[List-Cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 27 Jul 1816 - Weather

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 27 Jul 1816   (p. 3, col. 1-2)

 

THE WEATHER. 

 

The unpropitious state of the Weather for the operations of the field at this advanced season of the year is a subject of deep,
though unavailing regret: all feel interested in the pursuits of the Farmer, for all, from the highest to the lowest, partake in his
want of success. The complaint is not confined to Great Britain alone; the same calamity is experienced throughout Europe, and over
a great portion of America. In the second week of June, there was frost and snow in Canada, the swallows disappeared several days,
the newly shorn sheep died of cold, and the stoves were heated as in winter. The backwardness of the season is complained of in
Virginia, Pensylvania [sic], and all along the banks of the great rivers Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, and Saint Lawrence. In France,
the rain has fallen in torrents, and the rivers overflowing their banks, have inundated the country, destroying the labours of the
husbandman; the Seine rose eight feet in a few days. The Rhine continued to rise when the last accounts came away, and at its
confluence with the Saarbach, in Germany, the right bank gave way and a large tract of country was laid under water. Switzerland
appears to have been more afflicted than any other country. The Canton of Glaris is represented to be in the last degree of misery
and want; rivers have overflowed, carrying every thing before them. In Saxony and the Grand Duchy of Wurtzburg, the husbandman is in
utter despair. In short, we hear of damage done by rain, hail, and lightning, from every State in Europe, and public prayers have
been offered up in several countries for seasonable weather.—Though the effects of the weather have not been so deplorable in
England, much loss and inconvenience has been, and continues to be sustained. We trust the corn is uninjured, but a considerable
portion of the hay, clovers, and sainfoins, in the Southern and Western counties, that have laid under the continued torrents of
rain is either nearly spoilt or lost. Some hundreds of poor miserable men and women, who annually come from Ireland and Wales to
assist at haymaking, are in the utmost distress for want of employment in consequence of the weather. Groupes of these forlorn
creatures seek shelter under the hedges, and on the road-sides in all directions near London, without a house to lay their heads in,
or a morsel of bread to eat. Many humane persons have exerted themselves for their relief. At Barnet, last week, a gentleman
happening to go into the market-place, found about 140, who had arrived there to hire themselves as hay-makers, literally starving;
he ordered each to be supplied with half a quartern loaf, and come back next morning for another: on the following day, the number
that applied for relief was 338, and the whole received the same bounty. The succeeding day, last Saturday, the number of
applicants, all strangers, was 776, who each received one-third of a quartern loaf, and from the parish of Barnet, a quarter of a
pound of cheese each. We record this act of beneficence with pleasure, and regret while we hold up the deed to imitation, we cannot
add the name and residence of the gentleman whose benevolence has been so truly useful.—But to come nearer home:—The same
unseasonable and boisterous weather has been experienced in this part of the country, and a considerable quantity of hay lies on the
ground in a very bad state. The rain has been incessant for many days, and we have had frequent storms of hail, thunder and
lightning. On Sunday afternoon last, this district was visited by an unprecedented storm of hail, accompanied with thunder and
lightning, and a very high wind, which has done immense damage over a track of many miles of country—but it was not particularly
violent in Carlisle. This storm passed over Kirkoswald, Corby, Wetheral, &c. but its violence appeared to commence between the
latter place and Crosby. Thunder and lightning were incessant, and the shower of hailstones, or rather pieces of ice, of a square
shape, and about half an inch thick, was irresistible and of long duration.—The congregation in Crosby Church were seriously
alarmed; 13 or 14 squares of glass were driven in, and much damage done in that neighbourhood.--Mr. BOWMAN's estate, at Castle
Shields, on the Eden, suffered very much. Fields of potatoes were cut off as if mown with a scythe, and the corn crop nearly
destroyed; the fragments of ice were driven by the wind with the greatest impetuosity, and their sharp edges made dreadful havoc.—A
man walking on the Longtown road was carried by the violence of the storm against the hedge, which he climbed over and took shelter
on the other side. Just as he sat down the lightning struck a tree within a few feet of where he sat, and rent it to pieces; the
effect this incident had on the affrighted traveller may be more readily conceived than described.—In the village and neighbourhood
of Houghton, considerable injury was sustained, as was also the case at Kirklinton and Westlinton.—At Brunstock, a very large tree
was split in pieces and the heavy branches were hurled in the air a considerable distance; a field of barley in the vicinity of that
place, belonging to Mr. Hugh JAMES, of Walby, was levelled with the earth. At Longpark, and within a half a-mile of that village, it
is calculated that damage has been sustained to the amount of £500. Large trees were broken off in the middle of their trunks by the
violence of the wind, and heavy branches blown about in all directions, and to considerable distances. The hail-stones were of a
description similar to those before mentioned; they cut off the corn and potatoes like knives. A person named LITTLE had nearly all
his windows crashed, and a man called MOFFAT had his window blown in upon the bed where he was laying at the time unwell.—At
Parkbroom nearly 100 panes of glass were broken in one house, and much other damage was done in the neighbourhood. A very large ash
tree was struck with lightning at Walby, belonging to Mr. WHEELWRIGHT, and split; many windows were also broken.—The storm reigned
in all its fury at Netherby, the seat of Sir James GRAHAM, Bart. Upwards of 700 panes of glass were broken in the hot-houses; and
sixty squares in the mansion were driven in with great violence by the hailstones, or fragments of ice. In short, within the scope
of the hurricane, the same species of damage was sustained, amounting altogether to several thousand pounds.—A great number of the
feathered tribe were killed and wounded by the hailstones, and many took shelter in the nearest places they could find, their fear
of man being for the moment overcome by more imminent danger.—Some sheep were struck dead by the lightning in Cumberland, but not so
many as in Scotland. We have not heard that any human lives were lost. The air in many places was impregnated with sulphureous
vapour, emanating from the vivid lightning, which may be more accurately termed sheets of fire. The clouds still (Friday evening)
hang in heavy masses over our heads, but there are indications of more seasonable weather, which we hope will continue to a late
period of the autumn, and enable the farmer to reap the fruits of the earth with advantage both to himself and to the public. 

 

 

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