243 



1592. Sept. 6th, boisterous winds, driving out the water of the Thames. — 

 Howes. 



1596. Dec. 5, a thunderball at the Cathedral at Wells while the doctor 

 was discoursing of spirits. — Stow. 



1638. May 3rd, Ascension Day, Wallingford church was fired by 

 lightning. — Goad. 



1639. Dec. 24th, a dreadful tempest, insomuch that 24 ships cut off 

 their masts, being In the Downs. — Goad. 



Dec. 27, so violent a tempest that many of the boats which were drawn 

 up to land at Lambeth were dashed to pieces, the shafts of two chimneys were 

 blown down upon the roof of the Archbishop's chamber ; one of the pinnacles of 

 Croydon church and another at Canterbury were blown down — Dr. Heylin's 

 History, Presbyterian. 



1628. January 28, a terrible south gale, many houses and trees thrown 

 down. 



1642. Aug. 28, a great storm at Nottingham five days after the King 

 fixed the standard there. 



1649. Reported to have rained blood at Gloacester ; another instance 

 of red rain having been recorded in 1552 in the registers of the Grey Friars. 



1658. September 3rd, the day of Oliver Cromwell's death— "there was 

 such a hurricane throughout Europe that it seemed a general wreck of nature," 

 On the northern side of this county especially many trees were uprooted or very 

 much broken. 



1671. Sept. 12, a terrible tempest ; inundation at " Lyn." — Goad. 

 1662. Feb. 18, a great storm in London. 



1672. July 24 and 25, it blew so hard that the lowness of the ebb in the 

 Thames presented the sheefe before St. Mary's church above 150 paces in length. 



1696. Dec. 19 and 20, news of floods in country by winds and rain ; 

 200 sail of colliers and some coasters lost at Cromer, Norfolk. 



1697. May 4, hailstones in Herefordshire 13 and 14 inches in circumference ; 

 rooks and hares killed and vast quantities of glass broken. The same storm felt 

 around Cheshire and in Lancashire, when some of the stones weighed half 

 a pound. 



1703. Nov. 26 to Dec. 1, so disastrous as to fill a volume of the philosophical 

 transactions with accounts of it. It was called the Great Storm, and probably 

 surpasses all others on record. The following is an abstract of some of the 

 accounts: — "Twelve men-of-war, with 1,300 men on board, were lost in sight 

 of land. London alone sustained a damage of £2,000,000. In Kent 17,000 

 trees were uprooted. Eddystone lighthouse was destroyed. The Bishop of 

 Bath and Wells and his wife were killed in bed in the palace. In the floods 

 occasioned by it on the rivers Severn and Thames and coast of Holland 8,000 

 people lost their lives. In one district 15,000 sheep were drowned. In Kent 

 1,107 houses and barns were destroyed, 500 grand trees in renshurst were 



