St Paul's..

Whilst it is known the old cathedral was damaged beyond repair, during the great fire..what is less well known is that it's restoration or replacement was already being discussed as it was in a poor state.

Just a week earlier Sir Christopher Wren attended a meeting on its restoration and at the time of the fire it was in part covered with Wooden scaffolding which helped the fire to take hold.

The fire started when embers got through a gap in the roof and set wooden beams alight

Within 30 minutes the lead roof started to melt and this according to some reports created a most of molten metal that stopped fire fighters getting to the cathedral.

Nearby Paternoster Square was then the centre of London's printing industry..

Many Printers stored books and paper in the Cathedral Crypt believing it to be safe..this just added to the fire and some books were still smouldering a week later.

The heat of the fire caused the stone walls to explode sending lumps of stone hurling out..

Apparently the heat was so fierce you couldn't get within a furlong of the cathedral (200 metres 220 yards)

One final story..one casualty was the corpse of Robert De Braybroke former Lord Chancellor who had lain at rest for 262 years..

The Fire exposed his corpse..not sure what to do his body was put upright on his feet and put into the Chapter House

It stayed on show for 12 years