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 — John Shaqi
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
At a shop in Fore Street, Devonport, a similar accident occurred, two
children while lying in bed being badly crushed through a chimney
falling. At the Main Guard, at the top of Devonport Hill, the windows
were blown in, but the soldiers on duty fortunately escaped without
injury, and were removed into the barracks. The roofs of the "Crown and
Column," and of the wine and spirit store in the occupation of Messrs.
Chubb & Co., both in Devonport, were seriously injured, while at
Wingfield Villa, Stoke, the residence of the rector of Stoke Damerel,
soon after 8 o'clock, a terrific squall burst upon the house and sent
a large chimney stack crashing through the roof into the drawing room,
doing great damage to some valuable furniture. Altogether, a lengthy
chapter of accidents might be recorded as the result of the gale on
Monday evening in Devonport. In a few instances personal injuries of
a more or less serious nature were sustained, but it is not a little
remarkable, that here, as elsewhere in the immediate neighbourhood,
while there were many narrow escapes no case of a fatal character
occurred.
Among other narrow escapes at Devonport may be instanced that of a
gentleman living in Albert Road, Morice Town. He went to a back bedroom
on the top storey to nail up a board to prevent smoke from blowing down
the chimney, when a sudden gust struck the stack and precipitated it on
to the roof, which fell through the ceiling into the bedroom, burying
him and carrying a portion of the floor into the back drawing-room
below. The gentleman in question managed to extricate himself from the
débris, and escaped with a severe shaking. In another case, a family
occupying two rooms at the top of an old house in Cannon Street,
nearly lost their lives. The occupier, his wife, and mother-in-law,
were sitting around the bedroom fire when the roof fell on them. Their
injuries were not of a serious character, but considerable damage was
done to their furniture. It is estimated that about £50 worth of damage
was done to the buildings at the back of Hope (Baptist) Chapel in Fore
Street; a chimney falling bodily crashed through the roof, and carried
one of the class-rooms and the gallery of the Sunday-school into the
vestry. A chimney stack falling from No. 7, Chapel Street, destroyed
a conservatory, and did considerable damage to the roof of the
adjoining house, No. 6. A large portion of the roof of the South Devon
Sanitary Laundry, Cornwall Street, was blown away, and the work of the
establishment was temporarily disarranged in consequence. Extensive
damage was also done to property at 10, Stopford-place, Stoke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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