Great Fire hooks and eyes; fused; melted

These lumps of iron hooks and eyes were found during excavations of a cellar of a shop on Pudding Lane, which had burnt down during the Great Fire. The shop may have been supplying the shipping industry as the cellar contained the remains of barrels of pitch (pitch was used to waterproof boats) and a stock of ceramic storage jars. The hooks and eyes have melted in the heat and formed into clumps. This is typical of fire debris found on many sites across the City. A mixture of rubble, burnt building material and semi-melted household goods is often found in a layer on sites dating to the mid-1600s and shows very clearly the devastation caused by the Great Fire.