The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-07 00:00:00

AWFUL FIRE IN LAMBETH THIS

MORNING.
LATEST PARTICULARS THIS DAY.
(BY OUR OWN REPORTER.)

We have this morning visited the scene of the awful
conflagration, which broke out in the dead of last night
in the vicinity cf York-road and Belvedere-read, in Lam-
beth. A fire which has resulted in more destruction of
property, and been at the same time attended with more
of miraculous preservation of life, has not occurred in
this great metropolis fm many years, unhappily frequent
and disastrous as such devastating conflagrations are in
London. Men, women, and children who retired to rest
last night, fearing no danger, the occupants of commo-
dious houses, and surrounded by many of the refinements
and all the conveniences of life, find themselves this
morning houseless and homeless, and obliged to throw
themselves on the hospitality of friends for shelter and
pro:ectiou. Immense piles of buildings, which but
yesterday were the proud exponents of thousands over
thousands of pounds sterling, are this morning razed to
the ground, presenting only a melancholy mass of burn-
ing and smoking embers; and hundreds of operatives,
depending on their daily labour for their (lady bread,
ate suddenly thrown out of employment. Moat of our me-
tropolitan, though not our distant readers, are aware
that York-road is a great thoroughfare, running parallel
with the river, on the Lambeth side, between the West-
minster and Waterloo-roads. Going along Weitmin-
ster-bridge from the north side of the river, the Belvedere-
road is the first, and the York-road the second, turning
on the left, and about a hundred yards from the West-
minster-rc ad a short street, called Guildford-street, runs
between the York and Belvedere roads. The cast side
of Guildford-street is almost wholly occupied by the ex-
tensive range of workshops and manufactory belonging
to Messrs. Grissell and Fete), the eminent builders. O❑
the opposite side of the street stand (or rather stood) the
timber yard and saw-mills cf. Mr. Myers, a building con-
tractor in a large way of business, and the India-rubber
manufactory of Mr. Benjamin Nickell and Co. Until
within the last two years the premises in the occupation
of Mr. Myers were part of the manufactory of Messrs
Grissell and Peto, and a cast-iron bridge was thrown
across the street to connect the two places together. In
Guildford-street it was, and in the premises of Mr.
Myers, as it is supposed, that the fire originated. Mr.
Myers had a large yard, filled with timber, building
materials, and carpenter's work of all kinds, occupying
the space immediately behind his own premises and the
India rubber manufactory of Messrs. Nickell, extend-
ing north and south between the houses of a portion of
the York and Belvedere-roads; and it was in the back
:part of the timber-yard of Mr. Myers that the fire is
said to have broken out, it having been first discovered
there by a policeman about half-;past twelve o'clock last
night. A stiff westerly wind was blowing at the time,
which gave increased vehemence to the flames, and car-
ried them in the direction of the Indian-rubber fictory
and Guildford-street. In an incredibly short space of
time the whole of the combustible materials congregated
in the timber-yard presented one vast roaring mass of
flame, shooting up into the air, magnificently lighting
up the surrounding vicinage at the dead hour of night,
and spreading terror and devastation all around.
The timberyard abutted towards the south on the
back part of the premises of Mr. Mishin, a
surgeon in large practice residing at No. 7, York-read,
whose house happening to be immediately contiguous to
the spot where the fire is said to have taken its rise,
speedily caught hold, and in a very short time was com-
pletely gutted, be and his family escaping into the
streets for their lives. Thence the conflagration pro-
ceeded down Yord-road, in the direction cf Guildford-
street, consuming each house in its irresistible progress
with terrific rapidity. The houses in York-road, num-
bered 7,8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, were each in its turn sub-
mitted to this awful ordeal, and with the same result—
the flight cf the inmates, the destruction of their furni-
ture and property to a greater or less extent, and a me-
lancholy mass of charred and roofless walls to memo-
rialize the locality, and the attendant ruin of the
catastrophe.

Had not York-road been intercepted by Guild-
ford-street, thus.cutting off the communication ,between
the line of houses on the north side of the road, the
mischiefs cf the conflagration would haVe been greatly
augmented, and it is difficult to imagine where it might
have ended.

Simultaneous with the destruction of the homes in
York-road, the flames communicated with the India-
rubter manufactory cf Messrs. Nickell, consisting of an
immense building five stories high, and fifteen rooms,
which they speedily consumed, with all its machinery
and stock. In one floor of this building alone there
were 500 machines used in Can manufacture cf India-
rubber web, and in another 300, besides about a dozen
power looms and various hand looms. There were also
several hydraulic and screw presses on the ground floor,
and a very large stock of silk-rubber and cotton, all of
which are destroyed. A fine high pressure condensing
steam engine, of twenty horse power, built by Mann w-
ing, and which gave motion to tae machinery in the manu-
factory, met with a similar fate. There wore abodt 130 men
and girls employed on the premises, who are conse-
quently thrown out of Rork. The superintendent of
the manufactory, who lived on the premises, escaped
with his wife and four children iu their night clothes,
every article cf their furniture and the rest of their
clothing being destroyed. Messrs. Nickell estimate
their loss at about 15,0001., but they are partially in-
sured. The whole of the property of Mr. Myers, on
whose premises the fire is supposed to have originated,
was in like manner consumed, including four valuable
horses, which the firemen were unable to recut. Mr.
Myers is an eminent stone carver, and executes a groat
deal of the work of Mr. Pugin, the ecclesiastical archi-
tect. The new Roman Catholic cathedral, St. George's-
fields, v. as built by him. his property was partly
insured.
During this awful conflagration not a single life ap-
pears to have been sacrificed, so far as we can learn,
though the escape of many persons, exposed to the most
imminent peril, must have been little less than miracu-
lous. One instance may be singled out for relation:—
The house No. 12, in York-road, being one of those
which were burnt, was occupiel by a Mr. Wardell, the
superintendent of the works of Messrs. Grissell and
Peto at the House of Lords, whose wife was confined by
child-birth yesterday. Whilst the flames were raging
she was carried down from her room at midnight into
the street,in the arms of two gentlemen, and taken along
with her child to the house of a friend in Addington-
stre.t, close by, for safety.
The fire appears to have spent itself about three
o'clock this morning, though at between ten and eleven
the embers were still burning in many places.

MARKET NE WS.-(THIS DAY).
NEWGATZ AND 1.11ADMN33112.1..
These markets were heavy today at barely stationary
pricer. Beef, from 23 4d to 33 4d; Mutton, 23 6d to
3s 6d; Vral, 3s to 43; and Pork, 33 to 4s per 81b3 by
the carcase.