Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act for rebuilding the City of London. |
---|---|
Citation | 18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 8
|
Dates | |
Royal assent | 8 February 1667 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | City of London Sewers Act 1848 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Rebuilding of London Act 1666 is an Act of the Parliament of England (18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 8) with the long title "An Act for rebuilding the City of London." [1] The Act was passed in February 1667 in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London and drawn up by Sir Matthew Hale. An earlier Act, the Fire of London Disputes Act 1666, had set up a court to settle disputes arising from buildings destroyed by the Fire. This Act regulated the rebuilding, authorized the City of London Corporation to reopen and widen roads, designated the anniversary of the Fire a feast day, and authorized the building of the Monument. [2] A duty of one shilling on a chaldron (at the time approximately 2,670 kg) of coal was imposed to pay for these measures. [3] [4]
Within a few days of the fire, several proposals for restructuring the city had been put forward by various leading citizens, including Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, and John Evelyn. [5] Most of the suggested plans involved restructuring the medieval city's roads into a grid pattern, and were rejected on the grounds that re-parceling all the land would have been too difficult, time-intensive, and costly. [5] Keeping Londoners in the city and salvaging its economy were top priorities, and thus the act focused on putting straightforward, common-sense building regulations into place as soon as possible. In order to prevent improper construction by over-eager Londoners, the Act included a provision to demolish any new buildings that had been erected without adhering to the act's regulations. [1] Measures were included to attract workmen to the city, and to prevent price gouging of materials or labour. [1]
Among other things, the act added or modified regulations to: [1]
The overall effect was meant to be “harmonious and orderly, [but] without excessive standardization.” [6]
Between 1667 and 1670, the coal tax only raised £23,000 of the expected £100,000; the duty was later increased to 3 shillings in the Rebuilding of London Act 1670 in order to raise enough money to fund the rebuilding the city's churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral. [7]
The Great Plague of London, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the most recent major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long Second Pandemic, a period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics that originated in Central Asia in 1331, and included related diseases such as pneumonic plague and septicemic plague, which lasted until 1750.
The history of London, the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, extends over 2000 years. In that time, it has become one of the world's most significant financial and cultural capital cities. It has withstood plague, devastating fire, civil war, aerial bombardment, terrorist attacks, and riots.
Guildhall is a municipal building in the Moorgate area of the City of London, England. It is off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. The current building dates from the 15th century; however documentary evidence suggests that a guildhall had existed at the site since at least the early 12th century. The building has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation. It should not be confused with London's City Hall, the administrative centre for Greater London. The term "Guildhall" refers both to the whole building and to its main room, which is a medieval great hall. It is a Grade I-listed building.
A building code is a set of rules that specify the standards for construction objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permission, usually from a local council. The main purpose of building codes is to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures — for example, the building codes in many countries require engineers to consider the effects of soil liquefaction in the design of new buildings. The building code becomes law of a particular jurisdiction when formally enacted by the appropriate governmental or private authority.
The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, the New Churches in London and Westminster Act 1710, with the purpose of building fifty new churches for the rapidly growing conurbation of London. It did not achieve its target, but did build a number of churches, which would become known as the Queen Anne Churches.
The Burying in Woollen Acts 1666–80 were Acts of the Parliament of England which required the dead, except plague victims and the destitute, to be buried in pure English woollen shrouds to the exclusion of any foreign textiles.
The Importation Act 1667 was an act of the Parliament of England which banned Irish cattle from being sold in England. It was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863.
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the wall to the west. The death toll is generally thought to have been relatively small, although some historians have challenged this belief.
The Fire of London Disputes Act 1666 was an Act of the Parliament of England with the long title "An Act for erecting a Judicature for Determination of Differences touching Houses burned or demolished by reason of the late Fire which happened in London." Following the Great Fire of London, Parliament established a court to settle all differences arising between landlords and tenants of burnt buildings, overseen by judges of the King's Bench, Court of Common Pleas and Court of Exchequer.
The Rebuilding of London Act 1670 is an Act of the Parliament of England with the long title "Act for the rebuilding of the City of London, uniting of Parishes and rebuilding of the Cathedral and Parochial Churches within the said City."
Events from the year 1667 in England. Dates are given in Old Style. As of the start of this year, the Gregorian calendar in use by the Dutch Republic and elsewhere on the continent is 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar in use in England.
St Michael Bassishaw, or Basinshaw, was a parish church in Basinghall Street in the City of London, standing on land now occupied by the Barbican Centre complex. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, then rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The rebuilt church was demolished in 1900.
Coal-tax posts are boundary marker posts found in southern England. They were erected in the 1860s and form an irregular loop between 12 and 18 miles from London to mark the points where taxes on coal were due to the Corporation of London. There were originally around 280 posts of which around 210 remain.
St Mary Bothaw was a parish church in the Walbrook ward of the City of London. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt. However, some of its materials were used in the rebuilding of St Swithin, London Stone, with which parish it was merged.
St Mary Colechurch was a parish church in the City of London destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt.
Peter Morice was a Dutch-born engineer who developed one of the first pumped water supply systems for the City of London. In London, his first pumps were powered by an undershot waterwheel housed in the northernmost arches of London Bridge, spanning the tidal River Thames.
St John the Evangelist Friday Street was a church in Bread Street Ward of the City of London. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish being united with that of All Hallows, Bread Street.
St Michael-le-Querne, also called St Michael ad Bladum, was a parish church in the Farringdon Within Ward in the City of London. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and not rebuilt. The name is apparently a reference to a quern-stone as there was a corn market in the churchyard.
St Pancras, Soper Lane, was a parish church in the City of London, in England. Of medieval origin, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt.
Joshua Marshall (1628–1678) was an English mason and sculptor. As the King's Master Mason at the time of the Great Fire of London, he was responsible for many of the rebuilding projects. He worked closely with Christopher Wren and was the builder of several "Wren churches".