The Storm Part 11

_At_ Ledbury _in_ Herefordshire, _we have an Account of two Wind Mills blown down, and four Stacks of Chimneys in a new built House at a Village near_ Ledbury, _which Wounded a Maid Servant; and at another Gentleman's House near_ Ledbury, _the Coachman fearing the Stable would fall, got his Master's Coach Horses out to save them, but leading them by a great Stack of Hay, the Wind blew down the Stack upon the Horses, killed one, and Maimed the other._

_From_ Medhurst _in_ Suss.e.x, _the following Letter is a short account of the loss of the Lord_ Montacute, _in his Seat there, which is extraordinary great, tho' Abridg'd in the Letter_.

_SIR_,

I received a Letter from you, wherein you desire me to give you an account of what damage was done in and about our Town, I praise G.o.d we came off indifferent well; the greatest damage we received, was the untiling of Houses, and 3 Chimneys blown down, but 4 or 5 Stacks of Chimneys are blown down at my Lord _Montacute_'s House, within a quarter of a mile of us, one of them fell on part of the Great Hall, which did considerable damage; and the Church Steeple of _Osborn_, half a mile from us, was blown down at the same time; and my Lord had above 500 Trees torn up by the Roots, and near us several Barns blown down, one of Sir _John Mill_'s, a very large Tiled Barn.

Medhurst, _Your humble Servant_ _Jan._ 18. 1703/4. John Prinke.

_From_ Rigate _the particulars cannot be better related, than in the following Letter_

_SIR_,

In answer to the Letter you sent me, relating to the late great Wind, the Calamity was universal about us, great numbers of vast tall Trees were blown down, and some broken quite asunder in the middle, tho' of a very considerable bigness. Two Wind-mills were blown down, and in one there happened a remarkable Providence, and the Story thereof may perhaps be worth your observation, which is, _viz._ That the Miller of _Charlewood_ Mill, not far from _Rigate_ hearing in the night time the Wind blew very hard, arose from his Bed, and went to his Mill, resolving to turn it toward the Wind, and set it to work, as the only means to preserve it standing; but on the way feeling for the Key of the Mill, he found he had left it at his Dwelling House, and therefore returned thither to fetch it, and coming back again to the Mill, found it blown quite down, and by his lucky forgetfulness saved his Life, which otherwise he most inevitably had lost. Several Stacks of Corn and Hay were blown down and shattered a very great distance from the places where they stood. Many Barns were also blown down, and many Stacks of Chimnies; and in the Town and Parish of _Rigate_, scarce a House but suffered considerable damage, either in the Tyling or otherwise. In the Parish of _Capel_ by _Darking_ lived one _Charles Man_, who was in Bed with his Wife and two Children, and by a fall of part of his House, he and one Child were killed, and his Wife, and the other Child, miraculously preserved, I am

Rigate, _Sir, Your humble Servant_, Jan. 13. 1703/4. Tho. Foster.

_From the City of_ Hereford, _this short Letter is very explicit._

_SIR_,

The best account I can give of the Storm, is as follows; a Man and his Son was killed with the fall of his House, in the Parish of _Wormsle_, 2 miles off _Webly_ in _Herefordshire_. My Lord _Skudamoor_ had several great Oaks blown down in the Parish of _Hom_, 4 miles from _Hereford_; there were several great Elms blown down at a place called _Hinton_, on _Wye_ side, half a mile off _Hereford_, and some hundreds of Fruit Trees in other Parts of this County, and two Stacks of Chimnies in this City, and abundance of Tiles off the old Houses,

_Hereford_, _Yours_, &c.

_Jan._ 2. 1703. Anne Watts.

_At_ Hawkhurst, _on the Edge of_ Suss.e.x _and_ Kent, _11 Barnes were blown down, besides the Houses Shatter'd or Uncover'd._

_From_ Basingstoke _in_ Hampshire, _the following Letter is our Authority for the Particulars_.

