Fire! Fire! Bucks on fire!
This year is the 300th anniversary of the Great Fire of Buckingham, which destroyed 138 houses and left 507 people homeless in March 1725. It was devastating.
But Buckingham was not alone. People and houses in other villages and towns suffered too. Stony Stratford burned in 1738 and 1742, losing its medieval church, Great Horwood in 1781 and in the south of the county Cliveden House burned down in 1795, then again in 1849, while poor water supply contributed to the high street fire at Winslow in 1933.
But not all fires were accidental. Houses were burned down in Wendover during the English Civil War and in 1939-1945 more than seven thousand high-explosive and incendiary bombs fell on Buckinghamshire.
Fires and their impact in Buckinghamshire will be the subject of this year’s BLHN Conference and Bucks Local History Fair in October.
Why not take a free stand for your society (or museum or organisation) at the Local History Fair and tell everyone how fire – its damage and its prevention – has affected your patch.
After all, fire was in every house, used for heating and cooking; in every workshop, mill and factory for metal-working, grain-drying, making pots, firing bricks – every local Buckinghamshire industry. Every local society has a story to tell. Here are some ideas (you don’t have to cover them all):
- What protection did people have from fire? What precautions did people take?
- Did your town or village burn? Or just a few houses? Maybe the big house burned down, or a local mill or factory?
- How did the fire start, how fast did it spread?
- Were there external factors such as a high wind or a drought?
- Who was blamed and was this justified?
- What fire precautions did people have, where did these fail?
- Was there any kind of local fire service of any kind, did this attend the fire, was there adequate water supply?
- How much damage was done? What was the financial cost – and the human cost?
- Are there drawings, plans, handbills, photographs that can be used to show the damage done?
- Were houses rebuilt or just repaired?
- Did rebuilding include improved fire precautions – had people learned anything?
Society stands are free at the Bucks Local History Fair this October.
Come and tell everyone YOUR local history.
Come, raise your society’s profile and win new members.
Book your society’s space : Link: chair@bucksas.org.uk
Peter Marsden
for the Bucks Local History Network Organising Group
