126 THE GREAT STORM OF MIDSUMMER DAY, 1897.
Several houses were flooded. One man who was driving some ladies had a
new hard hat cut through in four places by the stones, while the ladies'
umbrellas were riddled."
Layer Districts. Great damage is reported in these districts. At the
"Donkey" beerhouse every pane of glass was broken, and at almost every
dwelling-house in the village windows were smashed. At the Nonconformist
Chapel, Layer Breton, about 100 panes were shattered, and the glass at a
number of other buildings suffered considerably. The hailstones are described as
being as large as walnuts. At Abberton and Peldon an enormous amount of
damage was done to the crops, and a large quantity of glass broken. Very
large hailstones fell at Brightlingsea and many windows were broken. At Abber-
ton House the damage was very extensive. The same may be said of Wigborough
and Layer Marney. At Wigborough nine chickens were killed by the hailstones.
Hatfield Peverel. Mr. Alfred Rosling, of "Cardfields," wrote that he was
happy to say that his house was only on the outskirts of the storm, through
Fairfields (another house on my farm) had 54 windows broken out of a
possible 76. "The storm was preceded by a dense black cloud, travelling
from N.W. to S.E., making it too dark to read, and the hail and rain
began at 3.5, and at 3.25 the storm was over and the sun shining brightly,
and in the 20 minutes I registered '92 in. Some of the hailstones which fell
at Fairfields were slabs of ice larger than the palm of your hand, and Mr.
Edward Corder, of Writtle, told me that he measured one 41/2 inches by
31/2 inches which weighed 5 ozs." Other relations show that the storm was
violent at Hatfield. Many panes of glass were broken by the hailstones, and
several branches of trees were blown down, while leaves and twigs were
spread like a carpet in every direction. The road between Hatfield and
Chelmsford looked, in places, like the bed of a torrent, the gravel, its usual
covering, being swept by the rain into banks at the roadside, leaving the
stones bare. The damage done to fruit trees, &c., was very great.
Braxted. On Mr. Thomas Goodey's farm at Braxted the storm washed a
heavy plough from one field over a hedge and about 300 yards into another
field, and carried all the top soil of one field into ditches near by and com-
pletely filled them up, A brick wall, 14 feet long, was thrown down.
Kelvedon District. The storm was felt with considerable severity in this
district. At the Britannia Company's Fruit Farm, Tiptree, a large quantity
of the strawberries were reduced to a pulp by the hailstones, and the bush
fruit was swept off. From 30 to 40 panes of glass were broken in several
houses, but the smash was not so complete as in the great hailstorm of July
nth, 1872, when the same houses having south and south-east exposure were
the chief sufferers. At Mr. Parish's, the greenhouses were completely smashed,
and the seed crops practically destroyed. At Tolleshunt D'Arcy the storm did
much damage and caused considerable alarm to the villagers. At Wickham
Bishops a large number of windows were broken.
The tornado appears to have died out in great measure before Colchester,
but at "Kings Ford," the residence of Mr. Horace Egerton Green, the Mayor,
about three miles to the south of the town, the storm worked great havoc
ruining the kitchen garden and smashing a large quantity of glass, as well as
doing other damage of an extensive character.