The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-25 00:00:00

DESTRUCTIVE kIAILSTORM.
Some portions of Lancashire were visited with a
storm on Saturday last, which, though of short duration,
was fearfully violent, and destroyed a good deal of pro-
perty. It appears to have come from St. George's
Channel, and to have passed over Holyhead. Chester,
end Birkenhead, in its course, at all which
places travellers speak of its violence at early
periods of the afternoon. It reached the neighbour-
hood of Manchester between 7 and 8 o'clock in the
evening, but the town felt comparatively little of its
force. The main fury of the elements seems to have
fallen upon the villages and towns skirting the Cheshire
border of the county—Cheadle, Ditisnury, Leveuhulme,
Gorton, Denton, Droylsden, Fairfield, Ashton, Old-
ham, Middleton, and Rochdale. The commingling
of the elements was fearfully grand, though
terrific. Masses of heavy, dark clouds loomed in
the western horizon long before the storm ac-
tually burst forth, and lightning darted from them in
such rapid fleahes, that it appeared to spread through
the atmosphere like waves of vivid flame. There vies
not a breath of wind at this time, and the sultriness
was almost intolerable. A few heavy drops of rain
sprinkled the earth, utid came like an avant courrier
to announce the near approach of the storm.
More vivid flashes of lightning, and peals of
thunder like distant artillery. Teen came the elements
together in a general burst, as if they would bear
down, tear up,' or destroy everything in their course.
Heil, rain, thunder, lightning, and wind all comming-
ling in terrific combination, brewed a storm such as is
seldom witnessed. The wind blew in fearful gusts, and
the hail tell in masses which rendered it unusually de-
structive. Our correspondent had not the means of col-
lecting an account of all the mischief done by it, but
witnessed many of its results in the neighbourhood of
Fairfield. At Gorton, about a mile from the
celebrated Moravian establishment of Fairfielol, the
windows of the cotton-mill of Mr. John Rylands, on the
western front, were struck with such violence by the
hail. that upwards of 500 squares of glass were broken.
A gentleman who witnessed the storm here says that the
hail fell in balls which were generally as large or larger
than hazlenuts, and many of them were nearly as large as
walnuts. Though most of the hailstones were of a roundish
form, many of them were mere flattened pieces of
ice, more like the squares of ivory used for dice. Several
of these which were gathered up by some other parties
were measured, and varied from three-fourths to seven-
eighths of an inch in breadth. No wonder that they
came
in edsonnntant destructiveAt
Droylsden, to
rtohjelsagelna, which is betweenss with which they
Gorton and Fairfield, they were yet more destructive.
The windows of the Catholic chapel were struck
by them, and nearly 200 squares of glass were de-
stroyed in them. Great numbers of the cottages of the
poor were struck at the same time by the storm, and
their windows were completely riddled by the hailstones.
Nearly all the cotton-mills, both in Droylsden and Fair-
field, and many of the houses suffered more or less.
Strange to say, one of the mills, apparently most ex-
posed, had but few windows broken. This was
the mill of the late Mr. 011erenshaw, now in
the hands of his executors; but the windows of two
small cottages belonging to the same estate, and near
to the mill, had no less than 89 squares of
glass in them broken. The windows of Messrs. Christy's
mill suffered a good deal, and those of Messrs. Lees'
mill to some extent. The hands employed in Mr.
Christy's mill, or many of them, occupy cottage houses
near the premises in Queen-street, and the windows of
these were so riddled by the hail that upwards of 200
squares of glass were destroyed. The greatest sufferers
in this neighbourhood from the storm, however, are
Messrs. Worthington and Benson, spinners and menu.
