Great Fire of London both recorded the events and their own reactions day by day, and made great efforts to keep themselves informed of what was happening all over the City and beyond. After two rainy summers in 1664 and 1665, London had lain under an exceptional drought since November 1665, and the wooden buildings were tinder-dry after the long hot summer of 1666. A fire broke out at Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane a little after midnight on Sunday 2 September. The family was trapped upstairs but managed to climb from an upstairs window to the house next door, except for a
Lombard Street, London side close to Gracechurch Street. Destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666, St Edmund's was rebuilt during the 1670s by Christopher Wren. It is no longer used for regular worship, though, and now performs service as the London Centre for Spirituality. A third church existed, until its demolition in 1937, near the junction of Gracechurch Street, known as All Hallows Lombard Street. The site now forms part of the plot occupied by the former Barclays bank. Ball Alley (which also no longer exists) connected the church with Lombard Street and George Yard. Historically, Lombard Street was one of