IN HEETFORDSniRE. 201 



blown over on to the line of railway. Exposed farmyards suifered 

 much, the thatch and some of the contents of ricks being scattered 

 to a great distance. 



In the south-west the gale was severely felt. At Rickmans- 

 worth, slates, tiles, and fencing were blown down, and some shop- 

 shutters in High Street were blown in. A stable at Woodcock 

 Hill was blown down. Fine trees were uprooted in Moor Park 

 and Rickmansworth Fai'k, and at Loudwater Hill and Croxley 

 Green. In Watford a garden-wall and palisading in Clarendon 

 E,oad were blown down, plate glass windows in High Street were 

 smashed by shutters being blown through them, and chimneys fell 

 through the roof of Field House. The trees in Cassiobury Park 

 suffered severely, several being uprooted and branches of others 

 torn off. At Aldenham stacks were much damaged and many 

 large trees were blown down or had branches torn off them. 



Proceeding towards the centre of the county the havoc wrought 

 by the gale was even greater than in the west and south-west. An 

 account of some of its effects in the neighbourhood of St. Albans 

 has already been given. Three of the iincst old trees at Halls 

 Place fell not many minutes before I saw them lying prostrate in 

 St. Peter's church-yard. Some of the oldest trees in Gorhambury 

 Park were uprooted and others were broken off near the ground. 

 On the Sandridge road the hedges presented a strange appearance, 

 being lined with straw from demolished stacks ; straw was also 

 hanging over the telegraph wires of the Midland Railway for 

 miles. At Harpenden a wall near Mardell's brewery was blown 

 down, several stacks and outbuildings were stripped of their 

 thatch, and many trees were blown down in the neighbourhood. 

 Similar damage was done at Hatfield, slates and chimney-pots 

 being blown off, and the contents of ricks scattered in all direc- 

 tions, while trees were uprooted and huge branches were torn off 

 others. Several trees were blown down in Hatfield Park and 

 Brocket Park, while further north the fine avenues of Knebworth 

 Park suffered irretrievable damage. In the neighboiirhood of 

 Welwyn many trees, chiefly elms, fell, and others lost large 

 branches. The trees in Digswell and Tewin Water Parks suffered 

 severely. 



In the east of Hertfordshire similar damage was done in Pans- 

 hanger, Watton, and Sacombe Parks, and also in the parks and 

 woods in the neighbourhood of Buntingford. At Hertford the 

 gable-end of a house in Villiers Street was blown down, several 

 other houses were damaged in various ways, and roofs were blown 

 off sheds and stables. A considerable length of the wall round 

 The Grove, Port Hill, was demolished. A tree in the Castle 

 grounds was blown down, and also one in Morgan's Walk, several 

 others in the neighbourhood sharing a similar fate. Stacks also 

 were much injured. Several slates were blown oft" the roof of the 

 dome of Haileybury Chapel and carried some sixty yards across the 

 quadrangle and through one of the dormitory windows. At Ware 

 the gable- end of a house in Little Horse Lane was blown down, 



VOL. VIII. — PART Til. , 15 



