Page 23 - BR July 2024

July 2024 July 2024
BERE REGIS HISTORY SOCIETY

Fire Walk
236 years ago, on the early morning of 4th June
1788, a very serious fire broke out at a pub
called The Crown, when the landlord was Sam
Simmons. On our May meeting we walked the
whole course of that fire eastwards down West
Street, along Church Lane, down to The Cross
then along North Street until Blind Street where
the fire ended. It had consumed over fifty
houses and barns almost all of which were
thatched-roofed buildings. They were a
combination of both brick and cobb-walled.
The 1777 map of Bere was used as a
guide and we were able to identify
the names of the people who lived in
most of the houses. There were a lot
more smaller terraced cottages at
that time making it easier for the fire
to spread being driven by a
prevailing westerly breeze. It had
begun where Cyril Wood Court now
is and building to the West of that
location escaped, although it did
destroy cottages on both sides of the
road all the way to the Royal Oak.
There was only one death; that of a
blind widower who was buried the
The area that the fire affected in 1788 n e x t d a y . S t r a n g e l y a n d
coincidentally, at about 9am on that
day there was a partial solar eclipse
but it is unlikely that it was noticed here as there was a lot of clearing up to do.
We ended our Fire-Walk at the Royal Oak for liquid refreshment.
John Pitfield, Projects Secretary

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