The Hurricane of May 1862. 4 43 



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storm similar to those occasionally witnessed in India. It is 

 scarcely possible to imagine any destruction more complete 

 than that effected by this fearful storm, but fortunately its 

 ravages were confined within narrow limits. It appeared to 

 commence at the village of Barnby, where a small barn was 

 thrown down. After proceeding a mile, its force considerably 

 increased, and just before reaching Ooddington its course 

 crossed a farm-house and buildings, which were unroofed. It 

 then passed over several fields, tearing up the hedges. One of 

 the fields was ploughed in ridges for potatoes ; these ridges had 

 entirely vanished, and the field was left perfectly level. As it 

 crossed Balderton Lane it unroofed a farm-house and threw 

 down the farm buildings, uprooting two enormous oak trees ; 

 a quarter of a mile further it unroofed the house of the head 

 keeper of Mr. James Thorpe, of Beaconfield, breaking nearly 

 all the windows, the hail-stones having in many instances been 

 positively driven through the glass, cutting out a smooth hole 

 without cracking the window-pane. The spout of this house — 

 one too heavy for a man to lift — was carried a hundred yards. 

 A perfectly sound tree, about 60 feet in height and 5 feet 

 10 inches in circumference (where broken off), was snapped 

 asunder four feet from the ground, and the tree itself carried 

 twenty-nine yards through the air. Although snapped off sud- 

 denly, it shows the circular motion of the storm, as the wood is 

 twisted to the very heart of the tree. Near here a man was 

 lifted off the ground, and carried twenty yards, finally being 

 deposited in a hedge. From this point to Mr. Thorpe's house 

 were many fine trees, all of which were torn up by the roots 

 or broken off. About thirty or forty yards from the house the 

 hurricane divided, as the house itself is intact, and also the 

 trees in its immediate neighbourhood from S. round by E. to 

 N. (a lilac tree not having its blossoms damaged) ; while on 

 the western side outbuildings are unroofed and in some cases 

 destroyed, the large garden wall thrown down, the green- 

 houses smashed, the fencing round the plantations broken off 

 and carried into the fallen timber, and a heavy plank of wood 

 lifted off the ground, snapped in two, one half lodging on the 

 top of a building, and the remainder carried over -.it into the 

 kitchen garden. A few yards beyond the house the divided 

 gale reunited; its course now passed through a wood, where 

 everything in its path was destroyed ; then proceeding onwards 

 a mile and a half reached Winthorpe, doing considerable damage 

 to the grounds of Mr. Hodgkinson, M.P., and some little to 

 those of Mr. Marfleet. A short distance further and its fury 

 became exhausted. The greatest violence was restricted to 

 about three miles in length, and its extreme breadth was from 

 100 to 150 yards, except near Coddington, where, for a short 



