In the storm of Sunday April 2, 1848, the lightning had a very
considerable effect on the wires of the electric telegraph,
particularly on the line of railway eastward from Manchester to
Normanton. Not only were the needles greatly deflected, and their power
of answering to the handles considerably weakened, but those at the
Normanton station were found to have had their poles reversed by some
action of the electric fluid in the atmosphere. The damage, however,
was soon repaired, and the needles again put in good working order.