Why the Whitehouse?
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
The White House
A brief History
During the Napoleonic Wars the Americans were supplying Europe with goods. Great Britain as it was then called tried to blockade supplies from America. We had a much larger navy than America, and this was largely successful, and American seamen were taken prisoner and slaves were freed during this period.
On the 18 June 1812 America declared war on Great Britain. The Americans with a population of 7.7 million invaded Canada with a population of 1/2 Million and thought that there would be little resistance, and expected to be welcomed. This was not the case, and the mainly indigenous forces held them at bay.
On the 27th April 1813, the Americans burned the Parliamentary and Official buildings in the then capital of upper Canada, York, now called Toronto. They also wantonly looted and burnt most of the privately owned property there, as was also the case in Lake Eerie and Niagara.
In retaliation for this, with battle hardened troops freed up from Europe, after Napoleons exile, The British Major General Robert Ross moved towards Washington defeating the Americans at the Major battle of Bladensburg on the 24 August 1814, and then moved onto Washington, 8 miles north east. He initially planned an orderly surrender by the Americans, but whilst under a white flag for negotiations some rogue Americans fired upon him and hit his horse and killed two of his men. This led to the burning of Government buildings including the Capitol, Treasury, the library of congress, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the treasury. They spared all of the privately owned buildings
Dolly Madison the then First Lady is credited with saving the portrait of George Washington the first American President from the fire. The rest was either looted or it burned. It is said that she instructed Paul Jennings, a 15-year-old enslaved African-American and another slave ‘McGraw’ to save the picture. They also saved large silver urns full of valuables.
The then President James Madison was due to have a party that night but left in a hurry, leaving the tables set, and it said that the British enjoyed the food and drink left behind.
After the buildings were set alight there was a large storm, possibly a Tornado or Hurricane that extinguished the fires the following day.
The main walls of the Mansion, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, (The Presidents House) remained and are still there today.
The British occupation of Washington only lasted 26 hours.
The White House was first painted white in 1798 to protect the stone from freezing. The name “White House” was commonly used in newspapers and by the public before the War of 1812. However it was not until 1901 that the then President Theodore Roosevelt officially named the White House in 1901. Before then, it was officially called the “Executive Mansion”.
On the 24 December 1814 the Treaty of Ghent (Belgium) was signed by the British and Americans.
The White House was rebuilt by James Hoban, and President James Monroe moved into the building in 1817.
The burning of Washington, D.C. was a humiliating defeat for the United States, but the country emerged from the experience stronger and more united, with trade freed up and went onto massive prosperity.
The Build
The Bonfire will be a life size replica of the White House measuring approximately 50 meters long, 6 meters deep (plus shortened Portico), and 18 meters high. The main core of the property will consist of waste pallets that are being disposed of anyway. If you look at pictures of our previous bonfires you will see that we try to be as close to the original as possible
We have secured permission for use of the site from Torrington Conservators, who look after the commons where the bonfire is being built and obtained planning permission which included a very lengthy Biodiversity document, and we have had good preliminarily discussions with the services.
We have been raising funds through out 2025 and we have received incredible support from through the Town and will continue to raise funds and create fun to help with the construction costs.
RHS Rosemoor have donated trees along with a local farmer, Glen Bealey, and these will form the main rigidity of the structure. A local haulier Johnny Williams, has already collected and moved these to the bonfire site free of charge.
We aim to get the poles in the ground over the winter of 2025 / 2026 with the main work starting at Easter 2026
The Bonfire will be built by the Torrington Cavaliers who give all of their time and energy free of charge. We also lucky have a very enthusiastic bunch of younger local lads joining us and becoming Cavaliers on this build, which we hope will maintain our tradition, of building the best bonfires in the world.
The main build to the front will take place during 2026, with the finishing off taking place during 2027.
In front of the bonfire, between the building and the bank a stage will be built. We plan to hold events during 2027, including drive in movies, and live music. The stage will be available for other local groups to use for their fund raising. Details of events will be publicised nearer the time
We are looking to provide American themed entertainment not only on Torrington Commons but through out the town from May 2027 until the day of the burn on the 28 August 2027.
As in the past we will put on a spectacular firework display and provide pre entertainment on the day. More details will follow later.
There will be no flags or effigies burnt and no politics involved at any stage, as has been the case when in the past we burnt HMS Victory, the Houses of Parliament our local Church and the Mayflower.
Our aim is to make a profit of £150,000.00 for Local Charities, and create some good humoured Cavalier fun. As the project progresses, we will announce the names of a couple of main charities.
Although we put a lot of work into our bonfires we could not build them with out the support the local people and businesses, and we are and always will be hugely grateful to everyone for this support. A full list of businesses and Individuals who have contributed will be available later on.