IT is altogether beyond the province of this work to enter into any
detail of the scientific peculiarities of the county of Worcester; but it
would have been very satisfactory to have been able to have recorded
here—besides those isolated disturbances of nature’s more ordinary
course, which arrest the attention of indifferent spectators—the results
of observations made by competent persons which might have formed the
basis of a county meteorology. But, in truth, none such exist; excepting
in the daily memoranda of one or two gentlemen extending over only a very
few years, there are no data for arriving at any conclusions on the
subject. As the members of the medical profession and the scientific
agriculturist become increasingly alive to the important part which
atmosphere and electricity play in the conditions of animal and vegetable
life, the want of such tables will be severely felt. The city of
Worcester itself stands but thirty-six feet above the level of the sea;
and, from its peculiar position, its temperature is generally higher than
that of the surrounding country or of the kingdom generally. Though
Worcestershire may be considered as the central county of England, and
consequently the most inland, yet we have our fair share of rain, and
perhaps even more than an average quantity. Such observations as could
be procured on this point will be found in the Appendix. The principal
part of our rain, and the greater number of storms that visit us, come
from the S.W., and the prevailing wind is also from that quarter. In
some parts of the year it may be matter for every day observation to
notice the vapours, gathered apparently in the Bristol Channel, attracted
by the Malvern range, and spreading out a fan-like nimbus towards the
N.E., which distributes its fertilising showers over Worcester and the
lands lying between Bredon Hill on the one hand and the upper Severn on
the other—often over a much more limited tract of country—while the lands
beyond seem to lie under a dry and cloudless sky. The following are
memoranda of the more remarkable natural phenomena which have excited
notice within the county during this century.
1802—JANUARY 20—A hurricane occurred, doing great damage to the houses in
and round Worcester. The windmill at Kempsey was set on fire by the
sails being whirled round with so great rapidity.
1804—JANUARY 20—Violent gale from S.W., doing great damage. A stack of
chimneys falling through the roof of the house of Mr. E. Harris,
attorney, in Edgar Street, Worcester, killed the nursemaid, who was in
bed with two children, who were but little hurt.
1805—JANUARY 25—The London mail to Worcester stopped by a heavy fall of
snow.
1807—NOVEMBER 10—A violent storm occurred, which raged pretty generally
over the whole country. A barge laden with coal, moored near Worcester
bridge, was sunk. At Hanley Castle, and Stanford Park, a great many
trees were blown down, and several houses unroofed.
1808—JULY 15—A most awful tempest from the S.W. The thunder continued in
one unbroken roar for an hour and a half; and the hailstones which fell
were like fragments of a vast plate of ice broken into pieces, being
broad, flat, and ragged. Many of them were perfect and unmelted the next
morning.
1809—JANUARY 29—Great flood upon the Severn, the water rising to within
nineteen inches of the level of the extraordinary flood of 1795.
1810—SEPTEMBER 22—A storm, described as “a dreadful whirlwind,”
commencing at Fearnal Heath, and taking a direction due north, through
Salwarp, Ombersley, Doverdale, and to the extremity of Hampton Lovett;
and its effects were felt as far as Chaddesley Corbett. The principal
sufferers were Sir John Pakington, Mr. Silvester of Doverdale, and Mr.
Saunders of Mayeux. Mr. Silvester had two hundred trees on his farm,
either torn up by the roots, or shattered at mid-trunk. Most of them
were pear trees in full bearing.
1810—NOVEMBER 10—A tempest from the N.E. visited Worcester and its
environs. Great numbers of trees torn up by the roots. The lightning
struck the house of Mr. Harris of Edgar Street, came down the chimney of
the room in which he was sitting, burnt his hand and eyebrows, his
stockings and papers, and tore down a wainscot on the opposite side of
the room.
1811—MAY 27—The famous Worcester hailstorm happened this day. It was
indeed a tempest, such as had been scarcely ever known in this country
before. Between four and five o’clock p.m., clouds of a horrible
blackness came up from the S.E., accompanied by a hideous noise. Shortly
hail began to fall, which almost immediately became a storm of ice, and
fell furiously in flakes of about five or six inches in circumference.
The windows of almost every house which faced the S.E. were wholly
demolished in a few minutes—gardens were laid utterly waste—and fields,
both of grass and corn, sustained irreparable damage. The ice-storm was
succeeded by heavy torrents of rain, with all the terrors of a tropical
tempest. The river Severn _in one hour rose six feet_, and continued
gradually to swell its torrent till it had reached the height of _twenty
feet_; and the flood, rapid and wide-spreading, swept away in its
impetuous career whole herds of cattle from the adjacent fields. 1,200
panes of glass were broken in Messrs. Barr’s china manufactory, 500 in
the Workhouse, and 2,000 in Messrs. Chamberlain’s factory. Messrs.
