parts of England, and was very destructive and formid- 

 able, throwing down many houses ; and this was followed 

 immediately by a long continuance of bad weather, an 

 unusual heaviness of the atmosphere, wintry, stormy, 

 cold, and rainy, which lasted to the Festival of Saint 

 Benedict (March 21), so that both farmers and gardeners 

 complained that spring, and the most beautiful portion of 

 the summer, had departed, and been changed into winter ; 

 and they were terribly afraid that they should be dis- 

 appointed in the hope of seeds and plants and crops and 

 harvest (M. of W.). 



And so this year passed very fruitful to the crops, but 

 a bad year for fruit (M. of W.). 



1248 June i. The moon, immediately upon the setting of 

 the sun, was almost wholly eclipsed, so that little of her 

 might appear. Four days before Christmas an earth- 

 quake in the west country, about Bath and Wells, which 

 shook and overthrew some buildings, specially the tops 

 of steeples, turrets, and chimneys were shaken therewith, 

 and not the bases or lower parts (Holinshed). 



At St. Edward's tide (March 18) great rain fell in that 

 unseasonable time of the year (Holinshed). 



This year passed by temperate and serene as to its 

 weather, filling the barns with abundance of corn, so that 

 a load of corn fell to the price of two shillings. But with 

 respect to the fruits of the orchards, which were in 

 wonderful abundance in the most fertile districts, in the 

 less productive districts there was a perfect plague of 

 worms and grubs which utterly destroyed all the green 

 parts of the trees ( M. of W.). 



1249 In June there fell such abundance of rain, specially 

 about Abingdon, that the willow trees, mills, and other 

 houses standing near the waterside, were borne down and 

 overturned with one chapel also ; and the corn in the 

 field was so beaten to the ground that bread made 

 thereof, after it was ripe, seemed as it had been made of 

 bran (Holinshed}. 



