Burning obsolete accounting sticks burned down the Houses of Parliament

For over 700 years, England's Exchequer recorded debts by notching wooden tally sticks and splitting them in two, one piece for each party. When Parliament finally abolished the system in 1826, officials ordered the accumulated sticks burned in a stove, an overloaded fire that spread and destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster in 1834.

— English Exchequer, Tally stick — in use c. 1100–1826; fire on 16 October 1834