The Dreadful Judgement

Product Description

If the story that struck the Grand Banks off Newfoundland in October 1991 was The Perfect Storm, the fire that destroyed London in September 1666 was The Perfect Fire.

A fire needs only three things: a spark to ignite it, & the fuel & oxygen to feed it. In 1666, a ten-month drought had turned London into a tinderbox. The older parts of the city were almost entirely composed of wood-frame buildings & shanties. The riverside wharves were stack with wood, coal, oil, tallow, hemp, pitch, brandy, & almost very other combustible material known to seventeenth century man. On 2 September 1666, London ignited. Over the next five days the gale blew without interruption & the resulting firestorm destroyed the whole city.

THE DREADFUL JUDGEMENT tells the true, human story of the Great Fire of London through the eyes of the individuals caught up in it. It is a historical story combining modern knowledge of the physics of fire, forensics & arson investigation with the moving eye-witness accounts to produce a searing depiction of the terrible reality of the Great Fire of London & its impact on those who lived through it.