The great fire of london was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of london from sunday 2 september to thursday 6 september 1666 the fire gutted the medieval city of london inside the old roman city wallit threatened but did not reach the city of westminster todays west end charles iis palace of whitehall or most of the suburban slums. Great fire of london september 2 5 1666 the worst fire in london s history it destroyed a large part of the city of london including most of the civic buildings old st pauls cathedral 87 parish churches and about 13000 houses. The great fire of london started on sunday 2 september 1666 in a bakers shop on pudding lane belonging to thomas farynor farriner although he claimed to have extinguished the fire three hours. The people of london who had managed to survive the great plague in 1665 must have thought that the year 1666 could only be better and couldnt possibly be worse poor souls they could not have imagined the new disaster that was to befall them in 1666 a fire started on september 2nd in the kings bakery in pudding lane near london bridge. The fire reached its peak on 4 september 1666 spreading from the temple in the west to near the tower of london in the east 4 september 1666 evening gunpowder was used to blow up houses it successfully stopped the fire around the tower of london and cripplegate