of London started in the middle of the night in a bakery

0:04:270:04:32

in a street called Pudding Lane.

0:04:320:04:34

At that time, people used candles and fires inside buildings

0:04:340:04:37

for light and heat. The buildings often went on fire,

0:04:370:04:41

but this one spread really quickly.

0:04:410:04:43

By the morning, over 300 buildings were on fire.

0:04:430:04:47

The rest of the city had to be warned.

0:04:470:04:50

There was no TV, and people couldn't phone or text

0:05:030:05:06

in the time of the Great Fire, so the only way to warn the city

0:05:060:05:10

was by ringing the church bells.

0:05:100:05:12

Finley and Grandad Laurence are going to try bell ringing.

0:05:140:05:18

Laurence, we're going to show you how to ring the first stage

0:05:200:05:24

of a bell, and Finley has got his

0:05:240:05:26

own special bell to join in, as well.

0:05:260:05:29

So, here we go.

0:05:290:05:30

-Right... Up...

-BELL RINGS

0:05:300:05:32

..and down.

0:05:320:05:34

BELL RINGS

0:05:340:05:36

The loud church bells could be heard right across the city.

0:05:360:05:40

There was no proper fire service. Instead, volunteers would

0:05:400:05:44

hurry to help put out fires if they heard warning bells.

0:05:440:05:47

-That's good.

-And the noisy bells also told other people

0:05:470:05:50

living in the city that they needed to escape from the fire.

0:05:500:05:55

William found out about the fire

0:06:070:06:09

when he was in a big church called Westminster Abbey.

0:06:090:06:13

He heard a lot of people outside shouting.

0:06:130:06:16

He ran out to a nearby bridge to see what was going on.

0:06:160:06:20

In the distance, he saw flames going high into the sky.

0:06:200:06:23

The wind was blowing the flames, helping the fire to spread.

0:06:230:06:27

To find out why the fire spread

0:06:290:06:31

so quickly in London all those years ago,

0:06:310:06:34

Finley and Grandad Laurence are looking at some old houses.

0:06:340:06:38

-What do you think these buildings are made of?

-Wood.

-That's right.

0:06:380:06:42

Even inside. All the walls are made of wood.

0:06:420:06:46

And the wood is all covered with straw and...horses' poo.

0:06:460:06:50

FINLEY LAUGHS

0:06:500:06:51

And it's a real problem making buildings out of wood, because it

0:06:510:06:55

burns very easily.

0:06:550:06:56

So, when there's a fire, that house will burn very, very quickly.

0:06:560:07:00

What else do you notice about the buildings?

0:07:000:07:03

-They're really close together.

-Yep, they are, and that can be

0:07:030:07:07

a big problem when there's a fire,

0:07:070:07:09

cos it can jump from one building to the other very easily.

0:07:090:07:13

Do you notice anything about the shape of the buildings?

0:07:130:07:16

The front of the houses stick out.

0:07:160:07:19

Because they stick out at the front,

0:07:190:07:21

the fire can get across the streets.

0:07:210:07:23

At the time of the fire, it had been a hot summer,

0:07:230:07:27

so all the wooden buildings in London were very dried out.

0:07:270:07:31

The wind blew the fire, helping it to spread from building to building.

0:07:310:07:36

It spread so quickly that by the end of the first day,

0:07:360:07:39

over 100 houses were catching fire every hour.

0:07:390:07:43

During the Great Fire,

0:07:560:07:58

people had to leave their houses really quickly.

0:07:580:08:01

They only had time to take a few things with them.

0:08:010:08:04

Look - lots of things we've got to save from the fire.

0:08:040:08:08

-Can we save everything?

-No.

0:08:080:08:10

We can only save what we can carry.

0:08:100:08:12

Finley and Grandad Laurence

0:08:120:08:14

are choosing what to save from this room.

0:08:140:08:17

But they have to be quick.

0:08:170:08:19

-How about this picture, Finley?

-No. That's too big and heavy.

0:08:190:08:23

-How about this money?

-Yeah, put it in the box,

0:08:230:08:26

then put it into this pouch here.

0:08:260:08:29

-Can we get any more in?

-Bracelets.

-Bracelets, yeah.

0:08:330:08:36

-How about off this table? Anything we need?

-Yeah.

0:08:360:08:39

-How about some bird seeds?

-Some bird seeds, yes.

0:08:390:08:42

William's family put their precious things in the cellar.

0:08:420:08:46

Other people had to bury their items to keep them safe.

0:08:460:08:49

Is there anything else?

0:08:490:08:52

And your diary, yeah. Put it in the bag. Let's put it in.

