Blast from the Past: Severe Winters from Calderdale History and Beyond (part 2)

We can all think back to winters in our past that have left an icy imprint on our memory; however, quite a few of us were not alive during the most recent, truly harsh winters to hit the United Kingdom and none of us have experienced the worst winters on record.

In our last post we covered The Big Freeze of 1962 – 63 and the winter of 1946 – 47 but in terms of our ‘Big Four, neither are as extreme as two of the most severe European winters on record – The Great Winter of 1708 – 09, or Le Grand Hiver, as it was known in France, and The Great Frost of 1683 – 84…

The Great Winter of 1708 – 09

On the night of 5 January, 1709, William Derham, of Upminster, London, recorded a low of −12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit), the lowest he had ever measured since he started taking readings in 1697. Obviously, local newspaper reports aren’t easy to come by – our newspaper collection in the library doesn’t extend back that far. There are some pretty scary anecdotes, though, for instance, chicken combs froze solid and fell off, trees exploded, sailors aboard English vessels out in the North Sea died and small birds perished in their millions. When newspaper reports are thin on the ground what you need is a good diarist:- enter Ralph Thoresby, antiquarian, Royal Society fellow, merchant, non-conformist and credited with being the first historian of the city of Leeds. He was born in Leeds in 1658 and died in 1725 so he was alive and experiencing our two severe winters. Some would say that this was a bit unlucky! There is scientific evidence, though, that the world was experiencing what was known as the Little Ice Age which occurred between the 16th and 19th centuries, (some have said between 1300 -1850), so exceptionally cold winters were much more common whilst he was alive.

Thoresby was educated at Leeds Grammar School and at the age of eighteen was sent to the house of a relation, in London, as part of his grooming. He maintained a diary from this point throughout the rest of his life. An edited version of his diary was published in two volumes in 1830. We have a copy of volume one in Local Studies, if anyone fancies a read, but this only takes us to 1707. Most of volume two can be viewed on the Thoresby Society website: http://www.thoresby.org.uk and digging a bit deeper, we can find more about him in the book ‘Ralph Thoresby: The Topographer, his Town and Times’ by Daniel Hopkin Atkinson, published in 1885.

Back to 1709. From March, 1679, Thoresby lived in Leeds. Judging by his diary, most of his time seemed to consist of getting up incredibly early (4 am), writing, visiting with associates, accompanying ladies to dance classes and travelling all over the country on horseback. In February, 1709, he is in London, preparing to make the journey back up to Leeds. On the 14th, having set off, it is clear from his diary that the weather is not at all good and gets steadily worse as he progresses north. By the 18th, he is in Doncaster, and this is what he says of the day’s journey when he eventually arrives home in Leeds:

“Begun our journey with courage, but was presently cooled, the road being full of snow, and which was worse upon a continued ice almost, the melted snow being frozen again, that made it dangerous and very troublesome; so that I was more fatigued with this last twenty miles than all the journey besides. My horse slipped dangerously often, and once fell quite down (as I was leading him into Wentbrigg), but blessed be God! We arrived safe at our desired habitations betwixt two and three and found our families well; blessed be his holy name! I was truly thankful, and desirous to make a public acknowledgement of the goodness of our merciful God in his house of prayer, whither I went with a joyful heart at four…”

He continues with gratitude for “protection from the many dangers my sins have exposed me to, in about 300 miles of journey, and that in such a storm as the like has rarely happened…”

The Great Frost of 1683 – 84

December 1683 began with a hard frost, an east wind and snow. On the 16th of January 1684 John Downes, a physician at Christ’s Hospital, London, noted of his thermometer:

“The spirit fell within the ball.”

It was about -4 degrees Celsius indoors and -12 degrees outside. The Great Frost of 1684 is widely thought of as the worst in UK history. Between 1309 and 1814 the Thames froze over at least 23 times and on five of those occasions the ice was thick enough to hold what was known as a ‘Frost Fair’. Booths were erected on the ice, large fires were kindled in an open pan where meat was roasted and sold in slices. There were printing presses, producing keepsake cards; swings, books stalls, beer tents and all sorts of amusements. There was, of course, a Frost Fair on the Thames in 1684 but what was happening up north, in West Yorkshire? Luckily, we do have quite a nice account in Daniel Hopkin Atkinson’s book. He says:

“The year 1684 was that which opened with so intensely severe a season that the frozen Thames became a highway and a fairground throughout the greater part of January. The frost was general; and at Leeds there were booths erected and sports held upon the River Aire, also covered with thick ice.”

He follows this with a diary entry from Ralph Thoresby for the 4th of January, (missing from Thoresby’s published diary). It’s an account of him walking on the river Aire:

“Abroad with Mr. T.B.; walked with him and others from the mills below the Old Church, all up the main river, under the bridge to about the upper dam, the like continued frost not having been known, or scarce heard of, in these parts.”

It’s fair to say that, in spite of the cold, Thoresby does sounds quite cheerful; however, we later get a quip from Atkinson which, he no doubt feels, illustrates how bleak it actually was. He says:

“This memorable winter put a check to Thoresby’s early rising.”

Atkinson follows this up with a rather embittered diary entry from Thoresby himself, dated the 10th of March, 1684:

“The vernal equinox being now returned, got up before five, resolving to do that now, which the violent and tedious storm (such as no history can parallel) hindered me most of the winter.”

*If you have enjoyed this blog post and would like to listen to its ‘sister’ podcast you can visit: https://anchor.fm/calderdale-libraries/episodes/BLAST-FROM-THE-PAST-Severe-Winters-from-Calderdale-History–and-Beyond-e1dj1hg

*Image: Haugh End Lane, Sowerby Bridge. From the John Bates collection at Sowerby Bridge Library.