Great Fire of London general; and more particularly in this business of the fire, laying it all upon him." Pepys was a senior official in the Navy Office by then, and he ascended the Tower of London on Sunday morning to view the fire from a turret. He recorded in his diary that the eastern gale had turned it into a conflagration. It had burned down several churches and, he estimated, 300 houses and reached the riverfront. The houses on London Bridge were burning. He took a boat to inspect the destruction around Pudding Lane at close range and describes a "lamentable" fire, "everybody
7th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment did not have its own drill hall, and drill parades were held at Regent's Park, the Ditch of the Tower of London and at Gray's Inn Square. Prize-givings and inspections were held in the Guildhall, and the annual inspection was carried out at Horse Guards Parade. Church parades were held at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street. The headquarters was first at 26 Great Tower Street, then 38 New Broad Street, both in the City, and afterwards at 76 Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell, but in 1903 the battalion raised enough money to obtain larger premises at Sun Street, Finsbury Square. During