2-888-510 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Burning of St. Anne's Church, Limehouse, [London], on Good Friday Morning, 1850. 'The roof of the church was on fire, and the entire building enveloped in smoke; and such was the rapidity of the flames, that before a single fire-engine could be got to work the roof had fallen in; and in a very short time the interior was consumed to the bare walls of the body of the church; the tower at the west end remaining, though it had been injured internally...An immense concourse of the inhabitants speedily assembled in the churchyard. As yet there was no engine on the spot, and but a very scanty supply of water flowed from the street plugs. In this dilemma, it was thought best at once to save the parochial monuments and records, and such other movables as the body of the church contained'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.