Episode 1 of 4
Tally Stick Disposal
- When
- October 1834
- Where
- House of Lords furnaces
Richard Weobley burned tally sticks in House of Lords furnaces, causing chimney fires due to clinker buildup.
In October 1834, Richard Weobley, the Clerk of Works, received instructions to clear old tally sticks. He opted to burn them in the two heating furnaces of the House of Lords, directly below the peers' chambers. The chimneys had not been swept, and clinker had built up inside the flues, creating conditions for a chimney fire.
Sources
- Burning of Parliament Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-18
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.