79 



1515— Ditto ditto from Lambeth to "Westminster. 



1534— Thames frozen some miles from Gravesend. 

 1547 — Intense frost. 



1564— "Thames solid as a rock." Queen Elizabeth was daily on the 

 river. Football played on the Dee at Chester. The sudden breaking up caused 

 great inundations and destruction to bridges, houses, and vessels. 

 1580 — Very intense frost. 

 1586— Do. 



1607-8— "A greate froste snowe began the fyfte day of December," and 

 continued till February 14th, 1608. Fires on the ice on the Thames in 

 the first week of December. Horses crossed the Ouse at York on the ice. 

 Wheat nearly doubled in price. 



1615— Immense falls of snow in Derbyshire, lasting from January 16th 

 to .May 28th, said to be four feet deep on the plain and drifts covering hedges, 

 walls, and gates so that horses and men passed over them. 



1620— Thirteen days' snow on Eskdale Moor, only 45 sheep were saved 

 out of 20,000. 



1658— Intensely cold causing great rise in the price of wheat. 

 1662— Thames partially frozen over end of November. 

 1664— Frost till the beginning of March. 



1683-4— Frost said to have commenced September, 1683, and continued 

 without intermission till February 5th, 1684, Fearful destruction of trees 

 and plants in the beginning of December. Great oaks as well as other 

 forest trees split with the noise of the report of a gun. Yew, holly, furze, 

 were killed, but not broom. Ice eleven inches thick on the Thames on which 

 forty coaches plied for hire. Temperature January 5th, London 8° below 

 zero. Birds nearly all perished. It was said at the time to be the longest frost 

 on record. 



1688— Thames was again frozen in January. 

 1694-5— Seven weeks' frost in London. 

 1697 — Severe frost. 



1698— Much ice and snow— in April, very deep on the 3rd May. On May 

 15th the woods were like winter. It was the most backward spring for 47 years. 

 " No gooseberry tarts till July." 



1708-9— Called by distinction, " The cold winter." It lasted from 

 December, 1708, to March, 1709, and was very severe in tbe south of England 

 and Europe, but scarcely felt in Scotland and Ireland; the coldest day, London, 

 was January 3rd. Thames full of ice, but not solid like 1684. It was very 

 severe, however, in North Germany and the Baltic. On May 4th, 1709, there 

 was ice in Copenhagen harbour 27 inches thick. 



1715-16— Frost, Nov. 24 to Feb. 9. 1716— During the whole time the 

 Thames was frozen over ; in January, strongly so. Booths were erected and 

 fairs held on the river. 