_SIR_,

I cannot pretend to give you a particular account concerning the great Wind, but here are a great many Houses blown down, many Barns, and abundance of Trees. A little Park, three Miles from _Basing Stoke_, belonging to Esq. _Waleps_ has a great quant.i.ty of Timber blown down, there is 800 _l_'s worth of Oak sold, and 800 _l_'s worth of other Trees to be sold, and so proportionably all over the Country. Abundance of Houses until'd, and a great many Chimneys blown down; but I do not hear of any body kill'd about us. Most of the People were in great Fears and Consternation; insomuch, that they thought the World had been at an end. Sir,

_Yours to Command_ W. Nevill

At _Shoram_ the Market House, an Antient and very strong building, was blown flat to the Ground, and all the Town shatter'd. _Brighthelmston_ being an old built and poor, tho' populous Town, was most miserably torn to pieces, and made the very Picture of Desolation, that it lookt as if an Enemy had Sackt it.

_The following Letter from a small Town near_ Helford _in_ Cornwall _is very Authentick, and may be depended on_.

_SIR_,

According to your Request, in a late Advertis.e.m.e.nt, in which you desir'd an Impartial Account of what Accidents hapned by the late Dreadful Storm, in order to make a true and just Collection of the same, please to take the following Relation, _viz._ Between 8 and 9-a-Clock the Storm began, with the Wind at N.W. about 10-a-Clock it veer'd about from W. to S.W. and back to West again, and between 11 and 12-a-Clock it blew in a most violent and dreadful manner, that the Country hereabouts thought the great day of Judgment was coming.

It continued thus blowing till 5-a-Clock and then began to abate a little, but has done a Prodigious damage to almost all sorts of People, for either their Houses are blown down, or their Corn blown out of their tack-yards (some Furlongs distance) from the same that the very fields look in a manner, as if they had shak'd the Sheaves of Corn over them. Several Barns blown down, and the Corn that was in the same carried clear away.

The Churches here abouts have suffered very much, the Roofs of several are torn in pieces, and blown a considerable Distance off.

The small Quant.i.ty of Fruit-Trees we had in the Neighbourhood about us are so dismember'd, and torn in pieces, that few or none are left fit for bearing Fruit.

The large Timber Trees, as Elm, Oak, and the like, are generally blown down, especially the largest and highest Trees suffered most; for few Gentlemen that had Trees about their Houses have any left; and it is generally observ'd here, that the Trees and Houses that stood in Valleys, and most out of the Wind, have suffered most. In short, the Damage has been so general, that both Rich and Poor have suffered much.

In _Helford_, a small Haven, not far from hence, there was a Tin Ship blown from her Anchors with only one Man, and two Boys on Board, without Anchor, Cable or Boat, and was forc'd out of the said Haven about 12-a-Clock at Night; the next Morning by 8-a-Clock, the Ship miraculously Run in between two Rocks in the _Isle of Wight_, where the Men and Goods were saved, but the Ship lost: Such a Run, in so short a time, is almost Incredible, it being near 80 Leagues in 8 hours time, I believe it to be very true, for the Master of the said Ship I know very well, and some that were concern'd in her Lading, which was Tin, &c.

_From St._ Keaverne _Parish in_ Cornwall, _May_ 26. 1704. _Yours &c._ W.T.

_Thus far our Letters_.

It has been impossible to give an exact relation in the matter of publick Damage, either as to the particulars of what is remarkeable, or an Estimate of the general loss.

The Abstract here given, as near as we could order it, is so well taken, that we have, _generally speaking_, something remarkable from every quarter of the Kingdom, to the South of the _Trent_.

It has been observ'd, that tho' it blew a great Storm farther Northward, yet nothing so furious as this way. At _Hull_, indeed, as the Relation Expresses, it was violent, but even that violence was moderate, compar'd to the Stupendious fury with which all the Southern part of the Nation was Attack'd.

When the Reader finds an Account here from _Milford-haven_ in _Wales_, and from _Helford_ in _Cornwall_ West, from _Yarmouth_ and _Deal_ in the East, from _Portsmouth_ in the South, and _Hull_ in the North, I am not to imagine him so weak as to suppose all the vast Interval had not the same, or proportion'd suffering, when you find one Letter from a Town, and two from a County, it is not to be supposed that was the whole damage in that County, but, on the contrary, that every Town in the County suffered the same thing in proportion; and it would have been endless to the Collector, and tiresom to the Reader, to have Enumerated all the Individuals of every County; 'twould be endless to tell the the Desolation in the Parks, Groves, and fine Walks of the Gentry, the general havock in the Orchards and Gardens among the Fruit Trees, especially in the Counties of _Devon_, _Somerset_, _Hereford_, _Gloucester_ and _Worcester_, where the making great quant.i.ties of Cyder and Perry, is the reason of numerous and large Orchards, among which, for several Miles together, there would be very few Trees left.