lecturers, in whose mill, according to the statement of
a member of the firm, upwards of 1.000 squares of glass
(another person said he counted 1,200 and upwards, in-
dependent of broken skylights in the weaving sheds)
were broken. But it would be almost impossible to
convey an accurate idea of the mischief done in this
ay. Few houses have entirely escaped being marked
by the fury of the elements, and one singular
feature we noticed in these broken windows
was, that in some cases the hail had taken out pieces
of glass without fracture of the remaining portion
of the squares—much as a ball from a gun or a pistol
would perforate a window. Some of the cotton mills at
Stockport suffered a good des!. The windows of the
mill belonging to Messrs. James Marshall and Sons
were a good deal broken, and many of the windows in
Mr. Marshall's private house were knocked in. In
the Sunday-school at Eveleigh, between Stockport
and Hszelgrove, scarcely a square of glass in the
windows was left entire. In Heaton-lane, Stockport,
such was the force of the storm that shops had to be
closed, aad a draper suff.,red severe loss from the break-
ing of his windows and injury to his goods. Hailstones
were picked up in the market-place, and on the castle
hill, se large as pigeons' eggs. The storm was severely
felt at Middleton, Radcliff :;-bridge, and Bury. At Red-
ctiffe-bridge a horse was killed by lightning, and an in-
fant in its mother's arms was struck by the electric
fluid at Bury, and killed. Toe mother escaped
with scorched neck and arms. Some large
poplar trees were torn up by the roots in Alkring ton-
wood, near Middleton, and a good deal of property
was destroyed in that neighbourhood. Further in this
direction, at Rochdale, Littleborough, and the Vale of
Todmorden, the hailstorm was not so heavy, but much
damage was done by the floods which succeded the heavy
fall of rain. The growing timber along one side of the vale
was injured and torn up a good deal. At Moses-gate rail-
way station, near Farnworth, Bolton, a beerhouse belong-
ing to a man named Smith was set onfire by the lightning,
but the flames were extinguished without any great da-
mage. Another house at the same place was struck by the
electric fluid, and injured. At Newton, near Manches-
ter, where Shooter's-brook and the Bluebottona•brook
form a junction, a number of cottages were flooded; and
at a beethouse kept by Mr. Gagga, several barrels of
ale were stove in, a pig and pigcote carried away,
and other damage was done, inflicting a loss of up-
wards of 101. At Manchester the damage was princi-
pally confined to the blowing down of a few walls; but
at Peel-park, Salford, where the working classes had
been promenading, and enjoying in their own public
park the music of a fine military band lent for the occa-
sion, the museum had a narrow escape from the electric
fluid, which was happily attracted from the roof to some
adjoining trees, whose branches were stripped of their
leaves, and left scorched and withered by the blast.
Very considerable damage was caused by the storm in
the neighbourhood of Oldham, and several persons were
severely injured, although no one was killed. At the
house of Mr. Richard Evans, the proprietor of some ex-
tensive collieries at Royton, the damage sustained
could not amount to less than 2001. The whole of the
roof of the back part of the house and those of some
outbuildings were completely stripped off by the wind,
and some very valuable furniture destroyed, in.
eluding a mirror of 501 value. A large chimney at the
celiiery was blown entirely down. Two cottages belong-
ing to the same gentleman sustained damage to the
amount of 61. A barn belonging to Mr. Thomas Platt,
farmer, at Crompton, near Oldham, was blown entirely
dgo4lnde.teteu'inti'dh, e loss in this case was about 40/. Part of the
roof of another barn at the same place, belonging to Mr.
liam Tayinolofr,thaewasn also blown off, the damage
The wall fell upon
amounting to 101. On the road between Oldham and
refs blown down and of the reOtifthaagded carriederwtoans
a, w
ea theny
..
township
ewl -b newly-built of
,some buys who were standing near it,
it'vlicitainuagwvenr!lssevere injuries. One of them, named Joseph
bwoiniei
LitturactTwuroudn,ynears of
all agehis, had uth arms and his
jaw-
seneadrly, teeth being knocked out.
James Ogden, Peter Holt, and
turesnoyf thiveulegsand arms. Another
from 18 to 20 years of age,
; the rot,flvetn
together, and
dJ) os e
sp,tta ci
no
tt atrilacyoug
Wen
sal cottage close
rdeenlnuticrnel damaged d wn.
f4'):l64,lel;r:dio:wkreooroi oancnaedrorwfititdrh'deaowwwiaseydows were
Nine other ewtages at this plat© blown
entirely t heagesietrsusyaendd.
chimneys of one
The total umouut st
of damage suained by the cottages
in Cnadderlon is estimated at nearly 2001. Iu Craw.