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On Monday, 20 September 1675, a fast-moving fire destroyed much of Northampton. The pub later identified as The Last reportedly survived because beer was hauled from its cellar and poured over the outside walls and roof. The dramatic choice is often retold as local drinkers deciding to save their pub instead of their own houses. The surviving evidence is more carefully worded: historian Ian Mortimer, in an account published by HistoryExtra, retells Thomas Baskerville’s journal description of the innkeeper’s friends protecting the building. Baskerville does not identify them as pub patrons. The fire and the rebuilding legislation are documented by contemporary records; the beer rescue is a memorable but second-hand story.
What happened in the Great Fire of Northampton?
The fire began in Northampton on 20 September 1675, a Monday. A contemporary printed pamphlet catalogued by the Folger Shakespeare Library describes a sudden blaze in which “the greatest part” of the town was consumed. Modern accounts from HistoryExtra report that roughly 700 of the town’s 850 buildings were destroyed, 11 people died and hundreds were left homeless. Those figures should be treated as figures reported by that modern account, rather than as independently verified official statistics.
Northampton was a market town closely connected with leather tanning and shoemaking. Many buildings stood close together and used wood, plaster and straw, materials that could carry flames rapidly. HistoryExtra also reports that drought had left 1675 unusually dry and that the fire started when an open fire was left unattended on St Mary’s Street. Those details come from the modern secondary account; the contemporary legal and bibliographical records establish the scale of the disaster, but do not independently confirm every part of that reconstruction.
Why did the pub become the story’s symbol?
The surviving establishment is identified by HistoryExtra as The Last. Its name was associated with the “last”, the foot-shaped wooden form used by shoemakers, an especially apt reference in a town known for the trade. In the popular version of the episode, people inside the pub faced a stark choice: leave to protect their own homes or remain and try to save the inn.
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Mortimer’s retelling gives the anecdote its famous shape: “The landlord said that when the fire broke out, all the drinkers in there decided whether they were going to go home and rescue their own homes, or stay and collectively try to preserve the pub. Being good drinkers, they decided to preserve their pub,” he says in the HistoryExtra article. That is Mortimer’s interpretation and wording, not a quotation directly from Baskerville’s original journal.
The distinction matters. In the journal passage as transcribed by HistoryExtra, Baskerville refers to the innkeeper’s friends. He does not say that every person drinking in the pub stayed, nor does he identify the rescuers by the modern category “drinkers”. The headline version captures the drama, but the primary wording supports a narrower claim: people connected with the inn helped defend it.
How did beer help save The Last?
The account says that beer was taken from the cellar and raised to the roof, then poured down the building’s exterior. Baskerville’s wording, reproduced with its period spelling in the modern account, describes the “straingeness [sic] of this preservation” and the rescuers having “hoist[ed] some hogsheads of beer out of his sellar [sic].” A hogshead was a large barrel, so this was a substantial, collective effort rather than someone throwing a few tankards over the wall.
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Mortimer calls it “a huge risk” and “probably a moment in the annals of British firefighting that people decided to fight fire with beer and won.” The phrase is his assessment of the episode. It should not be read as proof that beer was generally an effective substitute for water or that the method was adopted by authorities.
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What do the contemporary records actually prove?
The evidence falls into three different categories, and they should not be blended together.
| Source | What it establishes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| 1675 rebuilding Act | A sudden September fire destroyed most of Northampton and required a legal mechanism for rebuilding and property disputes. | It does not mention The Last or confirm the beer-rescue episode. |
| 1675 pamphlet catalogued by the Folger Shakespeare Library | A contemporary printed account titled A true and faithful relation of the late dreadful fire at Northampton existed. | The catalog record does not show whether the pamphlet mentions the pub. |
| Thomas Baskerville’s journal, as transcribed by HistoryExtra | The modern article reports a passage about the innkeeper’s friends hoisting beer from the cellar to preserve the inn. | The original journal was not directly inspected for this account, and the passage does not prove that all rescuers were customers. |
The Act is the strongest direct evidence for the fire’s legal and civic consequences. The pamphlet record demonstrates that people were publishing accounts immediately after the disaster. The pub story, however, reaches modern readers through secondary reporting of Baskerville’s journal, with Mortimer supplying the interpretation that turns it into a choice between home and pub.
How did Northampton rebuild after the fire?
Parliament passed a rebuilding Act in 1675. Its opening recital records: “Forasmuch as the greatest part of the Towne of Northampton hath beene burnt downe by a suddaine and dreadfull Fire which happened in September last”. The spelling is the legislation’s original form. The Act’s practical purpose was to settle disputes that could otherwise prevent owners from reconstructing plots and buildings.
Historic England reports that the rebuilding bill passed in six weeks. The measures included permission to widen streets and requirements for less flammable roofs made from lead, slate or tile. A property that was not rebuilt within three years could be compulsorily purchased by someone prepared to rebuild it. These provisions show that the response was not simply to replace individual houses exactly as they had stood: the authorities used the disaster to impose safer materials and alter the town’s layout.
The three-year rule also created pressure for owners who lacked money or could not agree with neighbours. Compulsory purchase offered a way to prevent empty plots from obstructing the town’s recovery, while giving another builder a legal route to take on the site.
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What happened to All Hallows Church?
