3-011-367 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins of the village of Billinghay, Lincolnshire, after the late fire, 1864. 'We give a View of the ruins of a part of the village of Billinghay, which was destroyed by fire on Friday, the 9th September. The fire, it seems, was caused by the sparks from a foul chimney falling upon the roof of a thatched hovel in a yard belonging to William Scott, wood-dealer. The wind at the time was blowing a gale from the west, and the burning straw was blown upon a thatched cottage belonging to Robert Newton, a carrier between Sleaford and Lincoln. This building was completely gutted, as well as the stable and carthouse, with other buildings. The flames extended across the road in an easterly direction and reached a row of cottages on the other side of the street. The Primitive Methodist Chapel was burnt, as well as nearly all the houses in the immediate neighbourhood of the fire. The loss will fall very heavily upon the sufferers, few of whom are insured; and, as they are generally of the poorer class, the result is most distressing. Nearly one hundred men, women, and children have to be accommodated with temporary lodgings in the village school-room'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.