212 Reports on the Great Storm of October, 1881. 



but it may be stated that about 15,000 trees of a useful size, were blown 

 down on the property generally on the 14th of October, 1881. But little 

 damage was done by the gales of the 16th, 22nd and 27th of November, 

 and of the 13th February last, they all blowing from the west. 



PETEK LONEY, Land-steward. 



NOETHUMBERLAND. 



West Street, Belford, Feb. 6th, 1882. 



In accordance with a promise I made to you some time ago, I now endeav- 

 our to send you a few rough notes on the effects of the great storm on' the 

 14th of October last— at least so far as it affected this immediate district — 

 which I have collected from the agents and managers of the estates men- 

 tioned therein. 



The morning of the 14th of October was calm and mild, a slight wind and 

 drizzling rain blowing from the south. Between ten and eleven o'clock it 

 faired up, and the wind shifted round to the west. Black, heavy, thimdery- 

 looking clouds soon after made their appearance ; the wind began to rise and 

 a heavy downpour of rain seemedj imminent. No rain came however, and 

 the wind again shifted into a southerly direction, gradually shifting its posi- 

 tion and increasing in violence as it veered round to S.E., E., N.E., and N., 

 and by one o'clock had risen to a perfect hurricane, carrying almost every, 

 thing moveable before it. It attained its greatest violence at about from one 

 to half -past one o'clock, during which time almost the entire destruction to 

 plantations, &c. occurred. In Belford comparatively little damage was done 

 to houses or other buildings ; and the gardens of Belford HaU, being weU 

 sheltered from the north and east, suffered very little indeed. The principal 

 destruction occurred amongst the trees in the Park and in other plantations 

 on the estate. Mr Miller, agent to Major Clark, informs me that '' in the 

 PoUcy Grounds, exposed to the north and north-east, more than 100 old hard 

 wood trees were aU uprooted within the space of a few acres (10 or 12 acres) ; 

 besides from 200 to 300 smaller trees, principally Firs, in the various other 

 plantations on the estate." The two large Hornbeams, mentioned by you 

 in the Club's Proceedings for 1880, have, I believe, escaped uninjured, also 

 the "grand American Ehn," but one of the Holm-oaks {Quercus Ilex) has 

 been broken in two near the top, the other escaped without suffering much 

 harm. In his letter to me Mr Miller remarks ' ' one striking feature of the 

 storm here was that its utmost and dangerous violence did not last more than 

 a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, but so extreme was it during that 

 time that it seemed to make roads in the thickly planted Policy Grounds, 

 carrying all before it, whilst close at hand, and equally exposed parts, 

 suffered no damage, and in sheltered places nothing very unusual was felt." 

 He adds " several large Elms, both English and Scotch, were blown down ; 

 but the largest trees down are Chestnuts and Beech." Mr Drummond of 

 Middleton bears the same kind of testimony to the eccentric course of the 

 storm ; he says it appeared to travel in detached columns, and to move by 

 leaps and bounds ; sometimes striking a space of from 20 to 40 feet wide, 

 along which it would travel for 40 to 200 yards, then rise up and leave every- 

 thing untouched for a considerable distance, then sweep down again and 

 make another "path," and so on throughout its entire course. The course 



