The Flower of All Cities

Dr Robert Wynn Jones is a retired professional palaeontologist, interested amateur archaeologist and historian. His ancestor, John West, lived in a house near the Stocks Market, which was burnt down during the Great Fire. John West was married in the church of St Gregory by St Paul's in February 1666 to the widow Frances Mickell, whose first husband, Robert, had died of the plague the year before. John numbered among his acquaintances the famous diarist Samuel Pepys. Robert Wynn Jones maintains a website on the history of London up to the time of the Great Fire (www.lostcityoflondon.co.uk) and leads occasional guided walks on related themes. He lives in London.