 VISITORS to Warwick have much to look at. Our county town has a series of architectural set-pieces, from the world-famous castle rising cliff-like from the banks of the Avon to the timber-framed gables of Lord Leycester’s Hospital and the magnificent Beauchamp Chapel.
Visitors can admire the town’s spacious streets filled with handsome buildings.
The timeless refinement and grace of the town centre is pretty exceptional. Warwick is said to be the best example of a “William and Mary” town in England. As King William III (and Queen Mary II) only ruled for 13 years, from 1689 – 1702, you might wonder how all this came about?
The answer in five words is – the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694. The medieval heart of the old timber-framed town was torn out and restored by one of brick and stone, in a new architecture based on symmetry and proportion.
But today, 300 years after the fire, you can still catch glimpses of the old Warwick. The most splendid example is Mill Street which gives a fairly good impression of what Warwick may once have looked like.
According to Daniel Defoe, Warwick “was ever esteem’d a handsome, well-built town”. It probably had a wealth of ornate half-timbered buildings but only a handful survive in the centre, with one of the best examples on the outskirts - the Tudor House Hotel in West Street, built in the early 1600s.
Luckily for Warwick, the fire stopped at the top of Castle Street. If you pause and look down the street, you will see the familiar wooden gable and jettied first floor of Thomas Oken’s historic house.
The narrowness of the lane between them shows how tightly knit the medieval street plan of Warwick was. It is therefore not surprising that once the fire caught hold, devastation followed.
The catastrophe struck at the end of a hot dry summer, on September 5, 1694.
The fire broke out at 2pm in High Street, near the Friends Meeting House. Tradition says it started from a kindling torch being carried across the road to start a neighbour’s fire. A spark flew from it and fell on the thatch of an adjoining house which was soon in flames.
A strong south-westerly wind fanned the flames and the fire spread rapidly up the High Street, mercifully sparing Lord Leycester’s Hospital on the opposite side of the road.
An eye-witness recorded that the fire: “soe swiftly carried through the principal and chief tradeing parts of the Town that within the space of half an hour, severall places, and farr distant from each other, were all in flames at once, soe that all endeavours that could be used to hinder the fierceness of its progress were vain and ineffectual.”
The fire spread into Swan Street where it was halted by the demolition of the King and Queen pub. It swept up the north side of Jury Street and set the whole of Church Street ablaze.
St Mary’s church perished, apart from its medieval chancel and the Beauchamp Chapel (thanks to the heroic fire-fighting efforts of parish clerk James Fish and four parishioners). It is said the church was set alight by the smouldering belongings of townsfolk, fleeing from the fire, who sought refuge in the building. The heat was so intense that the lead from the roof melted, along with the bells.
From there, the fire blazed into Sheep Street (now Northgate Street) destroying many buildings on the east side. Shire Hall was saved by a team of 30 men but the county jail next door (now the site of Shire Hall) was burned down - the prisoners were freed as the flames advanced.
Some stuck around to help fight the fires while others took to their heels. Responding to concerns about escaped prisoners on the loose, a town worthy quipped that he didn’t think it would cause too many problems as the felons wouldn’t stick around long enough to get into mischief!
Six hours later, the fire was dying down and large parts of Market Place, part of the Butts and Joyce Pool - a slum area - had gone. In fact about a third of the town had been destroyed - a total of 460 buildings.
Dozens of families were homeless but miraculously, no human lives were lost. Action to help the 250 homeless families was prompt. The next day Lord Brooke of Warwick Castle set up a relief committee to aid those who had “…lost all they had, had neither bread to eat, nor tools to work, nor bed to lay on…”
Records show that the centre of Warwick was an industrious place with many trades. The book of estimates for losses incurred gives a fascinating glimpse into those days...
We have Edward Angrave the weaver, who lived in the Butts and Robert Coale from Market Place who was a tallow chandler (a stinky job, making candles from animal fat).
There were tailors, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoe makers, gunsmiths and one Charles Watts from Sheepe Streete - a flax dresser, whose job was to prepare flax for the spinner.
All these tradesmen would have been working cheek by jowl in the back lanes of the town - and all needed light and heat, which was provided by fire.
In 1694, Warwick was still largely a medieval town with narrow streets and timber-framed buildings and cottages. Stone was for high-status buildings, such as the church and the castle.
Although most houses on the main streets were tiled, a great many of them had stables, barns, lean-tos and pig sties, which were thatched. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
Thatch had long been recognised as a fire hazard. In nearby Stratford-upon-Avon the town corporation had ordered as early as 1583 that all new houses should be roofed with tiles but such orders were difficult to enforce.
By 1694 Warwick did have a a fire engine which was kept at St Mary’s Church, alongside a fire bell for sounding the alarm. This was said have burned before it could be used.
The town had no fire service as such but records show the town corporation had paid 34 men to put out a previous fire and to keep watch overnight.
By law, the tower of every parish church had to have fire-fighting
equipment - long ladders, leather buckets, axes and fire-hooks for pulling down buildings. There were two ways to fight fires - water and demolition.
The effect of the Great Fire on the architectural character of Warwick was dramatic. Rebuilding was done by strict rules, laid down by an Act of Parliament passed in November 1694. The main streets were widened and houses had to be built of brick and stone.
Roofs had to be tiled or slated. Timber and thatch were forbidden and most buildings were only allowed to be two storeys.
The Great Fire of Warwick is arguably the most significant event in the history of the town - an earth-shattering episode for everyone who lived through it.
The influence of the great event continues to this day - as the Warwick that rose from the ashes is pretty much the one that you see today. It continues to be appreciated by those who live and work here as well as the many visitors from all over the world who come to enjoy its architectural splendour.
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