3-003-679 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Fire in Southwark: parts of Cotton's Wharf and Haye's Warehouse, 1861. 'Although the ruined warehouses and wharves in Tooley-street still present the appearance of a huge furnace, all danger of the fire spreading seems to have passed away. The fire is still burning with considerable power in the lower part of what was lately Cotton's Wharf, and the adjoining portion of the ruins...Experiments with the fire-annihilator have been made upon the ruins, but have not succeeded in extinguishing any of the immense bodies of fire pursuing their destructive course amongst the vaults and cellarage. There are nine cellars, each 100 feet long and 20 wide, and in them at the present time about two feet of palm oil and melted tallow are floating and burning over the whole surface...The flames may be seen through several openings for an immense distance, like an underground lake of fire...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.