The Blizzard in the West: Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891Unknown
History
The Blizzard in the West: Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891
Unknown
Blizzards -- England -- Cornwall (County) -- History; Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Devon (England) -- History
IVYBRIDGE.--A full share of destruction of every kind was experienced
at Ivybridge during the storm. Trees fell in all directions, a large
one breaking in the roof of the newly constructed Navvy Mission
Room. The Navvy Missioner, Mr. MacLean, was in the room at the time,
and had a very narrow escape. Over a dozen trees fell between the
station and the village, most of them being uprooted. For some time
provisions in the town showed serious signs of running short, but
by a laudable system of mutual accommodation between the residents
and tradespeople any actual privation was averted. Several of the
passengers by the 6·50 P.M. snowed-up train from Plymouth on Monday
night, and the down night train due at Plymouth about 8 P.M. on Monday
night, also blocked at Ivybridge Station, were located in the village,
but some of the passengers, as late as Thursday evening, were still in
search of lodgings. The railway guards and drivers were also in dire
straits, and Mr. Bohn (the proprietor of the London Hotel), promptly
and generously came to the rescue with free dinners to the railway
servants. Many hundreds of people visited the scene of the principal
block at Langham Bridge, where the unfortunate train from Plymouth on
Monday night became embedded in a deep snow-drift.
KINGSBRIDGE.--This neighbourhood underwent some wretched experiences,
not only during the blizzard of Monday and Tuesday, but for fully a
fortnight subsequent to the storm. The roads leading to surrounding
towns were in a terrible condition through the fall of snow that
appears to have exceeded here the fall in any other part of Devon, and
the losses of farm-stock were very great. The first episode occurred
at seven o'clock on Monday evening, when the mail-cart for Totnes was
snowed up after having proceeded a mile out of Kingsbridge, and the
driver was compelled to return with his pair of horses, leaving the
van in the road. The mail-bags were brought back to the town on the
following morning. In another case, Mr. Waymouth, of Woolston, four
miles from Kingsbridge, started from the latter place in his carriage
for home on the same evening, but was stopped by a fallen tree, and
he and his coachman were compelled to take shelter at Coombe Royal,
and to remain there until the following Thursday. There were the usual
instances of damage to house property, and there was also tremendous
destruction to trees, and to the shrubberies of the various residences
in the vicinity of the town. All communication was cut off from outside
by the destruction of telegraph wires and posts. The telegraph wires
have been described as presenting a very singular appearance, the
coating of hardened snow in many instances extending to a thickness
as great as six inches in diameter. No communication with any other
town was received or sent for four whole days, and the post-office was
closed for three days, as no mails could be received or despatched.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account