Freame’s cabinet warehouse, Goose Lane, lost 1,000 panes, and all the
public buildings suffered severely. 150 rooks were killed in the rookery
at the White Ladies, and a vast many other birds were also afterwards
found dead. At Henwick and Hallow the crops were miserably injured. The
cost of replacing the glass broken in the city, alone, was estimated at
£5,000; and there being neither sufficient materials nor workpeople at
hand to repair it, the inhabitants for weeks had to suffer the
inconvenience of exposure to the weather. One glazier, who started off
to Stourbridge and purchased all the glass he could lay his hands on, is
said to have laid the foundation of a fortune by this calamity. We have
no record of the state of the atmosphere previous to this storm.
1814—JANUARY 12—The Severn frozen over at Worcester, so as to admit of
parties walking across it, and the weather in every respect most severe.
JANUARY 20—The frost continued with such severity that the Severn was
frozen over at Tewkesbury, and several persons going to Tewkesbury market
rode over it at the Lode. The roads, also, were so blocked up by snow as
to render traffic of every description almost impossible.
1817—JUNE 21—The neighbourhood of Stanford visited with a tremendous
tempest. From seven to ten p.m., the roar of the thunder was incessant;
the lightning one continued sheet of fire; and the rain descended in such
torrents that the whole country was inundated. The brook running from
Hanley William through Orleton rose to an enormous height, and carried
away fences, trees, and other obstacles, lodging them at great distances.
Many hop yards destroyed, and the soil almost wholly washed away. The
thermometer stood at 112° Fahrenheit in the sun, on the day before this
storm, and at 82° in the shade.
1818—MARCH 4—A very furious storm from the S.W. experienced at Worcester,
continuing for about six hours. A great deal of damage done to the roofs
of houses. The Bristol mail was detained eleven hours by the floods.
1818—APRIL 11—Great flood on the river Severn, the water rising to within
three feet of the height which it reached in February, 1795.
1820—JANUARY 14—The Severn frozen over.
1820—MAY 12—A thunderstorm occurred, which was very terrific in several
parts of the county. A rick of hay at Mr. Coucher’s, Woodmanton,
Clifton-on-Teme, was set on fire and wholly burnt; and four deer were
killed by the lightning in Hagley Park.
1821—JANUARY 20—The Severn frozen over.
1821—MAY 2—A very fearful thunderstorm occurred, which was general
throughout the kingdom. It did not do much damage in Worcestershire. At
Northwick Park five deer were killed, and their bodies were found
floating in the large sheet of water there. Four out of the five were
six-year-old bucks; and it was surmised that, blinded by the lightning,
they ran into the water; and though deer customarily swim well, yet they
were now unable to exert themselves and so were drowned.
1821—DECEMBER 24—Great floods upon the Severn, which entirely cut off the
communication between Worcester and the lower parts of the county. The
cellars of all the houses near the Severn were flooded for some days.
1822—MAY 20—A destructive thunderstorm in the neighbourhood of Worcester.
The hailstones, which were unusually large, smashed great quantities of
glass—particularly about Spetchley, where six hundred panes were broken
in the hothouses of R. Berkeley, Esq. Hailstones were picked up
measuring four inches in circumference.
1822—DECEMBER 5—A terrific hurricane from the S.W., which raged with more
or less violence throughout the whole of England. In Worcester, the
roofs of several houses were almost uncovered, and the gable end of a
newly-erected building near the House of Industry was blown in. Five
boats were sunk at Diglis; and at Upton bridge one was capsized with
three men in it, one of whom was drowned. The coachman of the Holyhead
mail was twice blown off the box, and one of the horses dropped down
dead, on arriving at Chester, from excessive fatigue.
1825—JULY 19—A tempest in the neighbourhood of Tenbury and Cleobury
Mortimer. The electric fluid struck an oak tree at Kinlet, and killed
nine sheep sheltering beneath it; set fire to the wooden steeple of Neen
Savage Church, melting the bells which it contained, and threatening the
destruction of the entire edifice.
1825—DECEMBER 14—A fearful storm of wind, hail, rain, and lightning,
passed over Worcester from the S.W., and the electric fluid displaced a
stone about half way up St. Andrew’s spire. Mr. G. Parry, farmer, of
Hanbury, lost thirty-two ewes, heavy with lamb, and valued at £100.
1826—JANUARY 14—A storm of wind, which blew a perfect hurricane about
noon. A stack of chimneys at Mr. Sidebottom’s house, at Worcester, fell
through the roof and two floors, severely injuring a servant. Trees in
the neighbourhood were torn up by the roots, walls and fences laid flat,
and corn and hay ricks unthatched and scattered. A considerable part of
the spire of Cleobury Mortimer Church was broken off during divine
service, and the congregation rushed out of the edifice in terror. A
barge, heavily laden with coal, was sunk in the Severn.
