 THE rebuilding of Warwick after the Great Fire of 1694 was one of the triumphs of English urban design.
The idea of a grand town vision, with wide streets to a set design, was revolutionary in provincial England.
The Fire Act of the same year had been passed to regulate compensation claims and the way in which the town was to be rebuilt.
It declared that ‘all public streets and lanes should be made of a convenient wideness’ - a measure to prevent the future outbreak of fires.
Work began in earnest, the new building lines were staked out and rebuilding quickly got under way.
Compensation was given to those who had lost land for street widening. To speed things up, all owners had to begin rebuilding within two years or their sites would be sold.
With a few minor variations, the main streets of High, Church and Sheep (now Northgate) were rebuilt almost entirely according to a set pattern. It gave the county town a new dignity and formality.
It was a remarkable achievement considering the speed at which the reconstruction took place. By 1704, a mere decade later, the rebuilding of three entire streets and the damaged church was complete.
Extraordinary when you consider that one third of the town had been engulfed by flames one hot September afternoon.
In 1697 when visitor Celia Fiennes rode through town, she could say that ‘the town of Warwick ... is most now new buildings…the streetes are very handsome and buildings regular and fine.’
The new town design also inspired a good deal of further rebuilding and refronting, creating a new unified feel to the town.
In 1716 author Daniel Defoe commented that Warwick ‘is now rebuilt in so noble and beautiful a manner, that few towns in England make so fine an appearance’.
The look of post-fire Warwick coupled with some notable buildings can be attributed to architect and master-builder Francis Smith and his older brother, William, who both came to work on the reconstruction of Warwick less than a year after the fire.
Born into a prosperous family of master builders from Wolverhampton, Francis, a mason by trade, was in his mid-20s when he came to assist his elder brother William, a bricklayer, who had been appointed one of three town surveyors.
Thereafter, Francis Smith settled in Warwick and made his name as architect-builder to the gentry. He was always known as ‘Mr Smith of Warwick’.
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