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| The Wellingborough News, 29th March, 1895, transcribed by Jim Hollis |
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Terrific Gale
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Persons Killed and Injured - Immense Destruction of Property
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A gale of wind, almost unprecedented in recent history for its violence, fury, and disastrous consequences, swept over the country on Sunday afternoon, causing the death of many persons, wrecking houses in all directions, uprooting sturdy old trees, and strewing the streets with the debris from damaged property, and playing havoc generally with telegraph wires, advertisement hoardings, and property of all descriptions. During the morning the "March winds" seemed to have come with considerable force, but it was not till the afternoon that the circumstance attracted much attention. Towards one o'clock, however, the gale rapidly increased in violence, and during the next hour or two the hurricane was at its height, making pedestrianism almost impossible, and causing damage in all directions. The loss sustained to property was very serious, and there were many narrow escapes from personal injury - in some instances to large numbers of persons. The storm raged until between four and five o'clock, when there was a lull, and the wind gradually dropped. It was then possible to ascertain to some extent the widespread character of the destruction which had been caused, but the list of accidents recorded will in all probability have to be greatly added to as time goes on. The storm seemed to have embraced the area of the whole country within its destructive range. The gale decreased considerably in violence during the evening, and was succeeded between eight and nine o'clock by a sharp storm of rain, accompanied with flashes of lightning of the most vivid description. Rushden Rushden came in for its full attention from the hurricane of Sunday, and on all sides are to be seen evidences of the tremendous power of the wind. To attempt to give in detail all the damage done would require too much space; therefore we must confine ourselves to a few of the principal items. In the High-street, large plate glass windows in the establishments of Messrs. Bailey and Brown and Mr. Phillips have been blown in, and some iron roofing has been removed bodily from Mr. R. Marriott's premises on to the house of Mr. Steward Mason. The infant school at the back of the Coffee Tavern was stripped of yards of its tiles by one gust alone, while large sheets of corrugated roofing on the workshop of Mr. Morris, on the premises lately occupied by Mr. McCracken, were torn from their fastenings, and bowled over into the Rectory-road. On Messrs. Cave's factory a chimney was blown down, smashing a great hole in the roof, and one of the heavy coping stones forced its way through to the basement, and fell among the engines. In the Pightles field a great tree was blown down, and in the park of Rushden Hall some 20 or 30 are laid low. Thatched houses have come in for a large share of the damage, and High-street was on Monday strewn with straw form this class of building. A large new hoarding erected for bill-posting near the Midland Station was blown over, and the green-houses of Mr. C. Betts also sustained much damage. Two prime sheep belonging to Mr. C. E. Knight had their legs broken by a falling tree, and had to be slaughtered, and from all round the villages in the vicinity come reports of immense damage. |
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