0:08:520:08:56

I think that's it. It's full. Come on, let's go.

0:08:570:09:00

Quick, get out of here.

0:09:000:09:02

While some people tried to save their things,

0:09:080:09:11

others tried to put out the fire.

0:09:110:09:14

Quick, Fin - the house is alight.

0:09:150:09:17

We've got to put it out with these squirts.

0:09:170:09:20

Firefighting was very different then.

0:09:200:09:23

There were no big, long fire hoses,

0:09:230:09:25

so people used big water pistols, called water squirts, instead.

0:09:250:09:30

Now squirt the house. Squirt as quick as you can.

0:09:300:09:33

FINLEY LAUGHS

0:09:330:09:34

-Fill up again!

-Finley and Grandad Laurence are using toy water pumps

0:09:360:09:40

-that work the same way as the squirts.

-Right onto them flames.

0:09:400:09:44

We'll get the fire out eventually.

0:09:440:09:46

Fighting fires this way took a long time,

0:09:460:09:49

because people had to keep refilling the water squirts.

0:09:490:09:52

Keep going.

0:09:520:09:54

We'll never get the fire out at this rate, Fin.

0:09:540:09:58

But there were other ways of getting water to the fire, too.

0:10:010:10:05

Look - a fire! We've got to put it out!

0:10:150:10:17

-What shall we use?

-ALL:

-Water!

0:10:170:10:20

That's a good idea!

0:10:200:10:21

We need to get water from the trough to the fire using a line.

0:10:210:10:25

William and his friends were marched

0:10:250:10:27

down to the river Thames by their teacher,

0:10:270:10:30

to try and help fight the Great Fire.

0:10:300:10:32

People got water from pumps in the street, or from rivers, or wells.

0:10:350:10:41

William and his friends passed buckets of water

0:10:410:10:43

to the firefighters, like Finley and the children are doing.

0:10:430:10:47

More water!

0:10:470:10:49

Passing buckets of water along a line of people gets water to

0:10:520:10:56

the fire more quickly.

0:10:560:10:57

-It's working, it's working!

-Put it out!

0:10:590:11:01

The empty buckets are passed back along the line to refill them.

0:11:010:11:06

That's it! We've done it! It's all out.

0:11:090:11:11

-Hurray!

-THEY CHEER

0:11:110:11:14

Hip-hooray! Yay!

0:11:140:11:16

Lots of brave people did everything they could to fight the fire.

0:11:300:11:34

Lots of buildings were knocked down to stop it spreading

0:11:340:11:37

from house to house.

0:11:370:11:39

After four days, the wind died down, and eventually the fire went out.

0:11:390:11:43

But, like most people in London, William's family lost their home.

0:11:430:11:48

There was lots of rebuilding to be done in the years that followed.

0:11:480:11:52

William would have seen stone masons

0:11:520:11:54

making new buildings from stone or brick.

0:11:540:11:57

No-one was allowed to build wooden houses in London any more.

0:11:570:12:01

A great fire like that could never happen again.

0:12:010:12:04

-Have you had a nice day today, Finley?

-It's been brilliant.

0:12:150:12:19

It's been fun finding out what happened a long, long time ago.

0:12:190:12:23

Can you remember some of the things we did?

0:12:230:12:26

What did Finley and Grandad Laurence use as a ball?

0:12:260:12:29

A sausage? Or an apple?

0:12:290:12:31

Yes! They used an apple to play apple ball.

0:12:330:12:37

What did we discover people did to warn everyone about the Great Fire?

0:12:370:12:41

Phone them up? Or ring the church bells?

0:12:410:12:44

BELLS RING

0:12:440:12:45

They rang the noisy church bells.

0:12:450:12:48

What did Finley choose to save from the pretend fire?

0:12:480:12:51

His diary? Or his best hat?

0:12:510:12:54

Yes, he rescued his diary. Well done!

0:12:540:12:58

What did you enjoy most about today?

0:12:580:13:00

I enjoyed squirting the buildings with water.

0:13:000:13:03

What was your favourite thing, Grandad?

0:13:030:13:06

Mine was making the bucket line and putting the fire out.

0:13:060:13:09

But my most favourite thing was being with you all day.

0:13:090:13:14

What a journey of discovery.

0:13:170:13:19

That was Finley and Grandad Laurence's tiny tale

0:13:190:13:22

about what it was like living during the Great Fire of London,

0:13:220:13:26

about 350 years ago.

0:13:260:13:28

Now, Grandad Laurence has shared this story with Finley,

0:13:280:13:31

it's time for Finley to start his very own story.

0:13:310:13:34

Do you know someone with a story to share?

0:13:340:13:37

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS