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
PADSTOW.--This was another town that suffered very severely. Great
quantities of unexpected snow fell, and the gale was terrific on Monday
night and all day on Tuesday. People who were out of town on the Monday
night had great difficulty in returning to their homes, and one woman,
named Rebecca Chapman, did not succeed, but was found buried in the
snow on the following Sunday. Miss Chapman, of about sixty-two years
of age, who resided at Crugmere, about a mile-and-a-half from Padstow,
had been in the latter town on Monday, and left for home at about seven
o'clock in the evening. At a place named Trethillick she lost her
way, and calling at one of the houses in the village was put upon the
right road. She was never again seen alive. On perceiving on Tuesday
that the woman was not at home, the neighbours raised an alarm, and
search parties were instituted, but the body was not recovered until
the following week. From the position of the body when found, it would
seem that the unfortunate woman had mistaken the gate of the field in
which she was lying for that of her own home, and, entering the field,
had fallen exhausted. Her basket, containing the provisions she had
bought in the town, was found lying beside her. When the storm was at
its fiercest, on Monday evening, the dandy _Louisa_, of Exeter, in
entering Padstow harbour, ran into the schooner _Ballanheigh Castle_,
and damaged her galley and bulwarks. A praam, weighing nearly a ton,
which was lying keel upwards on the quay, was caught during one of the
squalls, and carried completely over the quay. On many farms large
numbers of sheep were buried, but in most cases these were rescued
alive.
PAIGNTON.--Great damage was done at Paignton on Monday night and
Tuesday. The roof of one wing of the house of Sir Thomas Seccombe,
K.C.S.I., on Coninence, was blown in, and crashed through the building,
but nobody was hurt. In the Totnes-road the roof of Miss Scale's house
was blown off, and several trees were blown down. The landing-stage
of the Promenade Pier was washed away, and the sea-wall front of
Redcliff Tower undermined. The Artillery Volunteer ammunition shed was
completely wrecked. A tall elm at Dr. Goodridge's residence fell over
and nearly crushed the roof. Steam launches were much injured, and
several fishermen lost their boats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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