Greart Fire of London recreated in miniature

Seaton Primary School pupils were treated to a re-enactment of the Great Fire of London. Ref mha 2040-13-15AW. Picture: Alex Walton (Image: Archant)

Teachers at Seaton Primary School found a great way to fire up pupils interest in history - by staring a blaze in the playground.

They set light to a model of the area of London where The Great Fire of 1666 began.

The youngsters have been studying the blaze as part of their school work and helped to build the miniature replica of the part of the capital where it all started.

They heard how the huge fire began early in the morning in a tiny bakery in Pudding Lane owned by a man called Thomas Farriner. He’d forgotten to put out the fire in his oven the night before.

Seaton Primary School pupils were treated to a re-enactment of the Great Fire of London. Ref mha 2025-13-15AW. Picture: Alex Walton (Image: Archant)

The fire lasted four days, and burned down more than 13,000 homes. There are a lot of reasons why the fire was so large, mostly to do with the way houses were built – a lot of them were made from wood, and were very close together.

Many people went to St Paul’s Cathedral to escape from the fire because it was made from stone. But, some of the roof was made from wood, so this didn’t turn out to be a very good plan and the building burnt down.

The fire also destroyed 87 churches.

Some key facts about the fire:

? The Great Fire of London happened between September 2 and 5, in 1666.

? Before the fire began, there had been a drought in London that lasted for 10 months, so the city was very dry.

? In 1666, lots of people had houses made from wood and straw which burned easily. Houses were also built very close together.

? To fight fires during this time, people would have used leather buckets, metal hooks and water squirts.

? Sir Christopher Wren designed a monument to remember the Great Fire of London, which still stands today - some 202ft (62m) from the spot in Pudding Lane where it started.