Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
Part of The Great Fire of London — GCSE History
This memory aid covers Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts within The Great Fire of London for GCSE History. Revise The Great Fire of London in Restoration England 1660-1685 for GCSE History with 9 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 15 of 17 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.
Topic position
Section 15 of 17
Practice
9 questions
Recall
4 flashcards
🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
"Pudding Lane to Pie Corner" — the food connection: The fire began at Thomas Farriner's bakery on Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666. It was eventually stopped near a tavern called Pye Corner (modern: Pie Corner) in Smithfield. Contemporary preachers pointed to this as divine symbolism: the fire was God's punishment for the gluttony of Londoners, starting at Pudding and ending at Pie. Students remember this easily because both are food — once you know the fire "went from pudding to pie," you'll never forget where it started and stopped.
The number 666 — the devil's fire: The fire broke out in 1666. Many Londoners — including Puritan preachers — saw the "666" as the "number of the beast" from the Book of Revelation and interpreted the fire as divine punishment. This matters historically because it shaped the immediate reaction: people looked for someone to blame (Catholics, foreigners, the godless court of Charles II) rather than examining structural causes. The Monument's original inscription and Robert Hubert's hanging both flow from this atmosphere of religious hysteria.
The BWWS acronym for spread factors: Use this to remember why the fire spread so far:
- B — Buildings (timber-framed, thatched, jettied upper storeys)
- W — Weather (hot dry summer, all fuel perfectly dried out)
- W — Wind (strong east wind drove flames west across the city)
- S — Slow response (Bludworth delayed firebreaks; equipment inadequate)
Key people: "Pepys Pen, Bludworth Blundered, Charles Cared, Wren Rebuilt" (PBCW):
- P — Pepys (Navy Board official; diary provides primary evidence; woke the King)
- B — Bludworth (Lord Mayor who delayed — the critical failure of the response)
- C — Charles II (personally supervised response; showed leadership unlike during the Plague)
- W — Wren (architect of new St Paul's and 51 churches; grand plan rejected)
Key statistics to memorise cold:
- 13,200 houses destroyed
- 87 churches destroyed (including the old St Paul's)
- 100,000 made homeless
- 6 official deaths (but real number was higher)
- 4 days burning (2–5 September 1666)
- 51 new churches designed by Wren
- 1711 — new St Paul's Cathedral completed