1839—JUNE 13—A very violent hailstorm raged chiefly in the northern part of the county. At Hagley, several hundred pounds’ worth of glass were destroyed; and in Mr. G. B. Lea’s spinning mill, at Drayton, near Kidderminster, 580 small panes were broken. At Hartlebury, &c., great damage was done to the growing crops—many fields of barley being totally destroyed; and at Harvington the hailstones were reported to lie six feet deep on the ground: fifty rooks were killed in that neighbourhood. 1839—JULY 31—In consequence of unintermittent rains for several days together, a flood occurred in all the running streams, which rose higher than had been known for many years. Of course, great damage was done to the pastures and crops. On several roads communication was cut off. The Ludlow and Aberystwith mails to Worcester were both stopped. The guard of the Ludlow mail attempted to get on in a two-horse fly; but, at Newnham, the fly was fairly floated, and the guard himself narrowly escaped drowning. The Aberystwith coach was stopped at Knightsford bridge, and had to be lashed to a tree: the bags were brought away in boats. 1843—JULY 5—An alarming tempest visited Worcester and the neighbourhood, killing several sheep, shivering fine trees, and the subsequent hail destroying much glass in greenhouses. 1843—JULY 13—A very severe thunderstorm again occurred, igniting some farm buildings at Abberton, killing a mare at Redditch, and doing other damage. The wife of a labourer at Eastnor was struck by the lightning, and the whole of her apparel was reduced to tinder; the steel busk of her stays was heated to a red heat! and her body, in consequence, frightfully burnt—nevertheless she recovered. The wife of a gardener at Inkberrow, named Hopkins, was sitting at the fireplace, when the electric fluid came down the chimney, and striking the woman, passed along her spine, killing her on the spot. The damage done to the crops along the eastern border of the county was very great. 1843—AUGUST 9—A most violent thunderstorm, whose chief fury seemed to be spent immediately over the city of Worcester. Wind in S.W. For two hours the thunder pealed incessantly, and the electric fluid struck at least ten houses in the city, but without doing any material damage at either place. At one house which the lightning entered, in the Shambles, a boy was standing with an awl in his hand, and the electric fluid severed the blade from the haft, leaving the latter in the hand of the boy!