capes, at Tonbridge on Wednesday morning. On delivering a letter to Mr. Pawley, a chaise, with four horses, was got ready for the use of the men, who, after conquering a host of difficulties, secured the honour of making the first communication between St. Leonards and London.
The Great Snow-Storm of 1836 (contd)
Although the snow-storm of 1836 was most severe in the south and west of England, it was pretty generally felt throughout Great Britain and Ireland. The number of mails delayed were almost incalculable, whilst the stage coaches and wagons were blocked in every direction. The first mail received from London was on the 30th of December, after an interval of six days. The "White" stage-coach also arrived from London on the evening of the same day, drawn by six horses, and its appearance after a week's absence was hailed with cheers. The cross-post mail from Dover did not succeed in forcing its way until New-year's Day. Many coachmen and guards were nearly frozen to death, and several poor wayfarers were found in a lifeless condition. In the metropolis, as well as in the provinces there were many ludicrous scenes, and not a few personal mishaps, but the only fatality in the neighbourhood of Hastings which came to my knowledge was that of a poor woman frozen to death or smothered by the snow in a barn at Crowhurst. Perhaps the most disastrous occurrence was the avalanche at Lewes, which as it precipitated itself a distance of 150 feet down the cliff, carried with it a number of cottages with an appalling crash. Fifteen of the poor tenants were buried beneath the snow and debris, eight of whom were got out dead. Warning had been given to the unhappy cottagers, but so loth were they to leave their homes that only a few of them were saved from the impending catastrophe, and that by sheer force. The place was known as Boulder Row. A notice was immediately put up at the Lewes southern gate, warning people of the danger, but the warning was scarcely needed. The snow ws from 8 to 12 feet deep, and except where a clearance had been effected by dint of great exertion, traffic was hardly possible. The spectacle, however, was enough to make the stoutest heart quail. From the verge of a precipice there was a full view of the havoc caused by the avalanche, and whilst looking upon the scene below, it was painful to think of the destruction of life and property which had taken place. It was feared that some of the gipsies who pitched their tents upon the waste lands had fallen victims to the severity of the storm, and it was certain that the sheep and cattle in Pevensey and Romney marshes had suffered to an immense extent by the "phenomenon of Nature," so-called by Mr. Rickman Godlee (a gentleman who, three months later, was presented with a valuable pair of globes, for his having done more than any other man during his five years' residence in Hastings, to promote education). It was said that of the sheep in Romney Marsh, 800 were lost by Mr. Jeremiah Smith alone, while the entire loss of animal life in the marshes east and west of St. Leonards amounted to nearly 2,000.
People with minds that can treat of events in a philosophical strain tell us that most of our ills have their concomitant benefits; and the maxim may be regarded as having a verification in its application to the great snow-storm of 1836. But for the necessity of clearing the streets and roads for the resumption of traffic, there would doubtless have been much enforced idleness just at a season when in addition to the tendency to keep high holiday, the frozen-out workmen could hardly labour at their regular calling even if they would. how many men were set to work by the St. Leonards Commissioners and the Hastings authorities I have no means of knowing, but when one remembers that thousands of cart-loads of the frozen mass were deposited in heaps upon the beach, and when one also finds it stated that even in the small town of Rye, 70 men were employed for five days in the work of clearing the streets, one can form a rough estimate of what had to be done to remove the snow from the thoroughfares of Hastings and St. Leonards. Even in the outbounds of the latter town as much as £24 was paid by the surveyors (Messrs. Deudney and Farncomb) for clearing a way through the snow sufficient for vehicular traffic, whilst an additional sum of £30 was disbursed for the carting of beach to be distributed over the roads of the said outbounds. Other parishes were, no double, proportionably taxed for similar work, and the employment thus given to labourers was perhaps as welcome as it was exceptional. I remember walking from Hastings to Battle on New-year's Day, which was just a week after the storm, and throughout the whole distance of eight miles, except one small area near the tan-yard, nothing met the eye but two high walls of snow, dazzling in their whiteness as they reflected the rays of a resplendent sun.
This description receives corroboration (several yeas after its first publication) in a contemporary's notice of Mr. James Soane, who has died at the age of 91 yeas, and of whom it is said he came to Hastings to be married, during the deep snow of 1836, and that he and his intended wife walked from Battle over the toll-gate at Powder-mill lane, te snow at places on the route reaching a height of 20 feet. The experience of another Hastings man is shown in the following communication to the editor of Brett's Gazette:-
Dear Sir, - It is a great treat to be enabled to refresh one's memory of so many things in the long past that had become oblivious until brought back again by such a first-rate reminder s that which St. Leonardensis is giving us "Old Folks." The great snow-storm of 1836 - which which so graphic an account appears in the Gazette - I have cause to remember, for I helped to build the Hustings mde of the snow within the walls of the Old Fleet, for the election of the different officers which yearly took place on the 1st day of January; and I came down as far as Battle in the night mail-coach the first time it was enabled to go out of London after the storm. I can also very well remember the pulling down of the very old Town Hall which St. Leonardensis has described. Many a tale have I heard related by the grandfather of Mr. Alderman Williams of things which occurred when he lived close to the said Town Hall, and many a laugh I have since had over one event in particular which he used to describe with great glee. The mention of schoolmaster Stone has also brought to my recollection many things which took place at that time. I knew Mr. and Mrs. Stone quite well; also Mr. Stone's parents who lived at the "New Warm Baths", as they were called at the time. I send you an engraving of the said Baths, which St. Leonardensis will, no doubt, recognise, but which it would puzzle Young Hastings to find. Thanking you for the pleasure which the many reminiscences in the History of St. Leonards has afforded me, I remain, yours truly, E.M.
I must now conclude my notice of this memorable storm with the remark that some of the snow remained under the hedges in the vicinity of St. Leonards for three months, and was augmented by a rather heavy fall in the month of March. On the 26th of the said month, a party of young men, including the present writer, played cricket in the midst of a snowstorm at Pett, and on Easter Sunday, the snow on the ground averaged a depth of about nine inches, whilst during the preceding night the thermometer registered a minimum temperature of 17 degrees. It should be noted that the great blizzard at Christmas was not confined to England, nor even to Europe, but extended to many parts of Asia. It is well to observe, however, that exception as was the storm of 1836, it was in some of its aspects nearly equalled by one that visited us in 1879. On the later occasion, during the first week of December, the snow was so deep in Paris as to require 12,000 extra labourers to clear the streets, at a cost to the Government of 500,000 francs. But it was fortunate for the Parisians that the storm of 1879 was not followed by an epidemic of influenza, as was that of 1836.