In _Kent_ the Editor of this Book has seen several great Orchards, the Trees lying flat on the Ground, and perhaps one Tree standing in a place by it self, as a House might shelter it, perhaps none at all.

So many Trees were every where blown cross the Road, that till the People were call'd to saw them off, and remove them, the ways were not pa.s.sable.

Stacks of Corn and Hay were in all places either blown down, or so torn, that they receiv'd great damage, and in this Article 'tis very observable, those which were only blown down receiv'd the least Injury; when the main body of a Stack of Hay stood safe, the top being loosen'd by the Violence of the Wind, the Hay was driven up into the Air, and flew about like Feathers; that it was entirely lost and hung about in the Neighbouring Trees, and spread on the Ground for a great distance and so perfectly seperated, that there was no gathering it together.

Barly and Oats suffered the same casualty, only that the weight of the Corn settled it sooner to the Ground than the Hay.

As to the Stacks of Wheat, the Accounts are very strange; from many places we have Letters, and some so incredible, that we dare not venture on the Readers faith to transmit them, least they should shock their belief in those very strange Relations already set down, and better Attested, as of a great Stack of Corn taken from the Hovel on which it stood, and without Dislocating the Sheaves, set upon another Hovel, from whence the Wind had just before remov'd another Stack of equal Dimensions; of a Stack of Wheat taken up with the Wind, and set down whole 16 Rod off, and the like. But as we have other Relations equally strange, their Truth considered, we refer the Reader to them, and a.s.sure the World we have several Accounts of Stacks of Wheat taken clear off from the Frame or Steddal, and set down whole, abundance more over-set, and thrown off from their standings, and others quite dispers'd, and in a great measure destroy'd.

'Tis true, Corn was exceeding cheap all the Winter after, but they who bring that as a reason to prove there was no great quant.i.ty destroy'd, are oblig'd to bear with me in telling them they are mistaken, for the true reason was as follows,

The Stacks of Corn in some Counties, the West chiefly, where the People generally lay up their Corn in Stacks, being so d.a.m.nify'd as above, and the Barns in all parts being Universally uncovered, and a vast number of them overturn'd, and blown down, the Country People were under a necessity of Threshing out their Corn with all possible speed, least if a Rain had follow'd, as at that time of Year was not unlikely, it might ha' been all spoil'd.

And it was a special Providence to those People also, as well as to us in _London_; that it did not Rain, at least to any quant.i.ty, for near three Weeks after the Storm.

Besides this, the Country People were obliged to thresh out their Corn for the sake of the Straw, which they wanted to repair the Thatch, and covering of their Barns, in order to secure the rest.

All these Circ.u.mstances forc'd the Corn to Market in unusual quant.i.ties, and that by Consequence made it Cheaper than ordinary, and not the exceeding quant.i.ty then in Store.

The Seats of the Gentlemen in all places had an extraordinary share in the Damage; their Parks were in many places perfectly dismantled, the Trees before their Doors levelled, their Garden Walls blown down, and I could give a List, I believe, of a thousand Seats in _England_, within the compa.s.s of our Collected Papers, who had from 5 to 20 Stacks of Chimnies blown down, some more, some less, according to the several Dimentions of the Houses.

I am not obliging the Reader to comply with the Calculations here following, and it would have took up too much room in this small Tract to name particulars; but according to the best estimate I have been able to make from the general Accounts sent up by Persons forward to have this matter recorded, the following particulars are rather under than over the real Truth.

25 Parks in the several Counties, who have above 1000 Trees in each Park, blown down.

_New Forest_ in _Hampshire_ above 4000, and some of prodigious Bigness; above 450 Parks and Groves, who have from 200 large Trees to 1000 blown down in them.

Above 100 Churches covered with Lead, the Lead roll'd up, the Churches uncover'd; and on some of them, the Lead in prodigious Quant.i.ties blown to incredible Distances from the Church.

Above 400 Wind-mils overset, and broken to pieces; or the Sails so blown round, that the Timbers and Wheels have heat and set the rest on Fire, and so burnt them down, as particularly several were in the Isle of _Ely_.