The frost here commemorated began about the 8th December, 1813, and
continued in a gentle manner until the morning of the 14th January, 1814,
when a stronger frost covered the Tyne below bridge with a smooth and
perfect sheet of ice, on which, the succeeding day, a number of people
ventured, and skaters, for three successive days. A partial thaw came
on which damped the ardour of skaters, until the night of the 29th of
January, when again a severe frost considerably strengthened the ice, and
presented a glassy surface above bridge. On Monday, 31st January, no less
than seven tents were erected on it for the sale of spirits, and fires
kindled on that and the succeeding day. Parties dined in various of the
tents. The desire of recreation shone forth in every face. Horse shoes,
football, “toss or buy,” rolly polly, fiddlers, pipers, razor grinders,
recruiting parties, and racers with and without skates, were all alive
to the moment. Hats, breeches, shifts, stockings, ribbons, and even
legs of mutton, were the rewards of the racers, who turned night into
day; the brilliancy of the full moon contributing to their diversions
until late beyond midnight. A horse and sledge above bridge added to the
novelty of the scene; and it is worthy of remark that not one accident
of consequence happened, although thousands ventured their persons upon
the ice. Owing to the severity of the season, the London Mail for Friday,
the 21st January, and three following days, was brought to Newcastle
on the fifth day, in the Lord Wellington Coach, with eight horses; a
circumstance quite new to the inhabitants of canny Newcastle.
The angry winter storms aloud,
In icy chains the floods are bound;
And on the Tyne the people crowd,
As if it were on level ground.
The keelmen now lay many a plank,
To make safe footing on the Tyne;
And old and young of every rank
Pay them a toll to pace the Tyne.
There’s next erected many a tent,
And blazing fires the fancy charm;
Where the shivering lookers-on soon went,
And dine and drink to keep them warm.
From Red Heugh down to Ouse Burn Quay,
The river’s crowded like a fair;
And many a group of people play
At horse shoes for a quart of beer.
Two asses on the ice were brought--
A smock displayed, for which a race
Upon the Tyne, who would have thought
To see such sport in such a place?
There’s “Bambro’ Jack,” and “Mutton Pies,”
With plump-fac’d Nell and hot black puddings,
“Come taste them, hinny,” oft she cries,
“Believe me, lad, they’re very goodens.”
There’s Jack the razor-grinder too,
Rolling his wheel o’er icy Tyne;
Tho’ he’s as “drunk as Davey’s sow,”
Yet he obtains some skates to grind.
Here Jim the fiddler screw’d his pegs,
While stripling wenches round him dance;
And bold recruits a party begs
To gather laurels e’en in France.
In Jemmy Nelson’s tent we see,
A toping party do combine,
To pass the afternoon with glee,
And drown their cares in rosy wine.
Now turn your eyes west of the bridge,
And you will view a sight that’s rare,
A horse there draws a Northern sledge,
Like unto Neptune’s stately car.
Peg Swinney, she to seek her mate,
Made her first passage o’er a ship,
But on the plank she slipp’d her feet,
Fell on the ice and lamed her hip.
A barber, bred in Thespis’ school,
With a new pair of skates well shod,
Display’d his anticks like a fool,
And through the arch he took his road.
But here the faithless ice soon broke,
Up to the shoulders sous’d was he,
Where he remain’d till with a rope,
Some sailors dragg’d him to the quay.
A gentle thaw took place at last,
The keels are all afloat we see;
And dingy Tyne, late bound so fast,
Now rolls its current to the sea.
[Sidenote: 1814]
The winter very severe in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1838]
On the 7th January a very severe frost set in and continued a month. This
frost was predicted in “Murphy’s Almanack,” and the fulfilment of the
prediction rendered the publication extremely popular. A rhyme of the
period was as follows--
Murphy hath a weather eye,
He can tell whatever he pleases,
Whether it will be wet or dry,
When it thaws and when it freezes.
It is recorded in January this year, that the thermometer at Walton, near
Claremont, fell to 14 deg. below zero; at Beckenham it was 13½ deg. below
zero; at Wallingford, 5 deg. below zero; at Greenwich, 4 deg. below zero;
and at Glasgow 1 deg. below zero.
The principal rivers of this country were frozen over. This winter is
frequently called “Murphy’s winter.”
[Sidenote: 1855]
On January 16th a very strong frost commenced, and prevailed for about
six weeks. Rivers were frozen over, and inland navigation was entirely
suspended. The working classes were subject to many privations on account
of the dearness of food and depression of trade. In London 10,000 dock
porters were out of work, and such was their sufferings that bread-riots
occurred in the east end of the town. During this frost traffic was
established on the Ure in Lincolnshire to the distance of thirty-five
miles.
[Sidenote: 1860-61]
Very severe frost from 20th December to 5th January. Says the _Northern
Daily Telegraph_, in a recent article on “Old Fashioned Winters” “on the
25th of December, 1860, the thermometer in London fell to 15 degrees
Fahrenheit, which is 17 degrees below freezing point. In the country the
same intensity of cold was felt, and a certain meteorologist wrote to
the _Times_ stating that at Boston, in Nottinghamshire, the temperature
four feet above the ground was 8 degrees below zero, whilst on the grass
it was 13 degrees, or 45 degrees of frost. Fortunately this extreme
cold only lasted three days, and the inconveniences attending it--in
themselves bad enough--were not to be compared with the miseries which
accompanied the great Frost Fair.”
[Sidenote: 1879-1880]
In the middle of January, 1880, it was expected by many that a Frost
Fair would once more be held on the Thames. The last two months of 1879
and the opening month of 1880 were extremely cold. The President of the
Meteorological Society in his report, 1880, says, “The period through
which we have been passing since October, 1878, has been one of great
cold, in many respects without precedent during nearly a quarter of a
century. The harvest of 1879 is recorded as the worst ever known. Shrubs,
even hollies, little short of 100 years old were killed. Birds were
destroyed, Robin Redbreasts took shelter in our houses; all the rivers
in England were frozen over. It is stated that Major Slack of the 63rd
Regiment, at Oakamoor Station, railway lamps were frozen out, and that
rabbits pushed for food had attacked the oil and grease on the station
crane.” At Chirmside Bridge a temperature of 6° below zero was observed.
Peach trees 60 years old were killed to the roots. The evergreens,
laurels, rhododendrons, hollies in many instances, Wellingtonias, and
many others were all killed, and many people frozen to death. This frost
began on the 22nd November, 1879, and on the 2nd February, 1880, a thaw
began.
[Sidenote: 1881]
Severe frost from the 7th to the 27th January. Snow fell daily from the
9th to the 27th of the month.
[Sidenote: 1886-7]
The concluding pages of this work are being written and printed during a
hard frost. The closing days of the past year, and the early days of the
current year will long be remembered amongst severe winters.
Perhaps we cannot more fitly close our account of “Famous Frosts and
Frost Fairs,” than by quoting the following lines from the facile pen
of Edith May, culled from the pages of Hale’s “Selections of Female
Writers,” published in 1853.