ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of the Great Fire and rebuilding process and gives an account of the progress of the blaze. It details the progress of the rebuilding effort and examines London and England's reaction to the disaster in holistic a method as possible. The book explores the response in terms of household movement and residential structure and considers the Hearth Tax assessment records and nominal linkage to determine how the Fire impacted on residential patterns, and how it affected individual Londoners and to what extent the Fire affected longer-term shifts in the topographic structure of the metropolis. It studies the economic response to the Fire in terms of the reactions of two trade groups: London's booksellers and the Merchant Taylors' Company. The book shows how these two distinct bodies reacted to the economic disruption caused by the Fire, and where they resettled.
