142 CHRISTY: THE MID-ESSEX WIND-RUSH AND WHIRL-WIND.- 
roofings of sheds and the zinc gutterings of houses were torn off, 
whirled about in the air, and deposited elsewhere, twisted and 
crumpled “ like a lot of Zeppelin wreckage.” Most observers 
speak of the number of broken branches which were carried up 
to a great height in the air, there whirled about, and then deposi¬ 
ted at a distance. One observer says they “ were flying about 
“ like a flock of sparrows in the autumn time.” Some quite-large 
branches were carried right over the church and deposited several 
hundred yards from their starting point and as much to the left 
of the track of the storm—one on the Village Green : another 
on the play-ground of the girls’ school. 
No sooner had the storm passed than the inhabitants, aided 
by the military, began to remove the debris. By means of 
motors and the telephone, stack-cloths and tarpaulins, to keep 
out the rain, were secured from the whole of the surrounding 
district ; and, next morning, the few builders and glaziers 
obtainable had a busy time repairing the worst of the damage. 
Writtle, as I saw it about forty-eight hours after the storm, 
reminded one inevitably of a French or Flemish village which 
had been bombarded by the Germans, except that the fine and 
spacious church was uninjured. This stands close to the Vicarage 
and within one hundred yards of the centre of the storm, but it 
escaped. Yet a yew tree growing close to the south porch had 
its top neatly wrenched off. The Brewery, a very large building, 
also escaped practically uninjured, though houses actually 
touching it were largely unroofed. The most telling idea of the 
destruction wrought by the storm was to be obtained in St. 
John’s Green, where the roof of nearly every house was still 
covered with stack-cloths and tarpaulins. 
Altogether, some fifty houses in Writtle must have been 
injured, some of them severely, and the damage can hardly be 
estimated at less than several thousands of pounds. 
It is not surprising, owing to the extreme narrowness of the 
storm, that very few observations as to changes of barometric 
pressure during its passage over Writtle should have been 
obtained. The only one made, indeed, so far as I know, was by 
Mr. Herbert C. Waters, of St. John’s Green, who is to be con¬ 
gratulated on having had the presence of mind actually to watch 
his barometer (a small aneroid, corrected to the proper height 
above sea-level) during the crucial moments. He informs me 
