The Great Fire of 1802
The great Fire of 1802
More properties lost by fire
An extract of
a letter from
Henry Penny
to Mr R Donn, St
Sidwell Street,
Exeter, 1
October 1802
relating to a
fire in Yeovil
of Thursday, 23
September 1802.
"... It brake
out last
Thursday morning
about 5 o'clock
in a narrow lane
called
Little Lane
[that is,
Tabernacle Lane]
just behind Mr
Edwards house -
it has destroyed
13 dwellings
besides
outhouses. Our
family and Mrs
Donn were
greatly
frightened, as
might be
expected, but
however I have
the happiness to
acquaint you
that they are
all as well as
can be expected
and that the
damage sustained
by me is very
little. I had no
other prospect
when I first
discovered it
but having my
house burnt down
about my ears
and nothing but
the very
greatest
exertions of
those employed
saved me. Mrs
Donn has lost 4
tenements in
Back Street
amongst which is
John Hodges'
- her own house
is not the least
damaged ..."
Note: John Boucher Hodges was the schoolmaster of the Yeovil Charity School. At the time of the fire, he was aged 69. He died in Yeovil in 1806, aged 73.
