A building in Pudding Lane destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666: excavations on the Peninsular House site, 1979-80
Gustav and Chrissie Milne
Evidence of the Great Fire of London has been recorded on many of the Museum of Londons archaeological excavations, from Baynards Castle in the west to Billingsgate in the east. This report considers one of those sites (sitecode: PEN79), a property very close to the infamous bakehouse in which the Fire actually started. The excavations exposed a cellar, fronting onto Pudding Lane, in which barrels of pitch were being stored at the time of the Fire. The destruction debris which had collapsed into the cellar contained remains of over 30 earthenware storage jars, together with numerous metal hooks and eyes contorted by the heat. It is likely, therefore, that at ground-floor level the building was used as a shop.
[Transactions 36 (1985), pp 169 82; published abstract, but modified]
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