Great Fire of London workshop

We took part in a really interesting Durham University workshop on Friday with other home educating families about the Great Fire of London. The children looked at photos of objects damaged by fire and thought what they might tell us about the fire. We also discussed primary and secondary historical sources. We looked at some primary newspaper reports and talked about supporting evidence. We checked that the newspapers had reported the same facts, which would make the story more reliable.

We had a look at a map and some paintings of London at the time of the fire. We discussed the architecture of the time and how that contributed to the spread of the fire: streets close together and overhanging jetties. 

We read some of the diary extracts of Samuel Pepys about how he buried his wine and cheese to save it. The children thought what they would save from a fire and wrote this using a quill. 

The children also enjoyed making a human chain and role playing putting out fire by passing a bucket along the chain after filling it up in the river. They also enjoyed discussing how dirty the river would have been given the lack of proper sewage facilities! 

We really enjoyed the workshop. Peter spent most of it cutting up an old magazine and making pictures with it, so he was happy! We also went to buy my mum a birthday present afterwards and Harry had his enjoy-a-ball class.