West Northamptonshire Council reports that All Hallows Church was destroyed and rebuilt as All Saints. The council also says that Charles II donated 1,000 tons of timber for the reconstruction. That royal contribution illustrates the scale of the rebuilding effort, but it should not be confused with the parliamentary Act’s separate rules about streets, roofs and disputed property.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteChurch rebuilding, house rebuilding and commercial rebuilding proceeded within the same post-fire environment but did not necessarily follow identical funding arrangements. The surviving civic summaries therefore help explain Northampton’s recovery without proving anything about the fate of The Last itself.
Did pub drinkers really choose the pub over their homes?
The safest answer is: the incident is reported that way in modern retelling, but the primary wording available here is narrower. Mortimer says “all the drinkers” decided to stay, while Baskerville’s journal passage, as transcribed by HistoryExtra, calls the rescuers the innkeeper’s friends. No evidence in the available data independently identifies them as every customer present or records a vote in which each person formally chose the pub.
That qualification does not make the story worthless. It clarifies what is memorable and what is documented. Friends of the innkeeper evidently undertook a dangerous operation involving heavy barrels and a burning town. Whether they were regular customers, neighbours, employees or a mixture of people connected with the landlord cannot be established from the quoted passage alone.
Nor can the anecdote be used to claim that Northampton’s residents generally abandoned their houses. The reported fire killed people, destroyed most of the town and displaced hundreds. Individual decisions would have varied according to where the flames were, who needed help and which buildings could still be reached.
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Why is the beer story historically plausible but difficult to verify?
The method requires no modern machinery: barrels could be moved from a cellar, hauled upward with ropes or other lifting arrangements and emptied over the exterior. Wetting a wall or roof is a straightforward way to reduce the chance that radiant heat and flying embers will ignite it. A pub with a substantial beer stock also had an immediately available liquid resource when water supplies, buckets and organised firefighting were limited.
What remains uncertain is the exact sequence. The surviving summary does not state how many people acted, how many barrels were used, how long the operation lasted or which parts of the building were wetted. It also does not establish whether neighbouring structures were protected in the same way. Those missing details are precisely why the account should be presented as a reported episode rather than reconstructed as a complete fire-service manual.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can the Great Fire tell us about seventeenth-century towns?
Northampton’s experience shows why urban fires were so destructive before modern building codes, hydrants and coordinated fire brigades. Closely packed structures made it easy for flames to leap from roof to roof. Straw and timber provided fuel, while narrow streets restricted movement and made it harder to create a safe gap between burning buildings.
The rebuilding legislation reveals the policy lesson officials drew from the disaster. Wider streets could improve access and create breaks between buildings. Lead, slate and tile roofs resisted ignition better than thatch and other highly combustible coverings. The three-year rebuilding deadline addressed a different danger: a town could remain vulnerable if owners left ruined plots vacant indefinitely.
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How should the story be remembered?
The strongest version of the story does not need exaggeration. A major fire struck Northampton on 20 September 1675; contemporary records describe the devastation and Parliament legislated for reconstruction. A modern account, drawing on Baskerville’s journal through historian Ian Mortimer, says that the innkeeper’s friends hauled beer from the cellar and poured it over the inn, identified as The Last. The image of “fighting fire with beer” is memorable because it combines personal loyalty, immediate danger and an improvised use of whatever resources were at hand.
At the same time, historical precision improves rather than weakens the tale. Calling the rescuers “the innkeeper’s friends” preserves the surviving wording. Calling them “all the drinkers” belongs to Mortimer’s modern retelling. Keeping those layers separate lets readers appreciate both the human drama and the limits of the evidence.
Timeline of the fire and rebuilding
| Date or period | Event |
|---|---|
| 20 September 1675 | A sudden fire begins in Northampton; the date appears in the contemporary rebuilding legislation and pamphlet record. |
| September 1675 | The reported destruction leaves most of the town burned. HistoryExtra gives the modern estimate of about 700 buildings destroyed out of 850, 11 deaths and hundreds homeless. |
| During the fire | According to the Baskerville passage as reported by HistoryExtra, the innkeeper’s friends hoist beer from the cellar and pour it over the inn later identified as The Last. |
| Within six weeks | Historic England says Parliament passes the rebuilding bill. |
| After the Act | Street widening, lead/slate/tile roofing and a three-year rebuilding rule shape the legal recovery. |
| Rebuilding period | All Hallows is rebuilt as All Saints; West Northamptonshire Council reports a 1,000-ton timber donation from Charles II. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 1675 rebuilding Act mention The Last by name?
No. The Act addresses the fire’s destruction and the practical problems of rebuilding, including disputed property and unfinished plots. The pub’s name comes from the modern identification reported by HistoryExtra, not from the Act’s text.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchWhat is the evidence for a contemporary account of the fire?
The Folger Shakespeare Library catalogues a London pamphlet printed in 1675, A true and faithful relation of the late dreadful fire at Northampton. The catalog entry proves that the pamphlet existed, but it does not by itself confirm the beer anecdote.
Why does the story use the word “hogsheads”?
That is the period term in the journal passage as transcribed by HistoryExtra for large barrels of beer. The wording indicates that substantial containers were moved from the cellar, although the surviving summary does not give their exact size or number.
Is the estimate of 700 buildings destroyed universally agreed?
The estimate is reported by HistoryExtra as about 700 of Northampton’s 850 buildings, along with 11 deaths. The available data does not identify an independent statistical source that corroborates those exact figures, so they should be attributed rather than presented as settled official totals.
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