200 J. HOPKnsrsoN — gaxe of the 24th of march, 1895, 



its direction ; and that the wind, when at its height, hlew from the 

 west or slightly south of west is fully borne out by the direction 

 in which most of the trees fell. I walked through several of the 

 parks in the west of the county and as far east as Panshanger after 

 the gale, compass in hand, and found nearly all the trees lying 

 towards the east or slightly north of east. Elms seem to have 

 suffered most, and next I think were oaks. 



At St. Albans the gale was at its height rather earlier than at 

 Berkhamsted. Writing from Hedges, St. Albans, Mr. P. "W. 

 Silvester says : — 



" The wind began to gather force at about 1 o'clock, and at 1.45 

 exactly a tremendous gust swept over Hedges Farm from a north- 

 westerly direction. At that moment our garden-wall, seven feet 

 high, was levelled to the ground for a distance of forty feet, and 

 the best fruit-tree in the garden, a greengage, was buried beneath 

 the ruins. At the same time ricks were stripped and the straw 

 was blown all over the place ; a wild cherry-tree hard by was cut 

 in two, the top being blown several yards from the trunk ; an 

 immense poplar on Mr. Wigg's estate fell ; and several large and 

 valuable trees on Lord Grimston's property at Sopwell were blown 

 down. The high chimney-shaft of my engine-house oscillated so 

 much that it was considered prudent to remove the cart-horses 

 from the stable-yard adjoining it until the gale was over, and all the 

 afternoon men were engaged putting harrows, etc , on the ricks in 

 order to prevent further damage. Some straw in one of my fields 

 was blown a distance of two fields' length back to the homestead. 

 It appeared that the shepherd wanted a special heap of straw as a 

 shelter for his lambs. The foreman wished him to use some other. 

 He, however, took three or four bundles out of the forbidden heap, 

 and strange to say each one was blown back to the rickyard, no 

 doubt much to the delight of the foreman, who thought that the 

 act of disobedience was justly punished. Later in the afternoon 

 I had occasion to drive to Leavesden, and the havoc efi'ected on the 

 route bore evidence to the north-westerly direction of the wind as 

 far as I could see. A large tree at Leavesden Asylum fell at the 

 time we felt the full force of the gale at Hedges." 



I now give a brief account of the damage done by the gale 

 chiefly as recorded at the time in three of our county newspapers 

 — the ' Watford Observer,' the ' Herts Advertiser,' and the ' Hert- 

 fordshire Mercury.' 



In the north of Hertfordshire the gale did much damage to 

 Royston and its neighbourhood. The cupola in the cemetery was 

 blown off, falling upon and damaging the roof of the building. 

 Tiles and slates were scattered about the streets, straw stacks were 

 blown to pieces, and many trees were torn up by the roots or 

 snapped in two. At Hitchin the gale did much damage to roofs 

 and chimneys, and uprooted a large number of trees, chiefly elms, 

 some of which fell across the roads, interrupting the trafiic. 



In the west the gale was severely felt in Hemel Hempstead. 

 The parapet on the eastern side of the Midland Eailway bridge was 



