199
THE GREAT FLOOD IN ESSEX OF AUGUST
1st and 2nd, 1888.
By D. RADFORD SHARPE, F.R. Met. Soc.
It has been thought it would be very proper that this Journal should
contain some record of the disastrous flood which took place in
Essex at the beginning of last August. The local newspapers at the
time of the flood were very full of narratives of the great damage
done to property, the hair-breadth escapes, and the plucky rescues
which took place, so that all who reside in the county cannot fail to
have been well informed on what may be called the more popular
aspects of the event, but no account has been given treating of it from
the meteorological point of view. I have, therefore, at the request
of the Editor, done my best to get together from the rain-fall
observers in Essex, records of the amount of rain which they collected,
and other notes of the occurrence. These I have endeavoured to
discuss, and I have prefaced them with a few general remarks.
Roughly speaking, this flood visited the south-west of Essex, which
seems to be that part of the county most subject to such troubles.
I have not been able to ascertain much with respect to former floods
in this district, but I am indebted to Mr. Henry Corder, and to that
gentleman's father, Mr. H. S. Corder, of Great Barrow, for the follow-
ing particulars. It seems that in June, 1824, there was a very
disastrous flood at Chelmsford, before which the rain had been
falling for two days and nights. Mr. H. S. Corder distinctly
remembers the hay being left high up in the trees overhanging the
Wid, showing a rise of at least 10 feet. It was also said at the time
that the water rose to the ceiling of the old Grey Friar's house at
Moulsham (now removed), which may be 10 or 12 feet from the usual
river level. Further, it appears that the water reached as far as where
the London and County Bank now is in High Street, Chelmsford.1
Mr. Chancellor, of Chelmsford, considers that the 1824 flood was
15 in. higher than that of 1888. Mr. Henry Corder also tells me
that on October 9th and 10th, 1880, there was a great flood on the
Wid, and the smaller streams between Ingatestone and Maldon.
During this flood the water flowed into Chelmsford High Street,
through the "Queen's Head" yard. Then again there was a serious
1 A fact which may be recorded as connected with this flood, was that while removing a large
heap of shingle near Moulsham Mill, the workmen found a very perfect British Gold Coin of
Tasciovanus. This coin is now in the possession of Mr. H. S. Corder.