In 1723 a fire which started in a chandler’s shop off North Street swept through the town and destroyed 40 houses, around half the town’s building stock at the time. High winds had fanned the flames and the affected buildings were said to be entirely destroyed, along with their contents. The losses amounted to over £7,500 with no casualties.
A extract from The Newcastle Weekly Courant says
From the Evening-Post.
London, March 23. They wrote from Wetherby, in Yorkshire, that a Fire broke out there last Week, which burnt with so much Violence, that almost the whole Town was reduc’d to Ashes