The recent coverage of the blaze at Didcot railway station and the one-legged firefighter who tackled it brought back memories of another devastating fire that struck the nearby area.

The small settlement of East Hagbourne was almost completely destroyed when fire tore through it in 1659.

Firefighting techniques simply did not exist in the seventeenth century, so inhabitants had to gather water from streams, ponds and wells using buckets.

Rakes with lengthy handles were used to pull thatch from roofs, with the aim of preventing flames from leaping between properties.

These basic methods were the only tools villagers possessed during what became one of the worst village fires ever recorded in England.

Historian S Allen Warner stated that a blaze began in a property on the eastern side of the village, near where the war memorial currently stands.

Strong winds blew the flames rapidly westward across the thatched roofs of the small timber-framed houses, reducing almost the entire settlement to ruins.

Fire hooks were taken from the church and additional implements borrowed from nearby villages, yet despite every effort, the fire spread from structure to structure until the church itself faced peril.

The church, built from stone, survived the inferno and was saved, and eventually the flames consumed themselves.

A fundraising initiative was organised through churches throughout the country, and with backing from different congregations, most of the houses were rebuilt.

Beyond the church and a handful of dwellings and farm buildings, nothing currently existing in East Hagbourne predates that catastrophic fire.

As reported recently, Didcot railway station sustained major damage in 1886 when an employee accidentally poured oil lamp fuel onto a heating appliance in one of the waiting areas.

Station workers tried to subdue the flames but soon realised the situation exceeded their abilities as the fire escalated rapidly.

At that time, Didcot was merely a village with no firefighting staff or apparatus, making it necessary to contact units from Oxford, Harwell, Wallingford and Abingdon via telegram.

Harwell’s firefighting equipment made its way to the location on a horse-drawn cart.

One crew member wore a wooden leg, which came loose during the challenging journey over uneven roads.

Notwithstanding this impediment, he persisted in combating the fire while standing on his remaining leg.

The Harwell fire crews, who directed operations, were famed for their wit. When their antique fire engine was showcased at the Didcot Carnival in 1934, with several original crew members attending, it bore the inscription: ‘Fires attended anywhere, distance no object, send a postcard’.

Both fire events were investigated by historian and former fire officer John Lowe, who lives in Kidlington.

East Hagbourne sits roughly one mile to the south of Didcot and formed part of Berkshire until boundary changes in 1974 transferred it to Oxfordshire.