London Quiz for kids: The Great Fire

The Great Fire of London was a terrible disaster that destroyed most of the City of London. As one of the most significant milestones in the history of the City, the Great Fire has been a favourite topic for generations of primary school students across the UK. Here is a quiz with 15 questions great for kids in primary school (KS1, KS2) as well as for older kids and adults in need of a refresher.

In which year was the Great Fire of London?

1566

1666

1766

In which street did the fire start?

Pudding Lane

Brick Lane

Drury Lane

In what type of house did the fire start?

Butcher's Shop

Grocery Shop

Bakery

Who was Samuel Pepys?

The fire marshall of London

An eyewitness that wrote a detailed diary of the fire

The Lord Mayor of London

What did Samuel Pepys bury in his garden to keep safe from the fire?

A gold necklace

His silk trousers

A piece of parmesan cheese

What did they use to put out the fire?

Fire hoses and fire hydrants

Fire engines

Leather Buckets and Squirters

What was fire hooks used for?

To dig out valuables from burnt out buildings

To pull down burning buildings

To attach water hoses

Why was gunpowder explosions used during the Great Fire?

To stop people from looting

To blow up buildings for the fire to stop spreading

To warn people about the danger

Where did people go after the fire destroyed their houses?

They went to the fields outside London to live in tents

They lived in temporary barracks within the Tower of London

The King let them stay in his Royal Palaces

How was the weather during the Great Fire?

Very windy after a long dry summer

It had rained for a long period

There was thunder and lightning

What materials were most of the houses in the City made of?

Steel and concrete

Brick and mortar

Wood and straw

How many buildings were destroyed in the fire?

Around 500 houses

Between 1000 and 2000 houses

More than 13,000 houses

What was the Lord Major's first reaction when he found out about the fire?

He didn't take it seriously and went back to sleep

He jumped in the river Thames

He ordered the army to extinguish the fire

What happened to St Paul's Cathedral?

It burnt down to the ground after the roof caught fire

Only the church tower was damaged

It's thick stone walls protected it from burning

How did they save the Tower of London?

The moat surrounding the castle stopped the fire

They blew up buildings close to the Tower to stop the fire

The soldiers used water from the Thames to put out the fire

Continue

Continue

Share your result via

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

Play again

We can also recommend this free Great Fire of London Game where you meet Tom (a fictional character) and Jane (Samuel Pepys’s maid) and hear their stories of the fire. The Museum of London is an incredible resource to learn more about the Great Fire with its many interactive areas. Or why not visit the City and see if you can locate the city churches that survived the fire? 

Here are some of our other London quizzes for kids:

• London Landmarks Kids Quiz
• London History Kids Quiz
• London Transportation Quiz 

Back to Quizzes Main Page