Mapped: the Great Fire of London on top of the modern day city

It may have happened more than 400 years ago, but the Great Fire of London 1666 is still one of the worst disasters in London’s history. 

The fire started at a bakery on Pudding Lane, 202 feet away from the Monument – which was erected to commemorate the disaster five years later, and still stands. It’s largely thought that fuel or wood stored at the bakery was set alight by a spark from a nearby oven, then the blaze grew at a spectacular rate as a result of dry summer weather and a powerful easterly wind. 

The fire spread rapidly and devastated the city for four whole days, kept alive by densely packed wooden houses, thatched roofs and warehouses that were crammed with flammable materials. At the time, the blaze destroyed a quarter of 17th century London, left 100,000 homeless (miraculously only six deaths were recorded) and turned St Paul’s Cathedral to ruins. 

To give you an better idea of just how mighty the fire was, a guy called Julian Hoffmann Anton has produced a map that puts the Great Fire of London onto the city that we know today. 

If the same fire were to spread in 2025, it would, of course, engulf almost all of the City of London, plus most of Holborn and Fleet Street. The Walkie-Talkie would be gone, Bank would be flattened and Cannon Street station would be demolished – that’s a lot of finance bros being forced to work from home. The map shows that it would narrowly miss Moorgate, the Gherkin and (as in 1666) the Tower of London.

Scary stuff, eh? Luckily, shortly after the event it was decided that the capital probably needed a whole team of people who’s job it was to stop fires, and the London Fire Brigade was born. So these days, they’d be on the scene. 

Hoffmann told Time Out: ‘I’m always exploring new ways to make data memorable, both in my work and personal projects. This map blends my passion for cinematic visuals, 3D, history, and London , bringing the past back to life into the present. It’s difficult to imagine the true scale of historical events in a city that has changed so much and flat and ancient maps often struggle to convey this.

‘Creating this map has changed how I see the streets I walk every day and deepened my appreciation for the treasure trove that is London. I hope to share that feeling with others and will continue experimenting with original data visualisations.’

You can check out Julian Hoffmann Anton’s map in more detail here.

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