Tag: great fire of london

The ruins of Christ Church Greyfriars and the grave of a “she-wolf”
14th Century · 16th Century · 20th Century · City of London

The ruins of Christ Church Greyfriars and the grave of a “she-wolf”

Caroline14 Comments

I remember the first time I saw Christ Church Greyfriars – I was on my way to a job interview near the Old Bailey, and as I was walking up Newgate Street from the tube station by St Paul’s I saw the ruins of a church.  Intrigued, I went over to the ruin to read the sign explaining what the site was.  I’ve always been fascinated by ruins – not just the reasons why a building became a ruin, but also why the ruin itself was preserved.  When one considers how valuable every square foot of space is in the City of London, it’s quite something to come across a ruin that’s stood there for over seventy years.

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Pye Corner: Flames, poltergeists and bodysnatchers
17th Century · 18th Century · City of London

Pye Corner: Flames, poltergeists and bodysnatchers

Caroline10 Comments

Pye Corner, the site where the Great Fire of London famously came to an end in 1666, has a long and grisly history of which the Great Fire is only one chapter.  Accounts of the Great Fire tell us that the Fire began at a bakery in Pudding Lane and ended three days later (having consumed 13,000 houses and 87 churches) at Pye Corner.  Christopher Wren’s towering Monument to the Great Fire of London is close to Pudding Lane, but where is Pye Corner?

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