1828—JULY 8—A tempest of considerable violence, during which the
lightning struck a house in Newdix Court, High Street, Worcester, and a
cottage near Merriman’s Hill—not, however, doing much damage in either
case. Vehement gusts of wind stripped old roofs of their tiling, and
blew down several trees in the neighbourhood.
1830—JANUARY 20—A very heavy fall of snow, blocking up all the roads, so
that no coaches reached Worcester at all from the west, and the London
coaches came in a day after their time.
1831—JULY 10—A tempest which raged throughout the county, doing much
damage. The lightning struck Hales, a watchman of Worcester, while
sitting at the door of a house at Spetchley, and he was for a time
paralysed, while the blood flowed from his ears and mouth. At Wick a
cottage was burnt down, and the nephew of the widow who occupied it was
affected by the electric fluid, much in the same manner as Hales. On
Defford Common the hailstones lay in hillocks nine inches high, and some
of the stones were as large as pigeon’s eggs. A great deal of glass was
broken, birds killed, crops destroyed (the heads of the wheat being
separated from the straw, and the pods of beans laid open), and fencing
laid low.
1836—DECEMBER 28–30—An extraordinary snowstorm, which extended over the
greater part of the country, and continued for several days, till all the
roads were blocked up and communication almost at an end. The Worcester
mail was blocked up in the snow at Enstone, and could not be got out.
The mails for three days were thirty-six hours behind time. In some
places the snow was said to have drifted to a height of twenty feet.
1839—JANUARY 9—A fearful gale of wind, general throughout the country,
and doing great damage to houses and plantations in this county. At
Burlish Common, near Stourport, a stack of chimneys fell through the roof
of a cottage on to the bed where a young woman was lying, and she
sustained such injuries as to cause her death shortly afterwards.
1839—JUNE 13—A very violent hailstorm raged chiefly in the northern part
of the county. At Hagley, several hundred pounds’ worth of glass were
destroyed; and in Mr. G. B. Lea’s spinning mill, at Drayton, near
Kidderminster, 580 small panes were broken. At Hartlebury, &c., great
damage was done to the growing crops—many fields of barley being totally
destroyed; and at Harvington the hailstones were reported to lie six feet
deep on the ground: fifty rooks were killed in that neighbourhood.
1839—JULY 31—In consequence of unintermittent rains for several days
together, a flood occurred in all the running streams, which rose higher
than had been known for many years. Of course, great damage was done to
the pastures and crops. On several roads communication was cut off. The
Ludlow and Aberystwith mails to Worcester were both stopped. The guard
of the Ludlow mail attempted to get on in a two-horse fly; but, at
Newnham, the fly was fairly floated, and the guard himself narrowly
escaped drowning. The Aberystwith coach was stopped at Knightsford
bridge, and had to be lashed to a tree: the bags were brought away in
boats.
1843—JULY 5—An alarming tempest visited Worcester and the neighbourhood,
killing several sheep, shivering fine trees, and the subsequent hail
destroying much glass in greenhouses.
1843—JULY 13—A very severe thunderstorm again occurred, igniting some
farm buildings at Abberton, killing a mare at Redditch, and doing other
damage. The wife of a labourer at Eastnor was struck by the lightning,
and the whole of her apparel was reduced to tinder; the steel busk of her
stays was heated to a red heat! and her body, in consequence, frightfully
burnt—nevertheless she recovered. The wife of a gardener at Inkberrow,
named Hopkins, was sitting at the fireplace, when the electric fluid came
down the chimney, and striking the woman, passed along her spine, killing
her on the spot. The damage done to the crops along the eastern border
of the county was very great.
1843—AUGUST 9—A most violent thunderstorm, whose chief fury seemed to be
spent immediately over the city of Worcester. Wind in S.W. For two
hours the thunder pealed incessantly, and the electric fluid struck at
least ten houses in the city, but without doing any material damage at
either place. At one house which the lightning entered, in the Shambles,
a boy was standing with an awl in his hand, and the electric fluid
severed the blade from the haft, leaving the latter in the hand of the
boy!
1845—JULY 6—A terrific thunderstorm, extending over all the S.W. and
midland counties of England, broke this evening over Worcester, just as
the several congregations were leaving their respective places of
worship. Just before the hurricane of rain commenced, the whole clouded
sky was covered with a lurid glare, as if from the reflection of a
distant conflagration. A great number of fine trees were uprooted,
especially near Bewdley. At Witley Court, great damage was done to the
windows and conservatories; at Pershore the hailstones were, in fact,
large pieces of ice, and some 2,000 panes of glass were broken.
1846—AUGUST 1—A violent thunderstorm, which did considerable damage in
some parts of England, but not much in this neighbourhood. Two lambs,
belonging to J. Lea, Esq., of The Shrubbery, Kidderminster, were killed
by the lightning.