On June 4th at about two o’clock in the afternoon, two hundred and eighty years ago, the cry of “FIRE!” was heard in the streets of Blandford. People stepped out from their businesses, some put down their drinks and others were called from their ple…
On June 4th at about two o’clock in the afternoon, two hundred and eighty years ago, the cry of “FIRE!” was heard in the streets of Blandford. People stepped out from their businesses, some put down their drinks and others were called from their pleasures to see what all the commotion was about. They had no idea that by the end of the day their town would be burnt to the ground, the events of the day forever etched in history as the Great Fire of Blandford 1731.
The fire started outside of a soap boiler’s house when sparks fell from a chimney on to the thatch of a house standing on rising ground at the junction of four streets near the middle of the town. Blandford has a long history of fires: the last serious outbreak in July 1713 was still fresh in the memory of many of the inhabitants. This time they were better prepared and were able to quickly deploy three engines to tackle the blaze, although it soon became apparent these were not going to be enough.
Encouraged by a wind blowing from the north west, the flames with great agility settled on the buildings on the four street corners and from there excitedly raced along the streets swallowing up buildings and contents. Pewter melted and silver turned to dross. By seven in the evening scarcely a house was left untouched.
Townsfolk had grabbed what they could of their possessions and many had run to the church which, standing alone, was still untouched by the early evening. Some rested in the churchyard using tombstones to shield them from the heat. The fire still wanted to play and showed-off, tossing its sparks across the river towards neighbouring hamlets in the parishes of St Mary Blandford and Bryanston.
During the evening it was noticed that there was fire in the church steeple but the people managed to extinguish it only to see it break out again. At about two in the morning and twelve hours after the fire started the flames broke through the roof of the church, melting lead, splitting stones and dissol..
